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I hate that this has been happening with youtubers that used to specialize in low-end devices, and would tweak and adjust the settings to get the most out of each game and each device, but nowadays it's "oh, this game doesn't run at 60FPS in 2x resolution, don't even bother."

THANK YOU! That shit drives me nuts! I saw a video of a Intel N100 mini PC review. The guy was fussing about Cyberpunk 2077 running at 720p/15/low. "I'm like bruh, did you turn on FSR? Did you try going a bit lower in resolution but playing borderless window? How about adjusting more of the shadows and lighting?" People really need to understand what they are dealing with and temper their expectations.

Not everything is a 1080p or 4K machine running games at 120 fps and not everyone wants or needs that. I'm happy with 720p and a solid 30. Hell, in the most extreme cases id gladly take a 480x720 (Wii resolution) if it meant playing a game with decent settings. Drives me nuts that I can't get that resolution with Baldur's Gate 3.

Any games you're particularly interested to see from a low powered PC? I have a cool N300 PC on hand that I'm working on a review for. I was surprised by how capable the N100 was the last time I used it for things like Wii U emulation if you're happy with compromises like 540p.

I would LOVE to see Street Fighter 6 or Assassin's Creed Odyssey tested on a N100. I'm sure it's pushing it but I'm curious. I have a N100 on the way for my youngest. She doesn't play anything demanding. Lego Worlds and Sims 4.

I wanted to see what type of mileage I could get out the machine before upgrading to another mini PC in a few years. The reason I purchased this N100 was the price and I wanted a device that was more energy efficient. Her current machine is an old Dell with a -200 ish watt power supply and a GT-1030 as the GPU.

Mmmmmm I don't own either of those sadly. Baldur's Gate 3 is a game I try to look at with most systems, but even with that it's hard to say the game runs well when Act 1 and Act 3 are so different performance-wise.

On the larger note of Mini PCs, I'm honestly not too happy with my own reviews looking back on them. I want to come up with a structure that's interesting and gives a good idea of what to expect from a system, but it's proved difficult outside of literally writing out the same review 5x over with different numbers.

I like the idea of pushing a system, so I might try an approach of picking two or three big games and going through the steps it took to get them running at an acceptable framerate (30fps generally), and then maybe list a few games by comparison that really wouldn't run.

If there are any standout games in my Steam library you think would fit well I'm happy to consider it. I picked up a bunch of Sony's PC ports a few months back with the intent of using those, but I've been a little strapped for time and haven't been able to start them lol https://steamdb.info/calculator/76561198074196576/?cc=uk&all_games

Your issue with BG3 reminds me of the struggle the Steam Deck has. It's the major reason I wanted a 720x480 mode for the game. I think the lowest resolution I can get on my Deck is 1024x768

Just checked your list. Please test Need For Speed Unbound, Death Stranding, Elden Ring and Horizon Zero Dawn! I have a feeling that test session would be crazy!

I'm not far in any of those games outside of Elden Ring, but I'll give it a shot. I think I do have them all downloaded on my benchmarking SSD at the moment anyway. Keep an eye out for the N300 review (prob next week!), and if things go well I might revisit the Air12 I have with the N100 for an editorial or something.