Ergonomics

With its 5.5" screen, block shape, and somewhat sharp edges (only the front side is beveled), this is not a device designed for all day use.  While the feel in the hand is not entirely unpleasant, rounded edges would have gone a long way to improving the ergonomics. It's thick at just over 3/4 inches and built solid, with a decent amount of heft.

The device's meager active cooling, metal housing and 15w TDP means that the computer is regularly quite warm to the touch even with medium workloads.  

The exhaust fan blows out directly onto ones right hand when holding the device in landscape orientation.  This appears to be a concession made to accommodate the large variety of I/O on the top of the device.

Touch inputs can be difficult on a screen so small.  Windows 11 is definitely not a mobile OS and it shows. 

It's small enough to fit comfortably in a jacket pocket, but maybe a little tight in a pant pocket.

Other Quirks

Small batch computers put together by small companies regularly have quirks, and the Gole Pro 2 has several.

• Display rotation and touch screen need special drivers to work as intended.  Good luck finding drivers in the wild for a fresh Windows install.  Higole's support website does not list drivers in a practical way and what they do provide appears to be incomplete.

• The left-most USB-C port is exclusively for charging and the device uses a non-standard 12v 2a charger (included).  This means that your current laptop charger almost definitely will not work to charge the computer - they likely won't even register as being power at all.

• Linux users will require in-depth knowledge to make proper use of the touch screen as the orientation is nonstandard and will not work correctly out of the box.

• Some buyers report that a previous Higole computer model triggered a virus alert fresh out of the box!  I scanned my device with every antivirus I could get my hands on and didn't come up with anything, but buyer beware!

CPU Performance

The Intel Celeron N5095 is a low power 11th gen (Jasper Lake) 10nm processor with 4 cores and no hyperthreading.  This can mean sluggish performance with multitasking, but this is nothing out of the ordinary for a low end CPU.  

For basic web browsing and light applications this isn't a deal-breaker, but the performance is something akin to a low power laptop circa 2017-2018.

My tests indicate that the Gole 2 Pro is well within the average for computers with the N5095, so reviews and benchmarks on similarly equipped laptops and mini computers should be relatively accurate when gauging performance.

I hope for later revisions of the device that we see something like the much newer Intel N100 which would have significantly better performance at less than half the power usage(15w TDP vs 6w).  Even at $50 more, I would have opted for such an upgrade.

GPU Performance

The N5095, with it's 16EU, is definitely not a gaming chip but should be able to handle basic/low end games.

Video Playback

• Youtube playback shows no dropped frames with 4k videos running at 60fps

• The GPU does not support AV1 playback so this is done on CPU at a performance penalty

Synthetic Benchmarks

Time Spy

• Score: 209

• Graphics score: 182

• CPU score: 1580

Unigine Heaven (Basic Preset DX9)

• Score: 368

• FPS: 14.6 (6.2 min, 28.7 max)

Unigine Heaven (Basic Preset set to DX11)

• Score: 343

• FPS 13.6 (6 min, 21 max)

Gaming Benchmarks

Tomb Raider (2013)

• Min FPS: 22.0

• Max 32.0

• Average 27.2

Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker Benchmark (Standard Laptop 720p)

• Score: 2573 "Slightly Low"

• Average 17.4fps (1fps min)

Game Testing

Skyrim (Medium No AA)

• Game is playable at about 30fps.  This could definitely be optimized with mods, but I'd be surprised if it reached a full 60 (or 53 in this case) fps without being made to look like Runescape.

Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain (lowest settings, 720p)

• MGSV continues to impress with its ability to run on basically a calculator and a dream.  It sits at around 24-35fps and is surprisingly playable but expect major stuttering.

Emulation

Wii and Gamecube

• Mario Galaxy (Wii) runs anywhere from 40-55fps.  Use a PAL version to get something nearing playable

• Super Mario Sunshine (GC) runs at full speed.  Basic games should run just fine, but I suspect there is not enough performance overhead for super demanding games or graphical enhancements.

Pros

• Surprisingly good build quality

• Unusual, pocketable form factor 

• Decent performance for the cost (as long as you have realistic expectations)

• The I/O is great!  4 Full USB 3 ports, 1 USB-C, Full sized HDMI, ethernet (the other USB-C is exclusively for charging)

Cons

• Ergonomics aren't great and device gets very warm

• eMMC drive is slow and there's no way to upgrade internally

• Unusual 12v 2a USB-C charger

• Per Amazon reviews, the Previous Gole Pro device has allegedly shipped with malware.  Be careful out there!

Final Thoughts

The Gole 2 Pro is a unique - if somewhat flawed device.  Despite being marketed as a media device, HigolePC's website clearly indicates it as an industrial computer and that is clearly the target demographic.  The design is utilitarian and would obviously have taken a different form had it been designed for multimedia first.

As a project device, I'd say that the sub $300 price of admission was well worth it.  For me, the dream of a modern UMPC might not be fully realized by this device, but absent a whole lot of real alternatives, this might be close enough.

Where to buy

Aliexpress

Amazon