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DroiX Proteus 11 Review with video compared with 11S Windows Mini PC

DroiX Proteus 11 & 11S Review - Intel i5-1135G7 and i7-1165G7 windows mini PC
High performance Windows 11 mini PC
  • Design
    (4.5)
  • Build Quality
    (5)
  • Performance
    (4.5)
  • Features
    (4.5)
  • Software
    (4.5)

Summary

A high performance mini PC that is perfect for use either in the home or office for work. It has extremely fast storage speed, fast and reliable WiFi 6 and support for up to four displays with a compatible USB hub.

Overall
4.6
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User Review
0 (0 votes)

Pros

  • Choice of i5 or i7 processor to suit your requirements
  • Up to 64GB DDR4 RAM supported
  • Very fast m.2 NVMe storage
  • Fast and reliable WiFi 6
  • External WiFi antennas
  • Aluminium alloy case helps keep it cool
  • Low noise and cool fan temperatures

Cons

Today in our DroiX Proteus 11 review, we are taking a look at our brand new Windows mini PC in the DroiX Proteus range. We will be unboxing the Intel i5 based Proteus 11, and the i7 based Proteus 11S. Then take a look at their features and then run some system benchmarks to compare their performance.

DroiX Proteus 11 Review Video

Unboxing the DroiX Proteus 11S

We start our DroiX Proteus 11 review with the unboxing. Inside the box is the DroiX Proteus 11S mini PC, the 11 model looks exactly the same on the outside. We will take a closer look at it in a moment.

The DroiX Proteus 11S Windows mini PC
The DroiX Proteus 11S Windows mini PC

Underneath the packaging is a box containing the accessories. There are some screws for fitting your internal 2.5” drive. There are two antennas which you screw into the back of the Proteus. These antennas improve the WiFi 6 signal to provide even higher speeds and stability.

Two external antennas for even better WiFi 6 reliability and speed
Two external antennas for even better WiFi 6 reliability and speed

And last but not least there is a power brick and cable. We will include the correct plug adaptor for your country.

We will include the correct plug adapter for your country
We will include the correct plug adapter for your country

DroiX Proteus 11S Overview

The DroiX Proteus 11 aluminium alloy case measures 5.1 x 5 x 1.69 inches (13 x 12.7 x 4.3 cm) and weighs 630 grams.

DroiX Proteus 11S mini PC dimensions
DroiX Proteus 11S mini PC dimensions

On the front are two USB 3 and two USB 2 ports. Beside those is a 3.5mm headphone jack. And to the right side are the status LED and power button.

Front view of the DroIX Proteus 11S office mini PC
Front view of the DroiX Proteus 11S office mini PC

On the back we have a gigabit ethernet port and two USB 3 ports. There are HDMI, DisplayPort and USB Type-C ports which can be used together for up to four monitor support with the correct accessories. The Type-C port is Thunderbolt 4 compatible so it can also be used to connect other peripherals including external graphics cards.

Back view of the DroIX Proteus 11S home mini PC
Back view of the DroiX Proteus 11S home mini PC

And just above are the two WiFi antenna connectors. They simply screw into place and can be adjusted to any angle. If you are using ethernet for example, then you do not need to attach them.

DroiX Proteus 11 & 11S Technical Specifications

PROTEUS 11PROTEUS 11S
CPUIntel 11th Gen Core i5-1135G7
4 cores, 8 threads, 28W TDP
Max frequency 4.20Ghz
Intel 11th Gen Core i7-1165G7
4 cores, 8 threads, 28W TDP
Max frequency 4.70Ghz
GPUIntel Iris Xe GraphicsIntel Iris Xe Graphics
RAMUp to 64GB DDR4 SO-DIMM x2Up to 64GB DDR4 SO-DIMM x2
STORAGEUp to 1TB M.2 NVMe
Space inside for one 2.5″ HDD/SSD
Up to 1TB M.2 NVMe
Space inside for one 2.5″ HDD/SSD
CONNECTIVITYWi-Fi 6E
Bluetooth 5.3
1Gbps Ethernet
Wi-Fi 6E
Bluetooth 5.3
1Gbps Ethernet
FAN NOISE62dB under full load64dB under full load
TEMPERATURE40°C / 104°F under full load43°C / 109°F under full load
DroiX Proteus 11 & 11S Technical Specifications

Both models come with Windows 11 installed. Both models tested in average office noise conditions and room temperature.

System Benchmarks

PassMark

Continuing our DroiX Proteus 11 review, we start the system benchmarks with PassMark. It runs a series of tests on the CPU, GPU, RAM and Storage to push them to their peak performance. This gives us a good indication of their maximum performance.

PassMark Benchmark & Results
PassMark Benchmark & Results

The DroiX Proteus 11 scores 3,370, and the Proteus 11S scores 3,999. This gives us a score difference of 628 which is around a 17% difference.

PCMark

The second of our system benchmarks is PCMark which tests the performance of the mini PC for your more day to day tasks. These can include tasks ranging from web browsing, working with large office documents, through to image and video editing.

PCMark Benchmark & Results
PCMark Benchmark & Results

The Proteus 11 scores 4,826, and the Proteus 11S scores 5,176. That’s a 350 score increase which is around a 7% difference. 

3DMark

3DMark tests the performance of the CPU and GPU working together for video. This is not only used for gaming, but also with tasks such as media decoding, as well as image and video editing.

3DMark Benchmark & Results
3DMark Benchmark & Results

The DroiX Proteus 11 scores 1,412, and the Proteus 11S scores 1,627. Both are good scores for a non gaming mini PC but there is a 215 score difference with the 11S being around 14% faster.

Cinebench

Cinebench tests pure CPU speed in either single or multiple cores. For this test we are running the multi core test.

Cinebench Benchmark & Results
Cinebench Benchmark & Results

The Proteus 11 scores 4,720 and the 11S scores a slightly higher 4,846. There’s a score difference of 126 which is around 3%. It’s not a massive difference here as both have 4 cores and 8 threads, with the i7 running at a higher frequency.

CrystalDiskMark

Both of the Proteus 11 mini computers are using the same very fast SSD which should perform equally as each other. CrystalDiskMark runs some tests on the storage to see the highest read and write speeds with different sequences.

CrystalDiskMark Benchmark & Results
CrystalDiskMark Benchmark & Results

The Proteus 11 home mini PC scores a maximum 3,536, and 3,090, MB/s read and write scores. The Proteus 11S scores a maximum of 3,531 and 3,095 MB/s respectively. They are around the same speeds, if you were to run the test again you would get slightly different results.

WiFi Speedtest

Both models feature blazing fast WiFi 6 which we have connected to our 500Mb connection WiFi 6 access point around 5 metres away.

WiFi 6 Speedtest & Results
WiFi 6 Speedtest & Results

The speedtest results are essentially similar speeds as each other. We get a download speed of 421Mb/s and upload of 473 Mb/s. The speed is great, with no dropouts or slow transfer speeds.

Benchmark Summary

Let’s have a quick recap of the benchmark results and compare the two models.

PROTEUS 11PROTEUS 11S% DIFF.
PASSMARK3370399917 %
PCMARK482651766 %
3DMARK1412162714 %
CINEBENCH472048463 %
CRYSTALDISKMARK
(READ/WRITE)
3536 / 30903531 / 3095N/A
WIFI
(DOWN/UP)
447 / 475421 / 473N/A
PRICE
(16GB/512GB CONFIG)
£569.95£629.9510 %
DroiX Proteus 11 & 11S Benchmark Scores Compared

Clearly the Proteus 11S office mini PC has the best results due to the Intel i7 processor versus the i5 on the Proteus 11. We can see a very good difference in performance for PassMark of 17% which means highly demanding tasks such as image processing or video encoding are noticeably faster.

On PCMark we see a difference of around 7 percent which is less of a difference found on PassMark but still reasonable. Here we can see that the fast SSD used on the Proteus 11 models increases performance with tasks such as Windows boot speeds, loading times for software, and saving large amounts of data like an office document. 

Averaging out all of the benchmark results gives an average of 10% increase in performance, which is exactly what the price difference between the 11 and 11S is.

Which DroiX Proteus 11 model should you buy?

Both models are extremely good in their own rights, offering fast processing power, extremely fast storage, as well as high speed and reliable WiFi 6. And all this with support for up to four displays with a compatible USB Type-C hub. The DroiX Proteus 11 recently won joint first in the best mid-range mini PC category.

DroiX Proteus 11 & 11S mini PC for home and office work
DroiX Proteus 11 & 11S mini PC for home and office work

If you are looking for a Windows mini PC that will easily cope with your daily tasks, in the home or office, whether it be web browsing, media consumption or light graphics work – then the DroiX Proteus 11 is a great option. If you want something with that bit more performance, for example video encoding or number crunching, then the DroiX Proteus 11S high-end mini PC is definitely a great choice.

We hope you have found this DroiX Proteus 11 review useful in deciding which model is best for you!

Where to buy the DroiX Proteus

You can learn more and buy the DroiX Proteus 11 & 11S here. You can browse our full range of mini PC’s here.

Bringer of videos, text and images! AKA the social media guy at DroiX. Massive retro gaming fan and collector, with a far too large collection of consoles and computers from 1970's to modern.