Mini PCs are great for fitting into a tight desktop workspace, that’s why a lot of them can be mounted to the rear of a monitor on a VESA plate. But in order to turn it on, you still have to, well, turn it on. What if you could do that like a modern TV with a console or sound bar, just by pressing the monitor’s power button? This little MSI mini PC does just that.
Adam Patrick Murray has the MSI Cubi NUC AI+ 2MG in the PCWorld Labs, and like he’s done with the last few mini PCs, he’s taking it apart in our latest PCWorld YouTube video.
The outside has a few interesting features, including a fingerprint scanner on the power button and a header port so you can run a secondary power button on a cable. The inside is a little funny, because there’s an internal speaker mounted to the bottom tray, something you don’t always see. With an Intel Lunar Lake laptop chipset (Ultra 7 258V in this case), you get memory that’s included on the CPU itself, so the only things the user can service are the SSD (standard M.2 2280) and the Wi-Fi card.
The rear of the device holds its unique selling point: an HDMI port with CEC functionality. “Consumer Electronics Control” just means that a few things can be done over HDMI, including a full power on and off for either component. With a compatible monitor that can handle HDMI 2.1 and CEC, you can press the monitor’s power button and the PC will start.
With the Cubi mounted to the rear of said monitor, you’ve basically just rolled your own all-in-one desktop PC, like the iMac or similar designs. Neat! This is definitely focused on the business market, possibly for use in an area with multiple users who won’t need to reach around to adjust things. (The integrated speaker makes a little more sense in that regard.)
The MSI Cubi NUC AI+ 2MG doesn’t appear to be on sale in the US just yet, but it should be coming before too long. For more looks at the latest mini PCs, be sure to subscribe to PCWorld on YouTube and check out our weekly podcast The Full Nerd.