Tom’s Guide focuses primarily on phones, but he also loves traditional computing technologies. Over the course of 2022, my fascination with small PCs really blossomed thanks to the many options I saw throughout the year.
I quickly found myself drowning in mini PC reviews, from Geekom to Beelink to Minisforum. A really powerful option.
The Beelink GTR5, for example, rocked the Ryzen 9 5900HX, which was the top-of-the-line mobile processor at the time. With two 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet ports, up to 64 GB of RAM, and tons of storage, it can easily be a new desktop without taking up too much desk space.And it costs a reasonable $639 on Amazon (opens in new tab).
Geekom’s Mini machine offered powerful hardware in a very affordable package. The Mini IT8 is one of the best deals you can get on a mini PC, despite its older hardware. The Mini IT11 offers more power for a little more money, while the MiniAir 11 works as an entry-level machine for a very low price.
Minisforum has announced a ton of mini PCs for 2022, most of which we haven’t had a chance to check out. However, the NUCXi7 showed that there is a very powerful gaming PC in a chassis smaller than the PS5.
Second, the Orange Pi is hitting the single-board computer market, bringing meaningful competition to the Raspberry Pi. The Orange Pi 800 and Orange Pi 5, which we will review in the coming weeks, are a significant improvement over the Raspberry Pi 4 and Raspberry Pi 400 at similar prices (given the significant markup of the Raspberry Pi these days When).
2022 is the year we can safely recommend a mini PC to anyone who doesn’t need a lot of power. I use a mini PC as my primary workstation for work here because it’s more powerful and smaller than my work laptop.
More and more mini PCs are coming out. One of my favorite YouTubers covering stuff like this, she seems to be flooded with mini PCs. With more machines using Ryzen 6000 and Intel 12th Gen processors, I think 2023 has some great things in store for us. The former even has gaming potential thanks to AMD’s powerful new integrated GPU.
Pay close attention to this market in 2023, especially if you’re looking for a new desktop in the near future. I hope you can expect to see great things.
