CompuLab Trim-Slice: Dual-Core ARM Tegra 2 Desktop

The Trim-Slice from CompuLab is a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 nettop based on the NVIDIA Tegra 2 platform. In this article are our first Ubuntu benchmarks of this low power, fan-less desktop with comparative figures to Intel's older platforms and the OMAP4660-based dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 PandaBoard ES.

Following the Texas Instruments OMAP4 PandaBoard ES benchmarks last month, CompuLab offered to send over this NVIDIA Tegra 2 system for some benchmarking. The Trim-Slice was originally unveiled a year ago and began shipping in Q2'2011, but even still remains one of the few Tegra-based ARM systems that's deployed with Ubuntu Linux by default rather than Google's Android. The Trim-Slice is also not locked-down by any means but is a completely open stack, including the boot-loader. Having an open system and a full Ubuntu stack does allow some interesting tests to be conducted. In this article is just the preliminary look and performance figures for the Trim-Slice -- except much more in the coming weeks.

CompuLab is not a new name to Phoronix but the Israeli company was also the mastermind of the Fit-PC2. The Fit-PC2 was an Intel Atom Z530 "Poulsbo" nettop that was tested at Phoronix in early 2010. The CompuLab Fit-PC2 Poulsbo platform had a 160GB HDD and 1GB of RAM while consuming very little power and was packed into a very petite, fan-less chassis.

Above is a comparison shot of the CompuLab Trim-Slice ARM system to the x86 CompuLab Fit-PC2 -- both are very small systems!

Included with the CompuLab Trim-Slice were a user's guide, an external AC power adapter (with US and European fittings), an HDMI to DVI adapter, a USB to serial cable, an external WiFi antenna, an USB-based Bluetooth adapter, audio cable, and a USB cable.