ECS Liva Z3 Plus: Affordable Mini PC

The ECS Liva Z3 Plus may not look like much of a system, but packed inside this not-quite-palm-size device is a Core i5 desktop capable of running office tasks with ease.

- MICHAEL SEXTON

The model seen here is held back by its skimpy 4GB of standard onboard RAM, but if you don’t mind springing for a second SO-DIMM stick to upgrade it to 8GB and a Windows 10 license (an OS is not preinstalled), you’ll find the Liva Z3 Plus a highly affordable, potent mini PC for everyday computing in places where you don’t have room for a tower of any kind.

A CAREFULLY CRAFTED CHASSIS

Measuring 1.4 by 5 by 4.6 inches (about the footprint of a plastic CD case, just thicker), the Liva Z3 Plus is extremely compact and able to fit just about anywhere. Using an included mounting bracket, you can also easily mount it to the back of a desk or a monitor, hidden out of sight.

The system doesn’t have much in the way of thermal hardware inside: There’s a copper heat pipe and a small fan along with an even smaller heatsink. It’s reminiscent of what you’d expect to see inside a laptop, though in truth most laptops I’ve seen have more in the way of cooling than this system does. (I’ll get into that more later on, when I put the system through its paces.)

The case’s exterior leaves something to be desired in terms of cooling. Banks of ventilation slots on two sides of the case allow for airflow, but that’s it. Additional holes for ventilation may have detracted from the Liva’s overall aesthetic, but with how the interior fan sits, it might have been beneficial to have cutouts on the top of the system, as well.

The front and back of the device are laden with ports. The front holds all of the system’s USB ports—three USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A, plus a single USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C port, along with a 3.5mm audio jack and the power button. The back is home to HDMI and mini-DisplayPort video outputs, the power connector, and a pair of RJ-45 Ethernet jacks.