Barebones mini PCs are popular with small businesses, and the ECS Liva Z11 Plus is a fine choice for that crowd, with its speedy performance and superb display-output options. Sold almost exclusively by ECS directly to inquiring businesses (with some sporadic appearances on Amazon), the Liva Z11 Plus starts at $619 MSRP in a barebones configuration, meaning it includes just an Intel Core Ultra 5 225H processor on a motherboard with no memory or storage installed. ECS also sells a $699 version with a Core Ultra 7 255H inside, which is what we've tested here. However, ECS provided a pre-built sample, including an easily upgradable 32GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, with two slots for each.

This is a very good mini PC for light-to-moderate office computing or digital signage, as well as workspaces that have room for multiple monitors but not for a beefy PC tower. Of course, we all have flaws, and this PC's are its loud fan operation and lack of an audio jack. If you need Wi-Fi 7 or an even more potent processor, look to the Asus NUC 15 Pro+. For a more complete mini-PC experience, consider either the entry-level Geekom A6 Mini or the top-end Geekom A9 Max—both are Editors' Choice award winners. But if you need mini-PC units in bulk for specialized use, especially with a bank of monitors, this Liva is a live wire.

Configurations: Bare Bones and Full of Space

Starting on a technicality, the exact Liva Z11 Plus I tested isn’t available to mainstream consumers, and it's generally only sold in a barebones arrangement (not pre-built like we have here) through direct sales inquiry on the ECS website. That leaves us with no "official" price for the precise configuration I tested.

My Intel Core Ultra 7 255H sample has 32GB of memory inside, split across its two SODIMM slots, and one of its SSD slots contains a 256GB M.2 drive. At the time of publishing, we've seen prices for 32GB kits of 6,400MHz DDR5 SODIMMs average around $500 (ouch!), and a 256GB M.2 PCI Express Gen4 x 4 SSD is still easy to find for well less than $100. The RAM and storage are expandable to 96GB and 8TB, respectively.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

To recap, the most up-to-date Liva Z11 Plus barebones kits come with either an Intel Core Ultra 5 225H chip for $619 MSRP or a Core Ultra 7 255H CPU for $699 MSRP. ECS previously sold the entry-level 225H barebones model for $399 on Amazon, but appears to have since halted sales of that model on the retailer's website. In short, availability and pricing may vary by the time you read this.

You can also configure the Z11 Plus with older Core Ultra 7 155H and Ultra 5 125H processors, but those don't appear to be ECS's focus. Those models also support up to 96GB of RAM (clocked up to 5,600MHz) and contain two M.2 slots. In any configuration, this desktop is easy to upgrade, with just four large screws on the underside that provide access to the memory and SSD slots.

Design: An Understated Frame With Lots of Ports

Aesthetically, the Z11 Plus is simple and straightforward—just basic black—and compact enough to fit pretty much anywhere on your desk. It's a petite box measuring 2.1 by 4.5 by 4.5 inches (HWD). Granted, that's a tad thicker than the Asus NUC 15 Pro's 1.6 inches and the 1.4-inch Geekom A6 Mini.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

On top of the case, you’ll find ridges leading to a glossy Liva logo, while honeycomb vents run along the left and right sides of the chassis for cooling. Speaking of the vents, expect to hear a lot of noise from them: This mini machine gets loud under pressure.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

The front and back of the machine present an array of ports. On the front, you'll find the power button, one 20Gbps USB Type-C port, three 10Gbps USB Type-A connections, and one USB 2.0 port for legacy peripherals. Around the back, you'll spot another two USB 2.0 ports and two speedy 40Gbps USB4 connectors with DisplayPort 2.1 output support for external displays. Nearby are dual HDMI ports, so in theory you can connect up to four 4K displays, making this system great for multi-monitor workspaces or office digital-signage applications. Surprisingly, however, the desktop has no 3.5mm audio jack.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

For internet and wireless connectivity, this desktop features one 2.5Gbps and one 1Gbps Ethernet jack (for redundancy and connecting to more than one network at once), while Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 radios complete the package. 

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

Performance Testing: A Sharp Little 'Arrow Lake' PC

The exact Liva Z11 Plus we tested has an Intel Core Ultra 7 255H processor inside, so don’t go running to the Ultra 5 225H barebones model before seeing these numbers. Our test configuration featured 32GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, and this combination performed decently in our benchmarks for the price, if you factor in the average costs of that much memory and storage.

To see how the Liva fared against some similarly stripped-down systems, we looked at the MSI Cubi NUC AI+ 2MG ($1,149.99 as tested) and our $1,049.99 Acer Veriton NUC AI configuration. Also, we have two mini PCs that are progressively cheaper, from the Lenovo IdeaCentre Mini x ($899 as tested) to the $499 Geekom A6 Mini, an Editors' Choice award winner.

Productivity and Content Creation Tests

Our primary overall benchmark, UL's PCMark 10, puts a system through its paces in productivity apps ranging from web browsing to word processing and spreadsheet work. Its Full System Drive subtest measures a PC's storage throughput. 

Three more tests are CPU-centric or processor-intensive: Maxon's Cinebench 2024 uses that company's Cinema 4D engine to render a complex scene; Primate Labs' Geekbench 6.3 Pro simulates popular apps ranging from PDF rendering and speech recognition to machine learning; and we see how long it takes the video transcoder HandBrake 1.8 to convert a 12-minute clip from 4K to 1080p resolution. Finally, workstation maker Puget Systems' PugetBench for Creators rates a PC's image-editing prowess through a variety of automated operations in the popular photo editor Adobe Photoshop 25.

The Liva Z11 Plus performed well across the board against the competition—except for the storage test—thanks to its superior H-class processor. The downside of that four-win showing: The fan noise amped up noticeably during the testing. In real-world usage, we juggled a plethora of tabs while researching and writing this review, and seldom experienced hangups. As long as you don’t mind the fan drone, the Liva Z11 Plus will provide peppy performance you can count on.

Graphics Tests

We challenge each reviewed system’s graphics with a quintet of animations or gaming simulations from UL's 3DMark test suite. The first two, Wild Life (1440p) and Wild Life Extreme (4K), use the Vulkan graphics API to measure GPU speeds. The second pair, Steel Nomad's regular (4K) and Light (1440p) subtests, focus on APIs more commonly used for game development to assess gaming geometry and particle effects. A fifth test, Solar Bay, measures ray-tracing performance.

The Z11 Plus fared relatively well on our graphics tests, keeping a competitive pace with the rest of the pack, and taking home one first-place finish. Overall, it’s best suited for everyday office or personal use; you could draw some light creative work out of its Intel Arc Graphics chip, but we wouldn't try any heavy video editing. (Note that the fan noise ramped up on these tests, too.)