CompuLab Intense-PC - A Low-Power, Compact, Powerful Linux PC

Among the benchmarks carried out so far on the Intense-PC via the Phoronix Test Suite include:

Ubuntu 12.04 vs. Ubuntu 12.10 - The CompuLab Intense-PC, and more broadly the Intel Ivy Bridge hardware, is set to see a number of performance improvements with Ubuntu 12.10 due out in October. There's compiler optimizations with GCC 4.7, improved HD 4000 graphics support thanks to Linux kernel and Mesa improvements, improved Unity / Compiz performance, and a variety of other enhancements.

GCC 4.8 vs. LLVM/Clang 3.2 SVN - Comparing the latest development code of the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) to LLVM and Clang.

Ubuntu Unity 6.4 - Unfortunately the latest Unity/Compiz packages have some regressions.

Unity vs. KDE vs. GNOME vs. Xfce vs. LXDE - OpenGL benchmarks from a variety of Ubuntu 12.10 desktops to show how the performance varies due to being impacted by the desktop environment and window manager choices.

VirtualBox 4.2 - This low-power compact system also works fine for Linux virtualization too.

Ivy Bridge On The Linux 3.6 Kernel - Intel Ivy Bridge HD 4000 graphics as found on this system are faster for the Intense-PC when using the in-development Linux 3.6 kernel.

Plus there are other benchmark results on OpenBenchmarking.org for the CompuLab Intense-PC. More Linux / open-source benchmarks from this hardware will also come in the following weeks, so stay tuned to Phoronix.

Having used this system for a number of weeks now, I'm quite happy with the Intense-PC. CompuLab has once again done a very nice job assembling a powerful but low-power and compact system. The system ships with Mint Linux, thus does work rather well with Linux for all of its advertised features. The system is quite powerful with the Core i7 3517UE "Ivy Bridge" processor option and backed by decent HD 4000 graphics abilities that are powered by Intel's fully open-source Linux driver stack. At the end of the day, my only real complaint about the Intense-PC is that the fan-less system gets quite warm to the touch under full load. While it gets quite warm, I have yet to experience any crashes or thermal-related problems.

Pricing on the CompuLab Intense-PC ranges from $399 USD for the barebones model to $999 for the high-end model (as tested in this article) while shipping with Linux Mint. There's also a Microsoft Windows 7 Pro option if you so choose, but that will cost an additional $157 USD ($1156) at the time of publishing. More information on the Intense-PC -- and for ordering from CompuLab -- is available from Fit-PC.com.