Ergonomically, this isn’t substantially different from the Mini IT12 and Mini IT11 models that came before it. But the AS 6 is a Gen 4 system with Gen 4 M.2 NVMe slots, allowing it to take much faster drives, like the excellent Lexar NM790.

In general, the performance of this machine is on the top rung of current NUC designs in all but one annoying aspect. For whatever reason, cost presumably, Geekom decided to install the same NVMe drive (Kingston SNV2S/1000G) in this system as was in the AS 5. In the cold light of day, the review specification hardware of the Mini IT13 isn’t worth the extra money, and the Core-i7 will provide a very similar experience and leave enough budget for a high-performance PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive or a 2TB SATA SSD.What it comes down to is that the Mini IT13 uses DDR4 memory, whereas the NBP7 uses DDR5, allowing much greater bandwidth that helps recycle the cache and also boosts the performance of the Iris Xe GPU that shares system memory.

That Geekom is the only Mini PC maker offering this configuration at the time of writing hints that perhaps it wasn’t the best plan. The performance of the AS 5 was something of a disappointment, given it also has a Ryzen 9 processor with eight cores, but the AS 6 is much more impressive. But importantly, this is a mobile part and shouldn’t be confused with the Core i9 13900 desktop chips, some of which have a base power consumption of 150W. The M.2 slots inside are PCIe Gen 4, enabling very fast NVMe drives to be connected, which can be twice the speed of the typical Gen 3 modules. Ironically, the issue here isn’t the CPU primarily. Because the Zen 3 architecture, with eight cores and 16MB of L3 and 4MB of L2 cache, can run very sweetly and drive up to sixteen threads effectively.For those using this system in anger, the 2.5GbE LAN port is a must, irrespective of the quality of WiFi in the office. It’s a fire-and-forget solution that, if the connected switch supports 2.5GbE, can easily shift 250Mb/s a second to and from network servers. Often Mini PC makers offer a series of SKUs, with some even making the machine without RAM or storage available as ‘barebones’, but not the AS 5.

After much wiggling and some spudger encouragement, the base can be detached to reveal a slightly worrying layout. The AS 5 uses a dual board design where various functions have been disseminated onto a second board that is connected by a wide flexible ribbon cable. While it didn’t quite hit the heights of the Ryzen 7735HS, the Ryzen 9 6900HX is an impressive platform for any mobile computer, and it drives this NUC relentlessly.

In short, the design of the AS 5 is great in terms of the upgrade options but less wonderful because of its plastic construction and inherently fragile flexible connectors. Its video performance is close to the Intel i7-13700H (14 cores, 20 Threads, Iris Xe GPU), and the Ryzen 7735HS (8 cores, 16 threads, Radeon 680M GPU), making it suitable for light gaming duties. Kom de Olde founded GEEKOM in 2003 with the expressed goal of dedicating the company to the "research and development of computer products." [1] In late 2021, GEEKOM switched its focus to the mini PC market and has since become one of the world's leading manufacturers of mini PCs. [2] [3] Products [ edit ] Alongside the illuminating power button are three USB ports, with two USB-A and one USB-C, and the only other front port is a 3.5 audio combo. The only disappointment is that the BIOS doesn’t allow for tweaking the DDR5 to go faster, which would provide performance improvements across the board.