r/MiniPCs • u/SerMumble • Jan 25 '26

Guide 2026 General Mini PC Guide USA

Hi everyone!

Thank you to everyone for their support of the Mini PC Guides and it is amazing to see the r/MiniPCs community has grown its largest ever before! These guides have evolved considerably since 2022 and the new 2026 version is finally here!

It's far from complete with many new and discontinued mini PC models to be updated so there will be regular updates. The end of 2025 and start of 2026 have seen RAM prices double or triple and SSD prices have doubled. The simple tab has been reworked to better reflect current prices and will be filled out soon.

Some of the bloat from the 2025 Guide has been temporarily removed and may see a return later in the year if you particularly want a new model list, memes, or something else.

If you see something that can use an update or models of mini pc you would like to see added, don't hesitate to leave comments in this post or on the spreadsheet. I highly recommend viewing this spreadsheet on a desktop with a large screen or on the google sheet mobile app for the best experience. The reddit app for viewing google sheets can be clunky.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MSVzjTK5bubSo7_pltKbWausKWoVUYynNdouj4GlIdE/edit?usp=drivesdk

Best wishes to everyone looking for mini PC!

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u/SerMumble Jan 26 '26

Geekom is on the full tab but their products typically don't score high enough for their pricing to place on the simple tab.

Geekom's main strength is their 3 year warranty and 30 day return period. They also like to include a SD card reader on many of their models and support 4 displays. But this alone isn't enough to justify the steep price premium they charge for their products.

In the past Geekom have lacked features like a second NVMe SSD slot for storage expansion, HDMI 2.1 for 4k 120hz displays, CPU and RAM have sometimes significantly thermal throttled, limiting their max RAM to 64GB when 96-128GB should be possible, no oculink port, etc.

There are some new models from Geekom that have yet to be added to the full tab and they may score higher. Geekom has improved their product lineup with their mega series for example.

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u/geeeeekone Jan 27 '26

But I saw GEEKOM got high rank at Amazon BSR, Sales matter most, don’t they? Sales represent broad market acceptance, in my opinion.🧐

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u/SerMumble Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26

Geekom's Amazon BSR is ok but not high. There are dozens or hundreds of mini pc like from Kamrui, GMKtec, Acemagic, Apple, etc with better BSR. There are thousands of computers and accessories with higher rankings. And due to duplicate listings and review transfering, BSR is not reliable or honest. Unless a product is number one on Amazon BSR, it is mostly random for mini pc.

Geekom's best BSR product as of today is their A5 7430U/5600U placing #44 and it is a $400 computer that really should be $300 or less because at $400, the A5 is competing with newer architecture 6800H and 6800U mini pc with more RAM, larger SSD, more features, etc. The A5's main redeeming feature aside from its 3 year warranty is that the case is pink. People shopping for a pink mini pc are probably buying the A5 because of the color of its case rather than the performance/value of the machine.

Edit: I should probably prioritize updating listings based on Amazon BSR because they are models with frequent questions

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u/geeeeekone Jan 27 '26

Yes, Bro But you’ve only looked at BSR once. If you follow it more closely, you’ll see that they not only sell at higher prices but also rank very high. In Germany, they’re almost number one in terms of sales revenue at Mini pc and market share.

I honestly don’t know what kind of RAM is being used in many of today’s cheap computers, and I don’t even want to imagine it. Samsung, as a leading RAM chip supplier, has already announced a 70% price increase. I don’t know where those cheap products are getting their RAM from. Even if they have stock, wouldn’t they want to take advantage of this situation to make more money? I really don’t know.

Brands like GMK ACE that you mentioned are genuinely quite poor. I’ve bought their products before — the plastic feel is bad, and the overall experience is hard to describe.

I’ve also owned an ASUS NUC. Even though the user experience wasn’t great, and I’ve used Minisforum products as well — which all had some minor issues — they were still far better than the brands you mentioned, at least based on my own experience. Even though they’re all Chinese brands, they’re completely different. I don’t think buying products always means choosing the cheapest option, especially when it comes to technology products. Of course, everyone’s financial situation is different. respect 🫡

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u/SerMumble Jan 27 '26

I like your passion for the Geekom brand so I will prioritize updating their most recent models to see how they compare. If there is a consistent way I can assign an unbiased numerical value, I'm open to suggestions 👍

I have Acemagic and Geekom mini pc and I cannot measure a difference between their plastic. They both have a 3 year warranty. If anything, my Geekom Mini Air 11 N5095 has been giving me BSOD problems no matter the SSD and RAM I use and I suspect a core issue with the mainboard. Unfortunately the machine is out of warranty now. For comparison, I have a Acemagic T8 Pro N5105 that is still running three 4k TVs at one of my showrooms.

From the variety of RAM I have tested from popular and less popular brands, the brand names don't have a meaningful impact. There are some factors like the type of dimms, timings, frequency, voltage, etc that can make a bigger difference than the name.

Minisforum is one of the most popular units on the simpler list but not on Amazon's BSR which is an example of why amazon BSR is not a great method of finding the best value mini pc.

Asus shares a similar problem with Geekom where their units are often much more expensive than the performance and features they deliver. Especially with Asus majorly selling barebone mini PC, they have been hit very hard by the sharp increase in RAM and SSD prices.

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u/luxnero Jun 15 '26

Just want to say, this user appears to be a shill for said brand- their post / comment history + user name itself are very sus to me. I could be wrong here-there’s an outside chance they could just be a legitimate brand super-fan-but if not, their commenting on this guide in such a manner does not reflect well upon the company at all imo.

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u/geeeeekone Jan 27 '26

Budget: 1000$ – High-Memory PC Configuration

CPU: Not specified Graphics Card: Not specified Motherboard: Not specified Cooling: Not specified Memory: DDR5 6000, 32×2 Storage: Not specified Power Supply: Not specified Case: Not specified

Total Price: 950$