This compact Windows PC outperforms the M4 Mac Mini in key areas - and it's on sale

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• Minisforum's AI X1 Pro retails for $1,129.
• It's a almighty mini equipped with top-tier hardware for creators, programmers, and coders looking to interface with AI astatine lightning-fast speeds.
• Don't number connected relying connected the device's built-in speakers oregon mic, and it's 1 of the chunkier minis.

All 3 configurations of the Minisforum A1 XI Pro are connected sale, with the 2TB SSD exemplary receiving a $280 discount.

When Apple upgraded its Mac Mini with the M4 processor past year, we saw immoderate renewed involvement successful the mini PC class overall. All the powerfulness of a desktop, but packed into a tiny frame? Yes, please. Apple isn't the lone 1 making impressively bite-sized computers, however.

Purveyor of minis, Minisforum released its AI370 EliteMini, a instrumentality we reviewed and praised for its 8K show support, 4TB of storage, and almighty hardware for nether $1,000. Similarly, the G7 Ti Mini had awesome earthy power, but I noted its noisy fans.

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Now, the brand's latest Mini PC -- the Minisforum AI X1 Pro -- ups the ante with immoderate superior hardware: AMD's Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor, an AMD Radeon 890M GPU, up to 96GB of RAM, and 4TB of storage, each successful the aforesaid size arsenic a Mac Mini and astatine a competitory starting terms of $1,129 (on merchantability close present starting astatine $899).

As a designated Copilot+ PC (yes, that is simply a Copilot fastener connected the enactment beforehand of the device), the aptly named AI X1 Pro is specifically designed to vie with the Mac Mini M4, peculiarly erstwhile it comes to AI features, high-resolution outer monitors, and gaming.

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The AI X1 Pro does each of these things well, with awesome performance, multitasking crossed aggregate monitors, and coagulated gaming performance, each portion moving chill and virtually silent. Let's instrumentality a look astatine what this powerhouse is susceptible of.

The processor present is top-of-the-line for AMD -- it boasts 12 cores and 24 threads with a max timepiece velocity of 5.1GHZ and 80 TOPS for AI-powered tasks. In my benchmarking of the device, it performed precise well, connected par with the Mac Mini M4 regarding earthy output, but similar immoderate benchmarking numbers, that's lone portion of the picture.

The AI X1 Pro supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 and has a built-in powerfulness supply, making it acceptable to spell retired of the box. However, you'll privation to hook up astatine slightest 1 high-quality show to get the astir retired of it. In my testing, I connected 2 monitors -- 1 of which was 4K -- and their show was silky-smooth and gorgeous.

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

The instrumentality does diagnostic its ain audio, but this is 1 country it doesn't excel at. The built-in talker connected the instrumentality is capable for basal contented -- though I would accidental my laptop has amended audio quality. Similarly, the onboard mic is bully capable for speedy calls, but I wouldn't number connected it implicit a dedicated webcam oregon microphone.

These things are hardly dealbreakers, however, arsenic AI X1 Pro users volition privation to link their ain speakers with each different peripheral.

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It's easy, too, with this galore ports. It comes with 3 USB Type-A ports, 2 USB4s, a 3.5mm combo jack, HDMI, a Kensington Lock, and much -- basically, everything you request to occurrence up and customize your workstation.

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

It besides features an Oculink (PCIe 4.0) slot for high-performance retention and docking stations with a bandwidth of up to 64 GB/s. The Oculink tin besides link to an outer GPU, allowing users to harness a much almighty graphics strategy for higher framework rates and 4K gaming.  

This allows the AI X1 Pro to level up arsenic a gaming instrumentality oregon a dedicated creator's device, improving the integrated GPU's performance. It besides supports Rebar, oregon Resizable Base Address Register, which improves connection betwixt the two. 

Gaming show connected the AI X1 Pro is rather good, but the strategy does necessitate immoderate optimization to afloat instrumentality vantage of each the almighty hardware here. I fired up a fistful of titles connected Steam and had nary issues, but I volition accidental immoderate of the much memory-demanding games required immoderate settings tinkering to consciousness similar a existent gaming rig. 

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I was overmuch much impressed with Minisforum's cooling exertion here, arsenic AMD's Ryzen 9 already runs cool, but the device's somewhat larger size allows for a spot much successful the mode of cooling components. The instrumentality kicked connected during dense gaming, but it was quiescent capable to spell mostly unnoticed. 

The AI X1 Pro besides excels astatine on-device AI tasks. During testing, I ran offline versions of DeepSeek and OpenAI's ChatGPT done LM Studio, and some performed exceedingly fast. Even longer, much analyzable queries, similar requests for code, were accelerated and responsive. 

ZDNET's buying advice

Minisforum AI X1 Pro is fundamentally a Mac Mini M4 powered by AMD's almighty Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 chip. It has immoderate of the fastest AI-powered capabilities I've seen connected immoderate device, laptop, desktop, oregon mini.

Like the Mac Mini, it's surely susceptible of gaming, but I wouldn't peg this arsenic a gaming-first device. Instead, I'd urge this instrumentality for developers and creatives looking to tally almighty AI tasks successful applications similar Deepseek oregon OpenAI, oregon users who similar to utilize outer GPUs to tinker with show optimization.

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This nonfiction was primitively published connected March 7, 2025, and was updated connected June 30, 2025.