ASUS B150M-A review of Baidu smart security motherboard

The full launch of Intel's 100 series motherboard chipset means that the PC industry has ushered in a new round of iterations. The sixth-generation Skylake architecture CPU uses the LGA1151 interface and is no longer compatible with the old platform, which also heralds a "major change" inside the chassis. Among them, the B150 motherboard undoubtedly plays the role of popularizer.

Not long ago, ASUS and Baidu jointly launched the "Baidu Smart Security Motherboard" B150M-A, which uses the Intel B150 chipset, the Baidu security logo, a price positioning of less than 800 yuan, and ASUS's own "rock-solid" quality, making this product have many attractive points.

How is "Baidu Smart Security" reflected? Just from the packaging box, in addition to the "Baidu" Logo aligned with "ASUS", the full range of software product introductions below, from antivirus, browser to input method, also reflect the true love.

The motherboards belonging to geek enthusiasts have instantly been given an Internet-oriented mindset. It is hard to say whether the logos of Tencent, 360 or even Alibaba will appear on future motherboards.

ASUS B150M-A is tailor-made for the sixth-generation Core i7/i5/i3/Pentium/Celeron processors and uses an LGA 1151 CPU socket. At the same time, the memory slots are 4×DDR4 DIMMs, supporting dual-channel DDR4 2133MHz memory and a maximum memory capacity of 64GB.

In addition to these standardized data, ASUS's consistent solid materials are reflected in more details of the product. The golden heat sink inlaid with the ASUS logo is impressive, and the 6 SATA III interfaces are enough to meet the hard drive expansion needs of most users.

The ASUS B150M-A motherboard has a second-generation five-layer protection design, which achieves extreme network protection, overvoltage protection and memory overcurrent protection. The DIGI+ digital power supply control also brings better stability to the motherboard operation.

In terms of audio, ASUS B150M-A has built a "Beautiful Voice Master" system with the Realtek ALC887 high-fidelity 8-channel audio codec chip as the core, using channel-specific PCB layers and high-quality Japanese audio capacitors.

In terms of interfaces, there are 4 × USB 3.0 interfaces (2 built-in + 2 back panel), 6 × USB 2.0 interfaces (4 built-in + 2 back panel), plus one HDMI interface, one VGA interface and one DVI interface. The overall performance is not outstanding, but the newly added USB 3.0 Type-C interface is quite eye-catching. Although this specification is currently only used in a few electronic products including Apple's 12-inch MacBook, as a major trend in the future, it is also a very forward-looking approach to prepare on the motherboard in advance.

So the question is, where does the "Baidu" in the name of ASUS's "Baidu Smart Security Motherboard" B150M-A come from? This reminds us of the software CD that comes with the motherboard.

The CD mainly covers motherboard-related drivers, but what is more interesting is that after opening the CD software, the first thing it asks us to install is the Google Chrome browser, while Baidu-related software is in the list of software that needs to be installed manually. The presence of the so-called "intelligent security" is a bit low.

In general, the overall configuration of the ASUS B150M-A motherboard, although lower than the ASUS B150 PRO GAMING D3 motherboard reviewed not long ago in terms of M.2 solid-state drive interface, USB3.1 interface, etc., but the price has also dropped a level, and the addition of USB Tyoe-C and other designs further highlights its practical and stable positioning.

Considering that more affordable processor models such as Skylake architecture i3/Pentium are gradually coming onto the market recently, ASUS B150M-A motherboard products are bound to play a positive role in the popularization of the new platform.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.