Who needs a full-sized desktop?

Aftershock Nano S

byKoh Wanzi November 2016

Aftershock Nano S

There’s just no other way to put it. The Aftershock Nano S is one tiny PC. Make no mistake, this is not a mini PC in the sense that it is a small desktop. It’s smaller still, and is actually so compact that you can literally pack it into your backpack and take it with you without anyone knowing that you’ve got a PC in there.

But if you think that the size of the Nano S means it’s any less powerful, you’d be wrong. There’s actually plenty of room for reasonably high-end hardware and a ton of RAM. For starters, it packs an Intel Core i7 processor, up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 512GB SSD.

In other words, it’s plenty powerful for most work- related tasks, but it draws the line at gaming. With no discrete graphics card, it’s unreasonable to expect gaming-grade performance from the Nano S. Whatever Intel’s claims about its Skull Canyon NUC, which the Nano S is actually based on, it’s important to calibrate your expectations from the outset and realize that this. The system however, is best suited for things like photo- and video-editing workloads.

It will, however, work with the Razer Core external graphics dock, if you must add gaming to its repertoire.

The Nano S is also user- upgradeable, so you’ll have the option to add in better components further down the road. Popping off the four screws at the bottom of the Nano S and removing the base plate will immediately reveal the RAM slots and M.2 sockets, allowing you to add and remove the RAM modules or SSDs easily. There’s also a small cooling fan inside the chassis – definitely no passive cooling here – that exhausts heat out the back of the system.

When it comes to ports and connectivity options, there’s a surprisingly wide selection for such a diminutive PC. The Nano S measures just 216 x 116 x 23mm, with a capacity of just 0.69L, yet it comes with enough ports that you’ll probably never find yourself lamenting that it isn’t a tower PC. There’s even a 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 port available, so you can connect up to two 4K displays or just take advantage of the blazing fast data transfer speeds and fast charging capabilities.