The best mini PCs of 2025: Expert recommended

Macky Briones

January 2, 2025

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The best mini PCs of 2025: Expert recommended

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1 What’s the greatest mini PC proper now?

2 The most effective mini PCs of 2025

3 Different mini PCs value contemplating

PCs have been by quite a few evolutions by way of type issue (fancy phrase for dimension), remodeling from massive, heavy, and fairly ugly beige bins that took up numerous desk house to one thing no larger than a hardback e-book that packs sufficient energy to deal with all however essentially the most demanding of workloads.

Say hey to the mini PC: A PC that is simply as comfy tucked behind a TV, popped on a shelf, or hidden in a cabinet as it’s sitting on a desk. These mini PCs pack a punch and have every thing that you could possibly need from a contemporary PC — and take up the least quantity of house potential.

Additionally: The best power banks: Expert tested

What’s the greatest mini PC proper now?

I’ve examined and researched the present mini PC choices in the marketplace, analyzing specs and paying shut consideration to person opinions, and my prime decide for one of the best mini PC is the Intel NUC 13 Pro Arena Canyon. Whether or not you desire a mini PC for the house, workplace, or assembly room, it is a stable selection. However I perceive that this may not be for everybody, so I’ve picked a handful extra mini PCs, every aimed toward a particular use case.

The most effective mini PCs of 2025

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On the subject of mini PCs, it is laborious to beat a mini PC constructed to the Intel NUC specs. I’ve owned and examined quite a few them myself and have been very proud of them.

With this mannequin, we’ve a system working a 16-core Core i7 chip that may energy as much as 3.7 GHz with a built-in Iris Xe GPU. Backing that’s 32GB of RAM and 1TB M.2 SSD — that is fairly a spec for a system you’ll be able to maintain within the palm of your hand. As for ports, this method has a large number of USB ports, together with Thunderbolt 4, HDMI, and Ethernet.

As mini PCs go, this one is probably going overkill for many, however in case you are on the lookout for a extremely highly effective system that runs whisper-quiet and might be mounted behind a TV or placed on a shelf, that is the system for you.

Given the value of this method, there aren’t numerous opinions for it, however the ones that house owners have written are overwhelmingly optimistic.

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Simply once you thought this record would solely embody Home windows programs, we have the Mac Mini. This was one of many unique mini PCs, and with the change to Apple Silicon processors, it has seen a brand new lease of life.

Thought of at one level the gateway Mac that obtained individuals over to MacOS from Home windows (as a result of they may substitute their Home windows PC with the Mac Mini and maintain utilizing their present keyboard, mouse, and monitor with their new Mac), it is now a staple of the Mac lineup, and the right selection for many who desire a compact system.

I’ve owned a number of totally different Mac Mini programs over time, and I have been greater than glad by them. They’re dependable, well-built, and run cool and quiet.

The largest draw back to this method is upgrading — backside line, this Mac will reside and die with the identical processor, RAM, and storage that it left the manufacturing facility with. If you wish to give it a storage increase, Satechi makes a hub/stand for it that provides a bunch of ports and a port for an M.2 SSD.

As I would count on from an Apple product, the opinions are strongly optimistic, with customers reporting that they’re proud of the efficiency and general reliability of the system.

Apple 2023 Mac mini tech specs: Apple Silicon M4 processor with 10 CPU cores, 10 GPU cores | 16GB RAM | 256GB storage | 2x USB-C, 3x Thunderbolt 4, HDMI, Ethernet, audio jack | MacOS

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It is a tiny mini PC that may be a dice measuring 72 x 72 x 44.5mm, weighing solely 206g. Contained in the dice is a 4-core Intel N5105 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 128HB M.2 SSD working Home windows 10 Professional.

Regardless of the tiny dimension, this mini PC includes a handful of USB ports, two HDMI ports, an audio jack, and an Ethernet port. This method has no issues working two 4K@60FPS shows for max productiveness.

And but given the ability, this method is quiet and really vitality environment friendly (utilizing solely 10W), making it an ideal selection for somebody who needs a PC for the house, workplace, or assembly room, and even to drive digital signage.

Reviewers of this method touch upon the efficiency and general worth of the system, and it is an excellent system for the value.

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This mini PC has a number of options that set it other than the competitors. Whereas twin HDMI is not all that uncommon, discovering a system with twin Ethernet and twin M.2 slots is, and discovering one with a built-in filter to maintain mud out of the innards is even rarer.

The worth of this method makes it an ideal selection for many who need an inexpensive but highly effective mini PC — so long as you are not working AAA-title video games or different heavy workloads, this method has you coated.

The one con to this method is that it runs the older Twelfth-gen Intel silicon, however for $300, that is nonetheless a system that each holds its personal and will not break the financial institution.

Critiques of this method are strongly optimistic, with house owners praising the ability and efficiency of the system, and the way quiet it’s in day-to-day use.

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This mini PC describes itself as a gaming system, and with good purpose. The mixture of AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX and AMD Radeon 680M GPU offers this method numerous horsepower to sort out quite a lot of workloads, from work to video games.

It additionally throws away the design rulebook. Whereas most mini PCs are cube-like, this one is an upright tent form. Whereas that may look like purely a design selection, it does actually make opening up the system to hold out upgrades a snap because the facet panel is held in place with magnets.

This method includes a energy dial on the highest to change it between silent mode, auto, and efficiency, relying on whether or not you need energy or silence. It additionally features a multitude of LED lights, which you would possibly love or hate. For those who love them, nice, if not, there’s an app that turns them off for you.

However the lights apart, that is the right mini PC for these on the lookout for a gaming system however who do not need to have an enormous field on their desk or beside their TV. There isn’t any tougher set of individuals to please than avid gamers, which is why it is fairly reassuring to search out sturdy opinions for this gaming mini PC.

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Mini PC	Worth	Processor	GPU	RAM	Storage	Working system
Intel NUC 13 Professional Area Canyon	$949	Intel Core i7-1360P	Intel Iris Xe Graphics 96EU	32GB DDR4	2TB M.2 NVMe SSD	Home windows 11 Professional
Apple 2024 Mac Mini	$599	Apple Silicon M4	Apple Silicon M4	16GB DDR4	256GB SSD	MacOS 15
GMKtec Mini PC	$140	Intel N5105	Intel UHD Graphics	8GB DDR4	128GB M.2 NVMe SSD	Home windows 11 Professional
Beelink EQ13 Mini PC	$299	Intel N200	Intel UHD Graphics 32EUS	16GB DDR4	500GB M.2 NVMe SSD	Home windows 11 Professional
AceMagician AMD Ryzen 9 Mini PC	$570	AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX	AMD Radeon 680M	32GB DDR4	1TB M.2 NVMe SSD	Home windows 11 Professional

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Select this mini PC…	If you need…
Intel NUC 13 Professional Area Canyon	a general-purpose mini PC. The Intel NUC PCs proceed to be one of the best all-around mini PCs in the marketplace. Sure, there are higher, quicker, cheaper programs out there, however these programs have frequently impressed me over time.
Apple 2024 Mac Mini	to go with MacOS. The Mac Mini was once the best way that Home windows PC customers would begin to make the transition over to Mac. These days, they’re all-purpose desktop computer systems which might be good for anybody who would not desire a moveable system, from college students to builders.
GMKtec Mini PC	a actually tiny PC. This is among the smallest programs I’ve seen, however it packs fairly a punch, hitting properly above its dimension and weight.
Beelink EQ13 Mini PC	a mini PC with a distinction. This mini PC breaks the mould: not solely does it have a particular mud filter to maintain out particles, it additionally has 2 Ethernet ports, and two M.2 slots to go with the 2 HDMI ports.
AceMagician AMD Ryzen 9 Mini PC	a correct mini gaming PC. Right here you will have a full gaming PC packed right into a tiny footprint. Positive, there are going to be desktop programs which might be far more highly effective than this method, however for the scale, you may be hard-pressed to search out something quicker.

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In some ways, selecting a mini PC is very like a daily PC. There are all the same old efficiency, value, and help for all of your peripherals to remember. However in case you are after a mini PC, then the mini half does come into play, so there’s a dimension problem to keep in mind. The excellent news is that mini PCs are available in a variety of sizes, from programs that may match within the palm of your hand to programs so small you could possibly match a number of of them within the palm of your hand.

Do you want a mini PC? That is the highest query when selecting a mini PC. Do you really need one, or do you simply want a daily PC?
Measurement: This actually is the differentiator in terms of mini PCs. Would you like a PC that is the scale of a biscuit tin, or one thing considerably smaller?
Efficiency: Fairly customary PC consideration right here. What would you like your system to do? Do you need to perform basic PC duties like phrase processing and spreadsheets and shopping the online, or do you will have extra specialist wants in thoughts, similar to gaming?
Funds: Small would not all the time imply low cost, however it can save you cash by selecting a mini PC that fits your wants.
Ports: Most mini PCs include an honest array of ports, however if you happen to want one thing like two Ethernet ports or a bunch of USB ports, it’s essential to make sure you’re getting the suitable mini PC for you.

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There are numerous mini PCs in the marketplace from quite a lot of totally different distributors, and I’ve examined and used mini PCs from all of the distributors listed right here, I’ve based mostly my choices on my expertise utilizing these manufacturers, in addition to present mannequin person opinions.

Product specs and value additionally come into play, however with the ability to draw on dozens, and typically tons of, of different individuals’s views permits me to get a broad sense of how well-received a specific mini PC is. I’ve paid specific consideration to stories of efficiency, stability, how quiet or noisy the PC is, and weeded out many who appeared to have a poor lifespan.

What we’re left with is one of the best of one of the best, in a broad number of classes which might be relevant to mini PCs.

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A mini PC is a compact but absolutely practical pc that provides many, if not all of, the capabilities of a desktop PC, however is packaged right into a smaller type issue. Mini PCs are designed to avoid wasting house and can be utilized for quite a lot of duties, from fundamental computing to extra demanding purposes similar to programming and even gaming.

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Folks typically select to spend money on a mini PC for these causes:

House-saving: The highest advantage of going for a mini PC is that it takes up considerably much less house than conventional desktop PCs.
Moveable: Mini PCs are light-weight and simple to maneuver, making them supreme for customers who want computing energy on the go.
Power effectivity: Most mini PCs devour considerably much less energy than a similarly-specced desktop system, which might result in price financial savings on electrical energy.
Quiet: Some fashions are fanless, leading to quieter operation, and even those who nonetheless have a fan are far quieter than a regular desktop system.

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It will depend on the mannequin. Some mini PCs enable for upgrades — typically very straightforward upgrades — to elements like RAM and storage, whereas others have mounted configurations.

On the entire nevertheless, like laptops, mini PCs are higher aimed toward these conditions the place you purchase the PC with the spec that you simply want relatively than counting on an improve down the road.

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