The tradeoff, of course, is that you’ll need to supply your own monitor, keyboard, and mouse. But if you already have those sitting on your desk—or you’re replacing an aging desktop—that’s hardly a drawback. With that in mind, here are five mini PCs that deliver outstanding value.
Productivity with a side of gaming
GMKtec M6 Ultra
This bad boy goes for about half of the price of a laptop with the same components. The GMKtec M6 Ultra retails for $550, but is often on sale. It comes with a Ryzen 5 7640HS processor which is a highly-capable 6-core 12-thread CPU that punches well above its weight with multitasking and AI workloads. The Radeon 760M integrated graphics can even run older AAA games on medium or high settings as well.
Also, the 16GB of DDR5 RAM at this price point is hard to beat—I’ve seen laptops with older DDR4 RAM being sold for way more. And it comes with excellent connectivity including USB4, HDM 2.0, and a DisplayPort for connecting up to three 4K monitors if you want.
Powerful desktop replacement
GEEKOM A6
If you want a mini PC that can replace a full desktop without breaking the bank, the GEEKOM A6 is a good choice. It packs an AMD Ryzen 7 6800H, an 8-core, 16-thread processor that’s powerful enough for demanding productivity work, photo editing, light video editing, and heavy multitasking. On top of that, it comes with 1TB of onboard SSD storage which is very generous considering you typically need to drop quite a bit more to get a laptop with that kind of storage.
The rest of the package is just as impressive. It comes with 16GB of fast DDR5 memory, a speedy PCIe 4.0 SSD, USB4 support, Wi-Fi 6E, and enough ports to drive multiple high-resolution displays. While similarly equipped laptops often cost hundreds more because you’re paying for the built-in display and battery, the A6 puts almost all of your money toward performance instead. It goes for $649 on Amazon, but it’s on sale right now for $100 off.
Strong everyday PC on a budget
Kamrui Pinova P2
The KAMRUI Pinova P2 proves you don’t need to spend a fortune to get a capable everyday computer. Powered by AMD’s modern Ryzen 5 7330U it has plenty of performance for web browsing, office work, video calls, streaming, and light photo editing. It easily outpaces the aging processors still found in many budget laptops, making it an excellent value if your computing needs are more practical than demanding.
The specs are equally solid for the budget-level price. You get 16GB of LPDDR4X memory, a 256GB SSD for fast boot and load times, and support for up to three 4K displays through its good selection of video outputs. The compact design takes up almost no desk space, runs quietly, and uses very little power. It can be found for $340 on Amazon, but I’ve seen it drop below $300 on sale.