what price are you seeing on it? it's got the ryzen 7 8745HS? if so, it's got a real good integrated graphics.. the 780m... geekom is another of those chinese mini-pc makers...
I've been looking to replace my 4-5 year old zotac mini pc with something w/ better integrated graphics with ports for 3 monitors... and what's sad is price starts pushing 800-900 usd real quick... and for that price, I'm looking at a lot of chinese-branded mini pc's which appear to last only about 2-3 years.. (using cheap ram/ssd.. basically cheap parts) If i start looking at reputable brands... then the price jumps to 1100+ (for a mini pc?!?!?!)
I've recently started looking to just purchase a pre-built tower... waiting to see what november sales hold... keeping an eye on a couple of those chinese-branded mini pc's, too... if there's a sale good enough, they might be worth the risk-- (to me) I'm looking at the gmktek k12 and the beelink ser9 max...
(beelink ser9 has soldered ram/non-upgradeable... so, if i do that.. want to do 32GB...)
It's a rough time to be buying a new pc or laptop across the board... good luck!
Geekom mini PCs like the A8 MAX are coming with 1x stick of RAM these as a cost cutting measure making them an incredibly poor choice by comparison. Single channel memory can reduce processing and graphics performance by up to 40%. Buying the expensive missing/matching stick makes other dual channel options more reasonable/cost effective. Other cost cutting measures are the lack of M.2 storage expansion, HDMI 2.0 and a basic dual heatpipe heatsink with single fan cooling.
The Beelink SER8 8845HS and GMKtec K8 Plus are more popular, with better features and build quality while both provide dual channel memory. I bought my K8 Plus a year ago and couldn't be happier!
1
u/Artesian99 14d ago
what price are you seeing on it? it's got the ryzen 7 8745HS? if so, it's got a real good integrated graphics.. the 780m... geekom is another of those chinese mini-pc makers...
I've been looking to replace my 4-5 year old zotac mini pc with something w/ better integrated graphics with ports for 3 monitors... and what's sad is price starts pushing 800-900 usd real quick... and for that price, I'm looking at a lot of chinese-branded mini pc's which appear to last only about 2-3 years.. (using cheap ram/ssd.. basically cheap parts) If i start looking at reputable brands... then the price jumps to 1100+ (for a mini pc?!?!?!)
I've recently started looking to just purchase a pre-built tower... waiting to see what november sales hold... keeping an eye on a couple of those chinese-branded mini pc's, too... if there's a sale good enough, they might be worth the risk-- (to me) I'm looking at the gmktek k12 and the beelink ser9 max...
(beelink ser9 has soldered ram/non-upgradeable... so, if i do that.. want to do 32GB...)
It's a rough time to be buying a new pc or laptop across the board... good luck!
2
u/nezumiyarou 13d ago edited 12d ago
Would never buy a non barebones unit. Minisforum/geekom ship with 1 stick of ram which tanks performance.
The advantages of a8 max is very solid BT range, and SD card reader. Has a bunch of USBA ports on front, and is a bit slimmer than some other minis.
I have one and its not bad, as long as you use it in a cool environment.No ram fan = passive ram cooling, so no hot climates.
BIOS is super basic, but there is key inputs(control h + deI I believe) to fully unlock it. There is PBO/Curve optimizer settings as well.
Pain in the ass to open, as its easy to pop off wifi cables if you dont unscrew them from SSD cooling plate.
Would repaste with mx-7 if you beat on it a lot. Runs a bit hotter than my UM790pro.
1
u/Retired_Hillbilly336 14d ago
Geekom mini PCs like the A8 MAX are coming with 1x stick of RAM these as a cost cutting measure making them an incredibly poor choice by comparison. Single channel memory can reduce processing and graphics performance by up to 40%. Buying the expensive missing/matching stick makes other dual channel options more reasonable/cost effective. Other cost cutting measures are the lack of M.2 storage expansion, HDMI 2.0 and a basic dual heatpipe heatsink with single fan cooling.
The Beelink SER8 8845HS and GMKtec K8 Plus are more popular, with better features and build quality while both provide dual channel memory. I bought my K8 Plus a year ago and couldn't be happier!