CPU generation

Intel 7th Gen (Kaby Lake) mini PCs

Kaby Lake is the media sweet spot among older chips. Its Quick Sync engine added fixed-function HEVC 10-bit decode and encode plus VP9 decode. Plex lists 7th gen as the minimum for HEVC encoding, and Jellyfin's hardware HDR tone mapping works on any Intel GPU with HEVC 10-bit decode. On the CPU side it is a modest refresh of Skylake with the same core counts. The problem is Windows 11: Microsoft does not list mainstream 7th-gen chips, so treat these as Linux or Proxmox machines. For a dedicated Jellyfin or Plex box that never needs Windows, a 7th-gen tiny PC is a capable starting point.

Released: 2016
In mini PCs: 2 to 4 cores, up to 8 threads; 35 W T-series desktop chips such as the 4-core Core i5-7500T (desktop parts launched January 2017).
Windows 11: Not on Microsoft's supported list. Mainstream 7th-gen Core chips, including the Core i5-7500T found in many tiny PCs, are not on Microsoft's Windows 11 lists. The only 7000-series entries are Core X high-end desktop chips.
Media engine: Quick Sync: H.264, HEVC 10-bit, VP9
Frigate OpenVINO: Supported on the Intel iGPU
Memory: DDR4, DDR3L

6 models with Intel 7th Gen (Kaby Lake)

Deciding between generations? See Windows 11 eligibility by CPU generation and Quick Sync transcoding by generation.

6 models with Intel 7th Gen (Kaby Lake)

Other CPU generations