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Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks
Best General-Use Mini PC
Lenovo IdeaCentre Mini (2023)
This is a mini PC fit for a home office, secondary workspace, or small business, and the configuration we reviewed ensures any of those users can get real work done. This compact box starts in the $600 range, but we tested a more capable $909 configuration, which packs an impressive Intel Core i7-13700H processor, 16GB of memory, and a 1TB SSD. Buyers with truly serious workloads to push will want to seek out a larger PC with a workstation-grade or Core i9 chip, and you’ll find no discrete graphics in the Mini, but the performance is substantial for a compact PC, especially one under $1,000. While it’s not perfect, and limited in what you can upgrade, the IdeaCentre Mini supports multiple monitors, includes a useful selection of ports, and features a nicer-looking design than most.
Those looking to simplify a home-office setup or put together a desk for their small business, but who still need legitimate processing power, will be pleased with the IdeaCentre Mini. A Core i7 H series chip represents near-desktop-level processing muscle (it’s the class of chip that goes into power-user laptops), so this PC sits well above the class of mini PC suited merely for digital-signage or kiosk duty. You could set up a similarly quick traditional tower PC for less money, so don’t opt for a mini PC unless space constraints are paramount, but this Lenovo effort is an attractive all-purpose solution.
Desktop Class
Small Form Factor (SFF)
Processor
Intel Core i7-13700H
RAM (as Tested)
16 GB
Boot Drive Type
SSD
Boot Drive Capacity (as Tested)
1 TB
Graphics Card
Intel Iris Xe
Operating System
Windows 11 Home
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Best Budget Mini PC
MSI Pro DP21
The MSI Pro DP21 is not the smallest mini PC around, but if you only need a generally affordable compact system emphasizing performance, this is an effective solution. The desktop-class Intel Core i3-12100 processor in our review unit is fast and efficient, and you can upgrade it if needed. Even if it’s not the tiniest box, the system is still VESA mountable, and it includes antenna-free Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth.
Those primarily seeking performance from a compact solution on a tight budget may have found the ideal product in the MSI Pro. If the absolute smallest size is your priority, look at some of our other picks, but this is still a broadly small-form-factor PC that saves a lot of space compared with a traditional tower but doesn’t give up on performance.
Desktop Class
Business
Processor
Intel Core i3-12100
Processor Speed
3.3 GHz
RAM (as Tested)
8 GB
Boot Drive Type
SSD
Boot Drive Capacity (as Tested)
256 GB
Graphics Card
Intel UHD Graphics 730
Operating System
Windows 11 Home
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Best Business Mini PC
Asus NUC 14 Pro
Asus has picked up the NUC story where Intel left off, with the NUC 14 Pro coming in as the next best mini PC for offices and small businesses. This mighty little puck is ready for the cubicle, with certain models packing an Intel Core Ultra chip featuring vPro security technology. With broad connectivity options, user upgradability, and a VESA mount for fitting it to the back of a monitor, this NUC revival is the best business mini PC we’ve reviewed in some time.
This next NUC is ideal for anyone looking to fill an office, a call center, or a retail establishment with compact-but-punchy PCs that can power through basic productivity tasks. If you need a PC that can mount to the back of a monitor and is easily upgradable to maximize its useful life, definitely consider the Asus NUC 14 Pro.
Desktop Class
Small Form Factor (SFF)
Processor
Intel Core Ultra 7 165H
Processor Speed
1.4 GHz
RAM (as Tested)
16 GB
Boot Drive Type
SSD
Boot Drive Capacity (as Tested)
512 GB
Graphics Card
Intel Arc Graphics
Operating System
Windows 11 Pro
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Best Compact and Quiet Mini PC
MSI Cubi NUC 1M
The Cubi 5 NUC 1M we tested is a little pricey as configured ($649.99; $999.99 as tested), but once you get past that, you’ll find a lot to like about this little box. This machine runs quickly and quietly, powered by an Intel Core 7 150U processor, 32GB of memory, and a 1TB solid-state drive. It delivers dual 2.5Gbps Ethernet connectivity, pushes up to four monitors, and has a wide port selection. It’s not as quick as the list leaders, but quibbles aside, it’s a complete package.
If you’re short on desk space but want a PC with the latest connectivity and enough power to drive your basic computing needs, the MSI Cubi NUC 1M is an excellent alternative to more powerful options. This lower level of processing is enough to get through basic computing tasks, but the supporting features are more important. For that and its versatile support options, we recommend the Cubi for quiet operation.
Desktop Class
Small Form Factor (SFF)
Processor
Intel Core 7 150U
RAM (as Tested)
32 GB
Boot Drive Type
SSD
Boot Drive Capacity (as Tested)
1 TB
Graphics Card
Intel Graphics
Operating System
Windows 11 Pro
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Best Workstation Mini PC
HP Z2 Mini G9
Most desktop workstation buyers want tons of expandability and upgradability. HP’s Z2 Mini G9 doesn’t have those, but it has awesome performance, impressive connectivity, and surprising serviceability for a PC only 2.7 by 8.3 by 8.6 inches big. Though it can hide under a desk or behind a monitor with an optional VESA mount, the Z2 Mini accommodates the 125-watt processors you’ll find in full-size towers, such as our test unit’s flagship Intel Core i9-12900K, and an industry-standard graphics card. The latter must be a half-length, half-height GPU powered by the PCI Express slot, but the 12GB Nvidia RTX A2000 in our review system is certainly no slouch.
The Z2 Mini G9 carries the independent software vendor (ISV) certifications of its bigger desktop brothers and HP’s ZBook mobile workstations, making it a great choice for 2D and light 3D design and CGI rendering as well as video editing, dataset analysis, and scientific and engineering apps. Up to 64GB of memory and 8TB of storage give you plenty of headroom, while two “flex banks” can be configured with a dizzying array of ports. Apparently nobody told it it wasn’t a tower.
Desktop Class
Workstation
Processor
Intel Core i9-12900K
Processor Speed
3.2 GHz
RAM (as Tested)
64 GB
Boot Drive Type
SSD
Boot Drive Capacity (as Tested)
1 TB
Graphics Card
Nvidia RTX A2000
Operating System
Windows 11 Pro
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Best Mini PC for Maximum Connectivity
Acer Veriton Vero Mini
This fleet-oriented Veriton business model is a well-built and especially slim PC with snappy performance for its size, and a load of ports. That alone makes it worthwhile in this category, with seven USB ports (though only one USB-C) and VESA mounting support adding versatility. Plus, it comes with a keyboard and mouse, making it and its 12th Gen Intel processor ready to plug and play.
If you and your business need a lot of ports in a small desktop, plus steady performance, this is a nice little package. It’s not the best value, a bit expensive for the components, but it is a quick and efficient space-saving PC. If you’re not one to tinker and have the budget, you could do much worse than deploying this box in one small office or a hundred cubicles.
Desktop Class
Small Form Factor (SFF)
Processor
Intel Core i7-12700T
Processor Speed
1.4 GHz
RAM (as Tested)
16 GB
Boot Drive Type
SSD
Boot Drive Capacity (as Tested)
1 TB
Graphics Card
Intel UHD Graphics 770
Operating System
Windows 11 Pro
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Buying Guide: The Best Windows Mini PCs for 2024
We’re seeing clear stratification in the market for tiny Windows desktop PCs. The very smallest PCs might be termed the “stick class,” pioneered by the Atom CPU-powered Intel Compute Stick we first reviewed in early 2015 (and again in its refreshed Cherry Trail Atom and Core m3 forms), followed by similar sticks from Asus, Azulle, Lenovo, and others.
You can still find stick PCs on the market, but these are suitable only for display/signage use or extremely basic applications. After a promising debut those years back, they have not seen all that much evolution or momentum. They have failed to have a significant impact; the form factor is too small to grow beyond those use cases.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
The models next up in size were much more dynamic, a bunch we traditionally termed the “NUC class.” NUC stands for “Next Unit of Computing,” a longtime initiative started by Intel to spur the development of very small Windows-based desktop PCs using its mobile-centric processors. Over the last decade, the chip giant released successive series of NUC-branded mini PC kits, and several of the traditional PC component makers have followed suit with similar models.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Most of the “classic” NUC mini PCs were around 5 or 6 inches square, though later NUCs expanded the footprint to wider and taller designs, with commensurate increases in the performance level. Intel shuttered its NUC program in 2023 (stocks of some of its latest NUC models remain on the market for now), but Asus has picked up the NUC-brand torch (Asus now supports the 10th to 13th Gen NUCs from Intel) and is keeping the NUC name alive. They and a few other PC makers (notably MSI and ASRock) continue to deliver NUC-branded mini PCs with Intel bowing out. They and other companies also offer NUC-lookalikes (without using the NUC name) that feature decent power, plus some that push the platform’s boundaries.
(Credit: Kyle Cobian)
Separate from those is a host of undeniably small PCs that follow their own shape and size rules. Zotac, a significant player in small PCs (and one of the category’s unsung innovators), offers a vast range of Zbox PCs that range in size from “classic NUC” size upward. Shuttle is another small-PC pioneer, offering machines in various shapes, mostly nowadays for business and industrial audiences.
Should You Buy a Bare-Bones or Fully Configured Mini PC?
Not all mini PCs ship as complete systems. You get a PC kit with some models: a tiny chassis with a motherboard preinstalled. (Sometimes, a soldered-on processor is in place instead of a socketed one.) Plus, in most cases, wireless connectivity is built in. To complete the kit, you must shop for and install your operating system, a storage drive (a hard drive and/or a solid-state drive, depending on the model), and RAM modules.
This arrangement is what resellers call a “bare-bones PC.” You’ll want to make sure you know what you are getting. Sometimes, a given mini system is sold in bare-bones form and pre-configured versions with storage, RAM, and Windows present.
You must factor those parts and a Windows license (unless you plan to use Linux) into the total cost. Mind you, the parts you will need will be small: the kind that you’d typically find in a laptop, not a desktop. Many small PCs like these use DDR4 or DDR5 SO-DIMMs—laptop-style RAM modules—for their main memory instead of full-size desktop DIMMs.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
The form factor of the storage varies more. Depending on the mini PC you are looking at, you may need a 2.5-inch drive (a solid-state or hard drive, the size that goes into most full-size laptops) or a slimmer variety of SSD known as an M.2 SSD. Such drives are the size and shape of a stick of chewing gum. Check out our guide to these somewhat complicated drives at the link; if you need to install an M.2 SSD on a bare-bones desktop, you need to know about some interface/bus and sizing subtleties before you shop. (It’s all too easy to buy an incompatible drive.) They are a perfect fit for very small PCs like these, however.
If a given system is a bare-bones kit, you’ll need to get more than a little hands-on with it to get it up and running. But a kit gives you maximum flexibility in terms of component selection. Regardless, apart from the more straightforward setup, one advantage of a pre-configured mini PC is that Windows comes installed; you won’t need to install and update the OS and its drivers.
Should You Get Dedicated or Integrated Graphics in Your Mini PC?
Most mini PCs are as “mini” as they are because they rely on the basic-grade graphics acceleration built into the CPU to power their video outputs—no separate graphics card is involved. This integrated graphics silicon will suffice for productivity work and video playback. A few outlying models, though, incorporate the same discrete mobile graphics chips that appear in gaming laptops. A few compact workstation desktops even use Nvidia’s professional-grade graphics and up to Intel Xeon processors for high-power, ISV-certified tasks.
(Credit: Kyle Cobian)
Some of the larger Intel NUC models included discrete mobile and desktop GPUs. That means well-above-average graphics performance in a system this size. These “Extreme” Intel NUCs made room for a dual-slot graphics card up to 12 inches long. That opens up some serious productivity and gaming power, but the NUC Extremes take you out of the true “mini” size category, and they’re only available as end-of-life models at this point. It’s all relative. From the Asus ROG NUC to the Geekom Megamini G1, brands are happy to carry the torch.
If you’re sticking with a tiny PC, a dedicated graphics chip is seldom an option for space and thermal design reasons. We’ll see what this year brings in this department, but a traditional gaming PC will always be your best bet to maximize power for serious gaming.
What Connections Do You Need in a Mini PC?
Some mini PCs include mounting kits that let you attach them to the back of an LCD. If space savings are significant to you, check for that feature. Also, check the back of your monitor for mounting holes, which, if present, usually comply with the VESA mounting standard.
Also, check for 802.11 Wi-Fi (wireless networking) of some flavor. Most micro PCs include at least that as a standard feature (and most also incorporate Bluetooth), but double-check that the system or kit doesn’t require purchasing a separate Wi-Fi card in the Mini-PCI Express or M.2 form factor. Some do.
USB and video outputs may seem like obvious things to look for, but with smaller PCs like these, the number provided can be less than you may be used to. Check for enough of each for the peripherals you need to connect.
Also, check for multi-monitor support if that is a factor for you. Some small PCs are designed explicitly for digital signage and may support more concurrent displays than you might expect from a little system. Note, though, that these models may emphasize video outputs instead of other connections or even much in the way of CPU power.
Which CPU Should You Look for in a Mini PC?
You’ll see a variety of mobile-grade CPUs in the small PCs out there, ranging from Intel Celeron and Pentium chips (very basic and okay at best for simple productivity work, e-mailing, and web browsing) up to Core i5 and i7 (and in a few cases, i9) processors that can do some modest media-crunching and rendering work. You must know, however, if you are looking at a mobile-grade CPU (the kind used in laptops) or a desktop-strength chip. The size of the PC isn’t always a good predictor of that. (Regardless, the smallest PCs will always use mobile chips.)
How to tell? Most of the mini PCs on the market use Intel silicon, and the dead giveaway, whether you’re looking at a mobile CPU or a desktop one, is usually the letter at the end of the processor’s number. Look for a “T” or a “K,” or no letter at all, as a dead giveaway for a desktop chip (for example, Core i5-13400T), or a “U,” “H,” or “Y” (or possibly a “G3,” “G5,” or “G7”) for a mobile one.
With the chip family and generation being equal, you can expect more muscle (usually a consequence of more cores and higher base clocks) from the desktop version of, say, a Core i5 than from a mobile Core i5. In addition, Intel chips ending in “H” are higher-powered mobile processors, occupying the middle ground between the mainstream mobile chips and all-out socketed desktop chips. They are uncommon in mini desktops but not unheard of; one of our favorite selections, the Lenovo IdeaCentre Mini, packs a 13th Gen Core i7 H-series CPU.
(Credit: Charles Jefferies)
You’ll also find some occasional AMD flavors, such as the embedded-class AMD Ryzen V1605B in the ECS Liva Q3 Plus and even the Ryzen 9 6900HX in the potent Geekom AS6.
Intel also recently launched the second generation of its Core Ultra mobile platform, “Lunar Lake.” These are starting to show up in mini desktops. These chips are dubbed “Core Ultra,” and their onboard AI-ready neural processing units (NPUs) may be helpful to desktop users.
What to glean from that mobile-versus-desktop insight? Our benchmark testing will quantify the trends, but none of the mobile-grade chips in these small PCs is a proper substitute for a desktop chip if you’re a heavy multitasker or a media pro who needs real processing muscle (say, to convert lots of video or photo files from one format to another). In most cases, the CPU is the single most significant factor in the cost of a mini PC, so keep an eye on the performance numbers in our reviews for a relative idea of what you are getting.
(Credit: Molly Flores)
Rule of thumb? For light office work, you can get by with a mobile or desktop Core i3 or Core Ultra 5-based mini PC, but you’ll want to err on the side of a higher-end Core Ultra chip if you need extra pep for serious multitasking, file conversions, heavy calculations, or multimedia content manipulation.
Ready to Buy the Right Mini PC for You?
Check out the spec breakout below for our latest mini PC recommendations, which parallel the abovementioned models. If you’re shopping for a small desktop to save money, you’ll also want to check out our picks for the top cheap desktops.
If you’d like to go a bit bigger, check out our top choices for standard-size desktops, including some small-form-factor PCs, or see our guide to the top all-in-one desktops, which save space in their own way by featuring built-in displays.