Azulle Access3 Review: The Best Stick PC Gets Better

Our Verdict

The Azulle Access3 is our new favorite stick PC, combining an excellent pattern with category-leading operation and best-in-class connectivity options.

For

Elegant design combines fanless cooling with stylish looks
Improved port selection boasts USB 3.0 and Gigabit Ethernet
Zippy performance
Supports 4K video at 30Hz

Confronting

Wearisome information transfer speeds
Optional bundled keyboard is clunky

Tom's Guide Verdict

The Azulle Access3 is our new favorite stick PC, combining an splendid design with category-leading operation and best-in-class connectivity options.

Pros

+
Elegant blueprint combines fanless cooling with stylish looks
+
Improved port selection boasts USB three.0 and Gigabit Ethernet
+
Zippy performance
+
Supports 4K video at 30Hz

Cons

-
Slow data transfer speeds
-
Optional bundled keyboard is clunky

Equally mini PCs get, "mini" tin come in two flavors: desktops small enough to put into a backpack, or PCs that tin can fit into a hip pocket and be carried with your keys. The Azulle Access3 ($234 lone, or $264 in a bundle) is definitely in the latter campsite, with a compact design that'south smaller than near candy confined, yet powerful enough for browsing the web or streaming 4K videos from Netflix.

Nosotros loved the previous model that we saw in 2017, the Azulle Access Plus, and the Access3 manages to evangelize an even better feel in the same small parcel. The tiny PC boasts a fashionable, fanless pattern, with a faster processor and better port selection, making it 1 of the best mini PCs — and indeed, ane of the all-time computers period — on the marketplace. In fact, it'south and so good that it won a recommendation for best mini PC in our Tom'southward Guide Awards 2021.

Design

Stick PC designs have more or less stayed the same since the form factor was introduced in 2015, and the Azulle Access3 looks nearly identical to its predecessor from 2017, the Azulle Access Plus. The candy-bar dimensions mensurate the aforementioned five.v x ii.36 x 0.76 inches, and the surface of the stick PC is grooved, with a pattern of concentric circles. The meaty design is still the most elegant of any stick PC we've seen, and even rivals some of our favorite mini PC designs, like the Ockel Sirius B Black Cherry'southward star-chart-imprinted heatsink.

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The tiny chassis uses a fanless cooling pattern, so at that place are no internal moving parts, and an external Wi-Fi antenna provides better wireless connectivity than about stick PCs can evangelize.

On one end is an HDMI connector, for plugging direct into a monitor or Tv, and on the other cease is a thicker section of chassis that offers a good grip for plugging and unplugging the device. That thicker terminate as well provides more width to accommodate a full-size Gigabit Ethernet port.

Ports

For such a tiny arrangement, the Azulle Access3 has a surprisingly rich selection of ports, with an HDMI 2.0 output to handle video and audio, two USB 3.0 ports, a microSD card slot for expanding storage, a 3.5 mm sound jack and a Gigabit Ethernet jack.

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While the overall port selection is similar to what nosotros saw on the previous Azulle Admission Plus, the Ethernet port gets a bump upward from the ten/100 mbps connectedness of the 2017 model to Gigabit speed, and the USB ports are both iii.0, instead of one slower USB 2.0 port.

MORE: Best Mini PCs 2019

It's also a meaning comeback over competitors like the Lenovo IdeaCentre Stick 300, which had simply one USB port, and the Access3 doesn't require additional dongles for basic connectivity the way the Zotac Zbox PI225 pico does.

Configurations

The diminutive Access3 comes in a few different versions, differentiated by the memory and storage options. The base model has 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage space.

The next step up is our review model, which has 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage infinite. Some other version offers 4GB with 64GB of storage.

I additional selection is also bachelor, which has 6GB of retentiveness and a 32GB eMMC drive for storage.

Performance

The compact Access3 is equipped with a quad-core Intel Gemini Lake Celeron N4100 processor, clocked at 1.1GHz and paired with 4GB of RAM. While low-powered Celeron and Cantlet processors are the norm for this class of PC, this CPU will support the 64-bit version of Windows 10 Pro, which is non always guaranteed in this style of system. The Lenovo IdeaCentre Stick 300, for example, was limited to a 32-fleck version, thanks to its Intel Atom Z3735F processor and 2GB of memory.

In actual employ, the Access3 supports a decent level of spider web browsing, handling up to eight browser tabs without slowing down. Just functioning dropped off in one case I opened upwards a ninth tab. Information technology will as well handle 4K video at 30Hz, making it well suited for home theater employ. All the same, you'll want to run that video from continued storage instead of streaming over Wi-Fi, which can often clogging the video functioning.

MORE: Best Streaming Devices 2019

In our master performance benchmark, Geekbench 4, the Access3 scored 4,541 points. That leads the competition by a huge margin, with the older Azulle Admission Plus (2017) scoring 2,401 points with an older Cantlet processor (Intel Atom x5-Z8350, 4GB of RAM), and handily beating the Ockel Sirius B Black Cherry (2,283, with an Atom x5-Z8350, 4GB of RAM) and the Zotac Zbox PI225 pico (i,475 points, with an Intel Celeron N3350 and 4GB of memory).

In our older Open Role spreadsheet macro test, the Access3 crunched a behemothic dataset, pairing tens of thousands of names and addresses in seven minutes and 33 seconds. Although that may not sound particularly impressive, it'south a tape setter in the mini PC world, where the Ockel Sirius B Black Cherry (xviii:50) and the Zotac Zbox PI225 pico (21:55) took much, much longer. The closest issue, in fact, was the Azulle Access Plus (xvi:47), which notwithstanding trailed past nearly 9 minutes.

The only area where the Access3 didn't prepare a new bar for operation was in our file- transfer test, where the stick PC took 3 minutes and 3 seconds to move a four.97GB file, at a charge per unit of 27.81 Mbps. While that'due south non the worst performance we've seen in this test – the Ockel Sirius B Black Ruby falls a half step behind it at 24.35 MBps – it's still slower than we've seen on other small-scale PCs, similar the Zotac Zbox PI225 pico (45.04 MBps) or the Azulle Access Plus (2017) (41.04 MBps).

Nevertheless, graphics operation put it back on elevation once again, ripping through the 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited benchmark with a score of 27,404 at 1080p settings. That'south a desperate comeback over the Zotac Zbox PI225 pico (13,462) and the 2017 Azulle Access Plus (18,805), and the divergence in performance will be seen in better video streams and quicker graphics rendering.

Accessories

The Access iii has ii USB ports, providing enough connectivity for a wired keyboard and mouse, or even a wireless keyboard/mouse combination, like the Logitech K600. But Azulle also offers its own keyboard accessory, the Lynk Windows Multifunctional Remote Control ($29.99), putting a couch-friendly spin on the wireless keyboard by cramming it into a class that'south more like your Telly remote command. It's besides broadly uniform with many devices. Since it connects via wireless USB dongle, the Lynk volition also piece of work with game consoles, set peak boxes and any other Windows PC.

Lynk Multi-functional Remote Control — Lynk Multi-functional Remote Command (Image credit: Azulle)

On the front of the keyboard remote are several remote-command buttons, which offer functionality similar to what you'd get on whatever smart-TV remote control: A directional pad for navigation, volume command buttons, home push button and a play/suspension button for controlling video playback. There's a microphone button for voice interaction, a power button and a contextual card button.

In that location are too several unique buttons, with functions you might not see elsewhere, such equally the correct and left mouse buttons, which can be used with a gesture mouse that lets you betoken the remote at the TV and move your cursor with a waggle of the remote control. Information technology's like to the motion command offered on the remote that comes with LG Smart TVs. Aside from mouse options, there's also a Windows push button and a push that turns on the tiny QWERTY keyboard on the back.

That'due south correct, this handheld remote control packs a small, thumb-friendly keyboard, letting you enter text quickly and perform simple keyboard shortcuts without having to get up off the burrow. It's also backlit, with the letters glowing bright blue when lit.

The keyboard is a welcome add-on, especially for anyone who needs more traditional calculator functions when the mini PC is continued to a TV. Entering text on the keyboard'southward soft rubber buttons is definitely amend than almost of the bad-mannered on-screen keyboards I've used.

More than: xi Cheap Keyboards (Under $20) Ranked from All-time to Worst

But the rest of the remote is a less satisfying experience. The design isn't especially comfy to hold, and the various Windows functions grafted onto the remote command feel a bit disjointed. The whole thing feels like a stopgap measure, and while information technology'south an honest attempt at bringing users a full keyboard and mouse adequacy in a more TV-esque surround, information technology just serves to drive home how essential a existent keyboard and mouse tin can be.

Bottom Line

As the follow-up to our favorite stick PC, we had high expectations for the Azulle Access3. And yet, the slim mini PC managed to exceed about of those, thanks to a zippier processor, faster port selection and a blueprint that didn't change whatsoever of the things nosotros loved the first time. Although nosotros weren't thrilled about the slower transfer speeds or the clunky keyboard/remote philharmonic, the Access3 nevertheless claims the elevation spot as our favorite stick PC.

Compared with the 2017 Azulle Access Plus, the new model Access3 blazed past it with faster functioning, better video-treatment and an improved port selection – no pocket-sized task when you've just got one or two foursquare inches of space for any ports at all. And compared with other small mini PCs, like the Ockel Sirius B Black Carmine or the credit-bill of fare-size Zotac Zbox PI225 pico, it boasts an even larger margin of performance, and packs it all into a smaller package.

Whether it's for use in your dwelling theater, powering digital signage or just giving you a style to scout Netflix on your hotel TV, the Azulle Access3 is our new favorite stick PC.

Brian Westover is an Editor at Tom'south Guide, roofing everything from TVs to the latest PCs. Prior to joining Tom'due south Guide, he wrote for TopTenReviews and PCMag.