At first we would like to thank Shuttle Europe for offering a sample of their latest EDGE EN01J4 Robust Industry PC for testing and reviewing.

 

 

 

About Shuttle:

 

"Shuttle Inc, founded in Taiwan in 1983, is specialised in development and production of innovative mini PCs. The joint-stock company is represented worldwide by a network of branch offices in Germany, the US and Japan. Since 2001 the attractive cube-shaped PCs have conquered nearly any field of application and have become the core business of the company headquartered in Taipei / Taiwan. Widely acclaimed by customers and press across the globe, Shuttle founds its success on effective management and long-term experience in making mainboards of highest quality standards. Since years Shuttle's mini PC barebones and fully-configured systems are the first choice of many system integrators, VARs, OEMs and ODMs banking on the high reliability and build quality. With appealing mini PC solutions Shuttle meets the requirements of consumers excellently and seeks to provide further user-friendly solutions of consumer electronics for the digital home environment."

 

Suitable for constant operation

Work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. As it does not use any moving parts, such as a fan, this Mini-PC is approved for constant operation. This means lower maintenance costs and a longer lifespan.

 

Fanless and whisper-quiet

The fanless technology used in this PC means it is incredibly quiet. Doing away with these mechanical components also reduces the number of wearing parts, making the machine more durable and stable.

 

Two-pin Euroblock connector

This device has a two-pin Euroblock connector and can be supplied with 12-19 volts. A Phoenix screw terminal and an adapter for power supply units with hollow connectors are included.

 

Soldered Flash memory storage

This model already has many gigabytes of storage space for the operating system and as general data storage. This can be extended by external or internal drives if required.

 

Ideal for DIN rail

With a DIN rail mounting, this model can be attached to a top-hat rail by means of a clamping mechanism and thus be used in switch cabinets and distribution boxes, for example.

 

Power supply via PoE (Option)

Thanks to PoE (Power over Ethernet), the model's power and data transmission is completely over the network cable. This saves costs for cabling and provides more space in limited areas. (Available as accessory)

 

Ready for 4G mobile reception

For this model, the Shuttle range of accessories offers a separately available antenna kit which can be used to install 4G modules in an M.2-3042 format.

 

Suitable for Linux operating systems

This model was successfully tested with Linux. All machine functions worked without problem immediately after installation.

 

Robust aluminum housing

The use of aluminum as housing material has decisive advantages. Aluminum has an ideal ratio between weight and strength, it does not rust and is insensitive to magnetism. Its thermal conductivity is four times higher than steel.

 

Anti-theft protection

The Kensington Lock forms part of the anti-theft system. As with many other Notebooks, this Mini-PC can also be safely locked, ensuring long-term enjoyment from your Shuttle product.

 

Communication in the fast lane

The integrated gigabit LAN chipset opens up completely new possibilities for communication with no restriction on the speed of data transfer. Say goodbye to information bottlenecks, whether in the company network or for home Internet access.

 

HDMI interface

Goodbye cable spaghetti! Modern flat-screen TVs and large-format TFT screens can be connected to this Mini-PC with just a single thin cable. Often the audio output is also transferred in brilliant quality via the HDMI cable.

 

Low energy consumption

Thrift is a virtue. In terms of power consumption this Mini-PC sets an example. It is not just good for the environment but for your pocket, too.

 

Card reader

Simply insert the memory card and you can access all stored photos and videos immediately.

 

For a longer life and more system stability

All the components of the highly integrated mainboard of this PC are fitted with modern solid capacitors, which offer six times the lifespan of normal capacitors.

 

Fanless and silent

Completely fanless, virtually noiseless

Large aluminum heatsink

Passive cooling through convective heat transfer

Ideal for noise-sensitive environments

Fanless means less dust inside the case and thus virtually no maintenance required.

 

24/7 Nonstop Operation

This device is approved for 24/7 permanent operation.

Requirement: Free air circulation around the PC must be guaranteed.

This device comes without a power-on button. The boot process starts as soon as power is applied.

 

Chassis

Black chassis made of aluminum and steel

Dimensions: 92.4 x 54.4 x 90 mm (LWH) = 450 ml

(Height including rubber feet)

Weight: 0.48 kg net and 1.03 kg gross

With hole for Kensington Lock

IP protection rating: IP20

 

Operation Positions

1) Mounted on a DIN-Rail (e.g. inside equipment racks)

2) Vertical (e.g. VESA-mounted behind an appropriate monitor)

3) Standing on its rubber feet as a desktop PC

 

Operation System

This system comes without operating system.

It is compatible with:

- Windows 10 (64-bit)

- Linux (64-bit)

 

Processor

Intel® Pentium® processor J4205, Quad Core

CPU clock frequency: 1.5 GHz, max. Turbo frequency: 2.6 GHz

Code name: "Apollo Lake"

14 nm structure, FCBGA1296 package (soldered)

CPU cores / Threads: 4 / 4

L2 Cache: 2 MB

Thermal Design Power (TDP): 10 W

Supports x86-64, AES-NI, VT-x (EPT), VT-d

System-on-Chip processor (SoC) with integrated graphics processor, no additional chipset required

Fanless cooling system

 

Integrated Graphics

The Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) is integrated in the processor.

Intel® HD Graphics 505 (Intel Gen 9), graphics frequency: 250~800 MHz

Supports DirectX 12, Intel Quick Sync Video, Intel Clear Video (HD), Shared Memory

Execution Units (EU): 18

 

UEFI Firmware

16 MB Flash ROM with AMI UEFI BIOS Firmware

Based on the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)

Supports Wake-on-LAN (WOL) from S3, S4, S5 ACPI states

Supports boot up from external flash memory cards (USB or SD card)

Embedded Firmware TPM v2.0 (fTPM), can be activated in BIOS setup

Supports Hardware Monitoring and Watch Dog functionality (fixed timer)

RAM Memory

8 GB LPDDR4 RAM memory (2400 MHz), soldered

Flash Memory

64 GB eMMC flash memory

Expandable via Micro SD card

 

M.2 expansion slot

The M.2-3042 B-key expansion slot provides the following interfaces:

1) PCI-Express Gen. 2.0 X1

2) SATA v3.0 (max. 6 Gbps)

3) USB 3.2 Gen 1

The following components can be used in this slot:

1) optional HDMI capture card MCAP01 or

2) optional LTE/4G module or

3) optional WLAN module or

4) M.2-2242 SSDs with SATA interface (B+M key) or with NVMe interface (M key)

Note: Please go to the "Advanced" tab in the BIOS setup and set "M.2 Device Select" to "PCIe" or "SATA" according to the type of M.2 card used.

 

SIM expansion slot

A nano SIM card can be installed in an appropriate slot directly on the mainboard. The SIM card can be used in combination with an optional LTE/4G module that is to be installed in the M.2-3042 slot.

 

 

Micro SD Card Reader

Integrated card reader

Supports Micro SD, Micro SDHC and Micro SDXC memory flash cards

Supports booting from SD card

 

Wired Network

RJ45 connector supports Gigabit LAN at 10/100/1000 Mbit/s.

Realtek RTL8119I-CG Ethernet Controller

Supports Wake-on-LAN

 

Connectors and LED

- Power LED

- HDMI 1.4b digital video and audio output

- 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A

- Micro USB 2.0

- Micro SD card reader

- Gigabit network port (LAN, RJ45)

- DC input (2-pin Euroblock)

- 4x perforated 6.5 mm holes for optional LTE/4G antennas

- Optional: second Gigabit network port

- Optional: HDMI input

- Hole for Kensington Lock

 

Onboard I/O connector

34-pin header "J1" with I/O ports as follows:

- Power Button (pin 11)

- Reset Button (pin 13)

- Always-on function (pin 29-30 shortened by jumper)

- RS232 3.3V (pin 2, 4, 6, 8)

- RS232/422/485 3.3V (pin 31, 32, 33, 34)

- 4x GPIO 1.8V (pin 21 ,23, 25, 27)

- I2C bus (pin 22, 24)

Reserved pins:

- UART 3.3V (Pin 1, 3, 5, 7): Debug Port

- Recovery (Pin 15): no function

Note: The onboard connector "CN5" (CanBus) cannot be used.

 

DC Input connector

The 2-pin Euroblock connector supports 12~19V of DC input voltage.

The included Phoenix connector enables a DC cable to be connected via terminal strip.

In addition, the included adapter cable allows a power adapter with a 5.5 / 2.5 mm DC plug to be connected.

The recommended minimum output wattage of the power adapter is:

- 40 W, if the accessory PSE01 is not used.

- 65 W, if the accessory PSE01 is installed.

 

Power Supply via PoE (optional)

The PC is powered either via the DC input connector or via PoE (Power over Ethernet). The PoE function can be added with the optional Shuttle accessory PD01.

The Power Soucing Equipment (PSE, e.g. PoE switch or injector) should be capable to deliver at least 48V DC / 0.65A.

 

Supplied Accessories

- Multi-language user guide (EN, DE, FR, ES, JP, KR, SC, TC)

- Driver DVD (Windows 10, 64-bit)

- Bracket for VESA and DIN-Rail mounting

- Two screws M3 x 4 mm (attaches mounting bracket to PC)

- DIN-Rail clip

- Two screws M3 x 4 mm (attaches mounting bracket to DIN-Rail clip)

- VESA mount for 75 / 100 mm standard

- Four screws M4 x 10 mm (to affix VESA mount on PC)

- Two screws M3 x 5 mm (to mount an M.2 card)

- 2-pin Phoenix connector

- DC adapter cable (connects the Phoenix connector to a 2.5 / 5.5 mm coaxial DC plug of a power adapter)

Note: A power adapter is not included.

 

Optional Accessories

- PD01: PD daughterboard to power EN01B by PoE (48V DC, 0.65A)

- PSE01: PSE daughterboard - EN01B acts as a PoE power source (48V DC, 0.5A)

- MCAP01: HDMI capture card in M.2-2242 format with HDMI cable

- WWN01: Set with two LTE/4G antennas and antenna cables

- LN007 and WLN-M: WLAN kit with WLAN card, M.2 adapter and two antennas

- PE90: Power Adapter (19V / 90W)

 

Environmental Specifications

Operating temperature range: 0 ~ 50 °C

Relative humidity range: 10 ~ 90 % (non-condensing)

Warning: Never touch the heatsink during or just after operation, as it can get very hot during normal operation. Be sure to wait for the heatsink to cool off before touching it.

 

Certification and Compliance

EMI: FCC, CE, BSMI, VCCI, RCM

Safety: ETL, CB, BSMI, IP20

Other: RoHS, Energy Star, ErP

This device is classed as a technical information equipment (ITE) in class B and is intended for use in living room and office. The CE-mark approves the conformity by the EU directives:

(1) 2014/30/EU relating to electromagnetic compatibility (EMC),

(2) 2014/35/EU relating to Electrical Equipment designed for use within certain voltage limits (LVD),

(3) 2009/125/EC relating to eco design requirements for energy-related products (ErP),

(4) 2014/53/EU Radio Equipment Directive (RED)

 

With the new EN01 series, Shuttle brings the IoT solution to a new level, by providing a very compact and modular mini-PC model. The EDGE family features energy-efficient CPUs from Intel Apollo Lake series and does support both Windows and Linux OSes.

 

There are two main platforms we can choose from:

 

-EN01J3 with Intel Celeron J3355 Dual Core, 4GB RAM, 64GB eMMC flash memory

-EN01J4 with Intel Pentium J4205 Quad Core, 8GB RAM, 64GB eMMC flash memory

 

The units are passively cooled, approved for 24/7 operation with ambient temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius, while the chassis is made of aluminum. The modular nature of the series does allow installation of different other boards, depending on the use case scenario:

 

-LN007 adapter board for a WLAN card + WLN-M universal WLAN-ac / Bluetooth Combo kit

-MCAP01 expansion kit which allows video capturing via HDMI input

-PD01 daughterboard for permitting the EN01 to be powered via PoE; this also adds a secondary Gigabit network port

-PSE01 daughterboard which provides another Gigabit Ethernet port with PoE function, so EC01 can act as a PSE which carries both data and operating voltage to a connected network device, such as a camera

-LTE/4G module with antennas for enabling mobile network connectivity to the EN01

-if the device is not powered via PoE, then the PE90 90W external power adapter can be used for that matter as well; both EN01 models have a two-pin Euroblock connector and can be supplied with a voltage of 12-19 V. A Phoenix screw terminal and an adapter for power supply units with a barrel connector is bundled with the systems.

 

The EN01 EDGE miniPC is shipped inside a compact cardboard enclosure, which shows box art like the one we have seen before with Shuttle products:

 

 

 

On one of the sides, we will get to see the technical specifications of the product, along with the product serial number:

 

 

 

The top cover does feature a similar art format:

 

 

 

After lifting the cover, we will get to see the driver disk, but also lots of protective foam material:

 

 

 

The foam cover removal will reveal even more components:

 

 

 

 

Besides the EN01 unit, we will receive a VESA mount, a power cable adapter, screws, a DIN-rail clip but also a bracket:

 

 

 

The VESA mount allows installation of the EN01 behind a monitor and will be used along with the supplied bracket:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The adapter bracket will be used as well along with the supplied clip, in order to mount the unit onto a standard rack DIN-rail:

 

 

 

 

The necessary screws are supplied in different bags:

 

 

 

If you need assistance during installation, Shuttle does have a small manual ready in form of a leaflet; more documentation can be found on Shuttle’s website as well:

 

 

 

 

The DC-Input connector allows the EN01 to be powered by an external adapter, such as the PE90:

 

 

 

 

 

On the top area of the EN01 we will observe a large heatsink, which helps with the cooling of the internal CPU board; on our EN01J4 sample, this contains the Pentium J4205 processor, 8GB of LPDDR4-2400 RAM and 64GB of eMMC flash memory:

 

 

 

In the front, we will get to see a white Shuttle logo, but also two 6.5mm holes for external antennas:

 

 

 

The left side comes with a pilot hole for a wire (covered by rubber), but also another 6.5mm hole for an external antenna:

 

 

 

In the back, we will spot a blue Power LED, 3 USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, a RJ45 LAN port, a HDMI 1.4b output, a micro USB 2.0 port, a HDMI input placeholder but also a RJ45 LAN port with PoE placeholder:

 

 

 

On the right side, we do have a Micro SD card reader, a DC input Euroblock connector, a Kensington lock hole but also the final hole for a 6.5mm external antenna:

 

 

 

On the bottom cover, we will be able to spot the SN of the product, but also an additional sticker with the power rating; rubber feet are available here as well, so the unit can be used on the desk without any issues at all:

 

 

 

After removing the four bottom screws, we can put the aluminum protective housing aside:

 

 

 

The bottom area of the chassis can be removed separately as well:

 

 

 

As we have seen with the ECS Liva Q2, the EN01J4 does have sandwiched PCBs as well, the bottom one being the CPU board, while the middle one being the Carrier board, which houses ports for expansion modules as well:

 

 

 

The top, large aluminum heatsink can be detached from the CPU board with four screws; this one includes a smaller heatsink of its own, but there is no thermal compound present between the two heat dissipation elements:

 

 

 

Here are some side shots of both PCBs:

 

 

 

 

 

On this side we can also see the large connector which allows the two board to communicate:

 

 

 

The Carrier board does include a M.2-3042 B-key slot, which does support a M.2 SSD, the HDMI optional capture card, LN007 adapter board for a WLAN card but also the LTE/4G module optional component:

 

 

 

A closer look at the Carrier board does reveal the slot for the nano SIM card but also a debug connector:

 

 

 

The 20-pin connector serves when installing the PoE extension:

 

 

 

Nearby we do also have the 34-pin expansion I/O header:

 

 

 

For being able to power on the computer, Shuttle did also supply the PE90 optional accessory:

 

 

 

The PSU is shipped together with the necessary power lead:

 

 

 

 

It was manufactured by Ac Bel and is rated on the output as 19V at 4.74A:

 

 

 

The PSU jack plug will be used along with the supplied adapter cable:

 

 

 

 

The BIOS GUI for this particular system is simple to work with and adopts the Aptio Setup Utility; in the Main area, we will learn of the currently flashed BIOS version, the CPU default speed and total installed memory. Here we will also be able to change the system date and time:

 

 

 

The Advanced Settings menu contains plenty of sub-sections:

 

 

 

The CPU Configuration area will display the installed processor characteristics but also allow the user to enable or disable some features:

 

 

 

The SATA Configuration area does only display if a M.2 device has been detected:

 

 

 

Same thing is with the USB Configuration menu, where we will be shown the connected devices:

 

 

 

In the Onboard Device Configuration area, we will be able to choose if the LAN interface is on or off, select how much memory should be available for the iGPU, select the operating mode for the M.2 slot and more:

 

 

 

The M.2 slot supports both PCI-E or SATA storage devices:

 

 

 

 

The regular PM-related options can be found in the Power Management Configuration menu as well:

 

 

 

TPM Configuration menu is next:

 

 

 

The Hardware Health Configuration menu does only display the current SoC temperature:

 

 

 

In the Security tab, we will be able to set a Supervisor/User password, but also enable BIOS Flash Write protection or Secure Boot:

 

 

 

The Boot options are present next:

 

 

 

Finally, we do have the Exit menu, where we can Save, Discard or load Factory defaults:

 

 

 

The EN01J4 system is equipped with the Intel Pentium J4205 Quad-Core SoC (Apollo Lake), with four cores and four threads. While the base frequency is set at 1.5GHz, it will climb while boosting to 2.4GHz and sports a total cache of 2MB.

 

CPU

Motherboard

IMC

SSD

Network Adapters

iGPU

Audio Devices

In order to find out the performance of the integrated Kingston eMMC, we did run both ATTO and AS SSD:

 

 

 

 

AIDA64

 

Cinebench R15

 

 

 

Blender Ryzen Render

 

 

PCMark 7

 

 

PCMark 8

 

 

SuperPI XS [2M]

 

X265 Benchmark 1080P 64-bit Normal

 

 

GeekBench 4

 

 

3DMark Vantage

 

 

3DMark 2013

 

 

Tomb Raider

Andrenaline Action Benchmark Presets

 

Hitman: Absolution

Andrenaline Action Benchmark Presets

 

Sleeping Dogs

Andrenaline Action Benchmark Presets

With the EN01 series, Shuttle is proposing a modular PC solution for industrial use, which is easy to work with and depending on the application needs it will house different CPUs and memory quantities as well. The EN01J4 sample we have tested is a quad-core SKU which offers quite a bit of performance and comes with enough RAM in order to be able to run multiple tasks at once. The product is fanless, can be powered from either the 2-pin Euroblock or PoE (with an additional adapter) and can be also equipped with WLAN/LTE capabilities.

 

The product can be installed with racks since it uses DIN-rail mounting (adapters are included in the standard packaging), but also in the back of the display thanks to the VESA mount (included as well). If the user will need to have the PC installed on the desk (as a regular computer or to access different interfaces), Shuttle has also included rubber feet on the bottom area of the chassis.

 

The product can be also used for capturing video from external sources via HDMI if the suitable MCAP01 accessory is installed, which is a nice feature to have!

 

Given the passive cooling through convective heat transfer, the device is practically noiseless, and much less dust will be collected inside the chassis during longer periods of time. While keeping the test room with a constant temperature of 26 degrees Celsius, we have recorded a maximum core temp of about 76 degrees Celsius during maximum load, which is very acceptable. When all four threads are occupied, the CPU will downclock itself to about 1600-1700MHz and during this time we have seen a drop of the CPU package power to the Intel-specified of 10W TDP.

 

 

(click to enlarge)

 

In terms of power consumption from the wall, we were quite impressed! In IDLE, the EN01J4 does only draw 3.61W, while in Full Load we have seen spikes of only 15.8W. The product does not come with a Power button and frankly it does not need it since in all usage environments we can “set it and forget it”.

 

The price for the reviewed model is 467 Euros excluding VAT, while the PE90 is 39 Euros (also excluding VAT).

 

Shuttle EDGE EN01J4 Robust Industry PC is Recommended for:

 

 

 

We would like to thank again to Shuttle Europe for making this review possible!