powerful, expensive and not very. Spring novelties 2023

Spring is in full swing, summer is coming, but hardware manufacturers are not resting. On the contrary, different companies are releasing more and more interesting models of miniature PCs that can be used both for home tasks and for office work. Under the cut – a selection of the most interesting models of May. Go!

Topton D6 with AMD Ryzen 7 7730U processor

The AMD Ryzen 7 7730U processor is, in fact, the Ryzen 7 5825U. A new name for a chip released in 2021, yes. But a mini-PC based on it is not bad, in addition, the cost of the device is not so great – $ 299, is already on sale on AliExpress.

Ryzen 7 7730U/Ryzen 7 5825U are 15-watt, 8-core chips with Zen 3 cores running at 2 GHz, with a maximum frequency of 4.5 GHz. The chips have integrated graphics 8 Radeon Vega. For most modern tasks, this is more than enough.

In addition, Topton offers another model based on the Ryzen 7 5700U or Ryzen 5 5600H. Their cost is somewhat lower than the model mentioned above – $262. They are sold without a drive, so you can install your own.

List of ports and connectors:

2 x HDMI

1 x USB-C

2 x USB 3.0 Type-2

2 x USB 2.0 Type-2

1 x Ethernet

1 x 3.5mm audio

1 x DC

There is also a wireless communication module with support for WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2.

MINISFORUM UN100

And this is a device with an Intel Processor N100 processor. The manufacturer also released another similar model with an Intel Core i3-N305 chip. Their cost is also not very high (of course, depending on what to compare with, but still): $199 and $279.

Unlike the model described above, these devices come with RAM and a hard drive, as well as a pre-installed OS. We are talking about 8GB LPDDR5 RAM, a 256GB SSD and Windows 11 Pro. Unfortunately, adding RAM will not work – the memory is soldered on the board, there is no separate slot for installing an additional board. If you need more RAM, you can pay $30 extra and get a device with 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of SSD.

Intel N100 Processor – Quad-core 6W processor up to 3.4GHz with integrated Intel UHD graphics. The Intel Core i3-N305 is an octa-core 15W processor with up to 3.8GHz core speed and Intel UHD graphics.

As for the mini-PCs themselves based on these chips, there is practically no difference between the models. Both have a metal case, as well as connectors for SSD M.2 and HDD.

List of ports and connectors:

2 x Gigabit Ethernet

2 x HDMI

1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (with DisplayPort Alt Mode)

2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A

2 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A

1 x 3.5mm audio

1 x microSD

1 x DC

Both models support working with three displays at the same time – via HDMI ports and a USB-C port. There is also a wireless module with support for WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2.

Asus ExpertCenter PN53

A tiny mini PC that came out in early 2023. Now the company has released an updated version with Ryzen 6000H and Ryzen 7035H chips. Here is a list of chips that the manufacturer installs in this mini-PC model, there are a lot of options:

So far, models with Ryzen 5 6600H and Ryzen 7 6800H are available, devices with more powerful processors will gradually be released to the market. But here it is worth saying that the difference in performance is not very big, so if you already have one of the models, it is hardly worth changing it to another.

As for the characteristics, the Asus ExpertCenter PN53 is really small, its dimensions are 130 x 120 x 58 mm, and its weight is only 900 grams. Inside are two M.2 2280 slots and a hard drive slot. Each model is capable of running up to four 4K displays or one 8K monitor.

List of ports and connectors:

2 x USB4 ports

5 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A

The device received a communication module that supports WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2.

Beelink GTR7

A fairly powerful device that is equipped with AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS and Ryzen 7 7840HS (Pro version). The device is not cheap – barebone versions, where there is neither SSD nor RAM, are estimated by the manufacturer at $1299 and $1599. Both versions have integrated graphics and support up to 64GB DDR5-5600 RAM and up to 8TB SSD. The memory is not soldered on the board, so it can be upgraded if necessary.

Devices can work with 4 displays at the same time. The devices are really powerful, you can use them both for work and for gaming. In fairness, it should be noted that they still won’t pull heavy games with normal graphics settings.

The models have a metal case and an active cooling system.

List of ports and connectors:

2 x UBS4 (40 Gbps w/100W USB-PD & DisplayPort 1.4)

1 x USB 3.2 Type-C (10Gbps)

3 x USB 3.2 Type-A (10 Gbps)

2 x USB 2.0 Type-A (480Mbps)

1 x HDMI 2.1

1 x Display Port 1.4

2 x 3.5mm

2 x 2.5 GbE Ethernet (Intel i225-V)

1 x DC

MINISFORUM UM560XT

Earlier this year, MINISFORUM launched two mini PC models, the UM590 and UM690, with AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX and Ryzen 9 6900HX processors, respectively. They are not cheap, but now there is an alternative that is slightly inferior in power, but it costs less.

We are talking about MINISFORUM UM560XT with the same body as the models described above. But its price is $219, with a Ryzen 5 5600H chip. This is the cost of the version without RAM and hard drive. There are options with all this:

Ryzen 5 5600H/16GB/512GB for $299

Ryzen 5 5600H/32GB/512GB for $339

Ryzen 5 5600H/32GB/1TB for $399

Ports and connectors:

2 x HDMI

1 x USB 3.2 Type-C (with DisplayPort 1.4 Alt Mode)

1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (data-only)

2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A

2 x USB 2.0 Type-A

1 x 2.5GbE Ethernet

1 x 3.5mm audio

Three 4K/60 GHz displays can be connected to the model at once. For games or processing heavy media content, the device is hardly suitable, but for work where very high performance is not required, it is quite suitable.

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