A small laugh, a raised eyebrow, or even a quiet “that’s it?” is usually the first thing people do when they see a CuBox-i2eX. It is made of matte black plastic and fits in your hand like a big sugar cube. It doesn’t have any fan vents or a cooling grille. It doesn’t look like it can run a full Linux desktop. Still, it does.
Since late 2011, these small computers have been quietly being made by SolidRun, the Israeli hardware company that makes the CuBox line. Reports say that the original CuBox was the first desktop computer that could be bought that was built on the Marvell Armada 500-series chip. This was a small but important distinction at the time. When the i-series came out in November 2013, it added the i1, i2, i2eX, and i4Pro, which were all better in some way. The i2eX wasn’t the cheapest or the most powerful option, but it might have been the best choice for developers and hobbyists who needed more than the basics but didn’t want to spend too much on cores they’d never use.
The i2eX stood out from the rest of the family because of its i.It has a Freescale Semiconductor MX6 processor and more connectivity options than the base i2. That growth was important. The extra freedom was useful for people making small media setups, embedded prototypes, or just playing around with ARM-based Linux environments; it wasn’t just a marketing checkbox.
The idea behind CuBox is to get more done with less. When not in use, the original device used less than three watts of power and less than one watt when it was turned off. It’s not a mistake. It takes about the power of a night light to run a 1080p video stream, decode it in hardware, and show it through HDMI. All of this is done in a device about the size of a hockey puck. Something about it seems almost silly, but in the best way possible.
SolidRun has come to be known for its shape, which is 50 × 50 × 50 millimeters and weighs about 91 grams. From the first CuBox to the latest CuBox-M, which is powered by an NXP i.MX 8M Plus chip with neural network acceleration built in, it has stayed the same. In hardware, where companies change the shape of things every few years, that kind of design continuity isn’t common. It’s possible that SolidRun knows something that other companies don’t: that buyers like things to be predictable, and that a familiar enclosure means familiar mounting, familiar placement, and familiar assumptions.
At the time, the CuBox-i2eX could run Linux and Android, which were enough for most serious tasks. Ubuntu and Android were already installed, so the computer had a dual-boot setup. It wasn’t groundbreaking, but it was useful. Developers could get to work quickly without having to worry about installations or making sure everything worked together. For embedded projects, being ready to go right out of the box is very important.
It is important to note that SolidRun wasn’t really going after the consumer market with any of this. The CuBox line always felt like a tool—something made for people who needed a clean way to solve a certain problem. It was used by people who built media centers. It was used by teachers. It was used by industrial prototypers. When it was first released in 2014, the CuBoxTV version was aimed more at people who use their TVs in their living rooms and came with Kodi. However, it felt more like a side project than a major change.
The CuBox-i2eX was made at a certain time in the history of computers. At that time, small ARM boards were still new, the Raspberry Pi was just starting to become popular, and the idea of a desktop computer without fans that could fit in a coat pocket seemed pretty radical. It doesn’t have to be the strongest thing on the market to be there. There are times when a small cube is the best shape for the job.
