Been shopping for a tiny desktop around the internet? The ECS Liva Z3 is going to look pretty familiar. These days, mini PCs from many different manufacturers look like they all come off the same assembly line. Similar boxy profiles and basic black panels look like somebody copied-and-pasted the Intel NUC over and over again, with minor cosmetic changes here and there. The ECS Liva Z3 (starts at $220; $250 as tested) doesn’t stray from that template, looking just like the recently reviewed Beelink GK Mini and other NUC-like systems. But it still has something to offer: a low price that makes it a great choice if you’re on a budget. That’s provided, of course, that you can accept the performance limitations that come with the Liva Z3’s Pentium processor and eMMC storage.
Compact, But Not Complex
It may not be the tiniest mini PC we’ve reviewed, but the Liva Z3 is still pretty small. Measuring just 1.4 by 4.6 by 5 inches (HWD), it’s in the same vein as the smaller iterations of the Intel NUC, with a simple square shape and removable top and bottom plastic panels. The basic black color scheme and glossy plastic panels are simple and inoffensive, so you can use this black box pretty much anywhere—or just stash it out of sight. The 1.5-pound Liva Z3 comes with a VESA mounting plate that lets you attach it to the back of a monitor.
Ventilation on the sides of the square chassis keeps things cool without any noisy fans, and the Z3 can be opened up easily in the event that you need to upgrade the RAM or add storage. The system can be bumped up to 16GB of RAM and has an M.2 PCIe slot for adding an SSD.
Built into the small PC is a four-microphone array, evidenced by four barely noticeable pin holes along the front of the enclosure. These mics are handy for using applications like Zoom without a headset or desktop mic, but are intended for use with Amazon Alexa on Windows. Turning your mini PC into an Alexa-powered device is as easy as downloading a free app from Amazon.
As with most tiny desktop designs, you’ll need to worry more about making room for cables and the included power adapter than finding space for the compact system itself. You do get a good assortment of ports to work with, front and back.
On the front of the chassis is a trio of USB 3.2 ports, along with a single USB Type-C port and a 3.5mm headset jack. On the back, you’ll find two USB 2.0 jacks, along with a Gigabit LAN port, an HDMI output, and a mini DisplayPort (the last two both capable of up to 4K resolution).
Our review unit comes equipped with Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth, though the Liva Z3 can also be configured with Wi-Fi 6.
Testing the Liva Z3: Affordable Pentium Pep
Our ECS Liva Z3 review unit is outfitted with an Intel Pentium Silver N6000 CPU, backed by 8GB of memory and 128GB of eMMC storage. This diminutive Intel “Jasper Lake”-based desktop can also be configured with Celeron N5100 and N4500 processors, up to 16GB of RAM, and an optional SSD for storage.
For performance benchmark comparisons, we’re looking at several mini PCs that may be outwardly similar, but that lie across a wide range of hardware options and price points. These comparisons include systems that are similar to the Liva Z3, like the Intel Celeron-equipped Beelink GK Mini, as well as more powerful contenders, like the Core i5 Intel NUC 11 Pro Kit and the AMD Ryzen-based ECS Liva Q3 Plus.
With prices ranging from the ultra-affordable $250 of our review unit to north of $500 for the MSI Cubi 5 10M, this mix shows how varied the mini PC category can be. Some are for simple uses, like signage or retail point-of-sale systems, up to more powerful desktops that offer real productive capability.
To measure general performance in everyday tasks, we use UL’s PCMark 10 benchmark, which simulates real-world office tasks and content-creation workflows. Though the Liva Z3 couldn’t match systems like the Intel NUC 11 Pro and the MSI Cubi 5 10M, which employ Intel Core i5 processors, it did beat out the Celeron-equipped Beelink GK Mini. It also came tantalizingly close to matching the AMD Ryzen-equipped Liva Q3 Plus, a more powerful system from the same manufacturer. (Note that that Q3 Liva is using an unusual, seldom-seen embedded version of the Ryzen line, not a more consumer-minded mobile or desktop chip.)
For a clearer look at CPU performance alone, we use Maxon’s Cinebench R23 rendering test. The Liva Z3 is clearly not meant for processor-intensive tasks, scoring a paltry 908 points. It’s a little better than the Beelink, but a far cry from systems like this Core i5 Intel NUC.
Another processing test is Primate Labs’ Geekbench 5.4.1, which simulates real-world applications to gauge how well a PC will handle tasks like PDF rendering and speech recognition. Compared to systems like the Intel NUC, it’s no contest, but the little desktop does surprisingly well against other mini PCs, nearly matching the Beelink and falling a bit short of the AMD-based ECS model.
For a more realistic look at what the Liva Z3’s hardware can do under a heavy load, we use HandBrake 1.4 to transcode a 4K video clip to 1080p, giving the system an easily measured, core-crunching performance test. Clearly, this isn’t a video editing machine, taking more than 50 minutes to finish this straightforward task. By comparison, the Core i5-equipped Intel NUC did the same task in under 13 minutes.
Finally, though the Liva Z3’s Pentium CPU is definitely not intended for content creation, we ran the mini PC through Puget Systems’ PugetBench for Photoshop, cranking through a script of multimedia tasks. Results were predictably in the basement.
Strikes Out on Graphics
When it comes to graphics and gaming, the Pentium-powered Liva Z3 is best for only the most basic of uses. With no discrete GPU, and only basic graphics capability from its integrated Intel UHD Graphics solution, you’ll do best sticking to tasks that don’t get more visually demanding than YouTube or Netflix.
The only graphics test we were able to run that could be compared to competitors was 3DMark Night Raid, a DirectX 12 test that’s meant for low powered systems. Here the ECS Liva Z3 fell far behind the competition, scoring just 2,160 points, compared with the AMD-powered ECS Liva Q3 Plus and the Intel NUC 11 Pro Kit, which scored 5,395 points and 11,686 points, respectively. Given that these systems boast better integrated graphics alongside their more powerful CPUs, these results are no surprise.
The bigger surprise is that the Pentium-based Liva Z3 even ran the Night Raid test at all, which cannot be said for our other go-to graphics test, GFXBench 5.0. Again, similarly equipped systems like the Beelink GK Mini were also unable to run the test, so it’s not much of a surprise. This little system can handle web browsing and maybe some media streaming, but unless your gaming needs top out with NES-era titles, you won’t be doing any major gaming on this machine.
Verdict: A Most Basic Black Box
Unsurprisingly, the ECS Liva Z3, with its Intel Pentium Silver N6000 processor, isn’t leading the pack on most of our tests. The Beelink GK Mini is similarly small and affordable, but it offers performance that’s often slightly better. But the Liva Z3 isn’t always the worst of the bunch.
For a system that sells for well under $300, it’s affordable enough to be used in some creative ways. The small size makes it easy to tuck behind a monitor for a capable web-browsing machine, or plugging into a 4K TV for streaming and browsing a personal media collection. It’s even small enough that you can comfortably toss it into a carry-on bag to use in a hotel or Airbnb.
If you want to use it for something like signage or a self-serve kiosk, it’s more than adequate for the simple demands of those tasks. Students will find it’s capable enough for researching and writing term papers. But more complex tasks, like basic photo editing, will be irritatingly slow on this little black box.
