My team and I have tested so many good machines this year that I ended up overhauling my guide to the best mini PC units – and I expect even more to make the grade in 2026.
We’re absolutely past the point of these machines being underpowered curiosities, ideal for basic web browsing and office tasks and little more. As hardware editor here at TechRadar Prothis year, it really feels like mini PCs are coming into their own now. I’m seeing Geekom, GMKtec, Minisforum, and more delivering exceptional engineering, packing serious processing power into compact chassis that don’t just sit neatly on your desk – they threaten to entirely replace your desktop. All with performance that far outweighs the price.
Best value: GMKtec NucBox M5 Plus
Unbeatable value for a mini PC
This is one of my favorite mini PCs we reviewed all year. It’s a real all-rounder machine and when it comes to value, there’s not much to beat the mid-range GMKtec M5 Plus. Considering its low-ish price, it comes with very respectable specs including a AMD Ryzen 7 5825U chip and 16GB RAM that can be expanded up to 64GB, delivering way better performance than you might expect.
Read our full GMKtec M5 Plus review
High-performance: Geekom A9 Max
Exceptionally high-performance Windows machine
Once we reviewed the Geekom A9 Max, it immediately became my top choice Windows 11 mini PC – displacing the already impressive Geekom AX8 Pro. It’s stylish, compact, and packs a AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor, a very powerful NPU, and 32GB DDR5 RAM that’s expandable up to 128GB. If it’s top performance you’re after, this one ticks every box.
Read our full Geekom A9 Max review
Best on a budget: GMKtec G10
A superb budget machine
Another mini PC that made it into my guide after review, this is the top pick for anyone who wants a simple budget machine. Alright, for the low cost, you’re not getting Mac mini performance, but for general tasks, it’s more than capable than most at this price-point thanks to the AMD Ryzen 5 3500U chip and 16GB RAM (expandable to 64GB).
Read our full GMKtec G10 review
Pro workstation: Lenovo ThinkCentre Neo Ultra
Built for business
This is a true business-centric mini PC, with the design and specs to prove it. To look at, it reminds me of a Windows-based Mac Studio, and inside the newest Gen 2 model you’ll find an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor, Nvidia RTX 5060 graphics cards. For those who need workstation-level performance and enterprise-grade build, there’s not much to touch Lenovo’s mini PC.
Read our full Lenovo ThinkCentre Neo Ultra review
Best for AI: Minisforum MS-S1 Max
Ideal for running and training LLM
If you’re looking to run or train LLM models locally, the Minisforum MS-S1 Max is the perfect choice. We reviewed this right at the end of 2025, and I’ll be adding it to my guide to the top models in the new year. It’s not cheap, but we found it offered workstation-levels of performance, features integrated CPU, GPU and RAM, and with plenty of storage and PCIe upgrade options. A genuinely impressive mini PC.
Read our full Minisforum MS-S1 Max review
Great for gamers: GMKtec EVO-X1
Great for gaming thanks to eGPU support
We were seriously impressed with how well the GMKtec EVO-X1 ran – especially if you’re conducting higher-end content creation or gaming. Out of the box, it’s not as versatile as the Minisforum AtomMan G7 PT or Asus ROG NUC. But hook up an external graphics card via the OcuLink port and you have a very high-performance gaming mini PC. It even supports three 8K displays.
Read our full GMKtec EVO-X1 review
Reliable mid-range machine: Bosgame M4
A solid workhorse
There’s not much to dislike about the Bosgame M4, which proved to offer excellent performance for the price when we took it out for a spin. It comes in a broad range of configurations, but for top performance, you’ll want to check out the model with the Ryzen 7 8745HS chip and 32GB DDR5 RAM, which is expandable to 64GB for smoother performance.
Read our Bosgame M4 review
Content creation: GMKtec K12
Ideal for mid-level creative tasks
Yet another mini PC that entered my guide to top models this year after a very strong review. This is an ideal choice for those looking for an all-rounder machine for photo and video editing (especially if you’re avoiding the Mac mini or more expensive Windows models). The specs are powerful for a mid-range machine, but I especially like the option of connecting an external GPU, giving it real versatility.
Read our full GMKtec NucBox K12 review
Top-performer alternative: Geekom A8 Max
Another exceptional performer across the board
This is an incredibly powerful and stylish mini PC that surpassed all our expectations. It excelled at day-to-day tasks, as you’d expect. But thanks to its powerful processor, GPU, and NPU, we found it really shines when used for editing video, images, and music. We even managed to squeeze some gaming of AAA titles on this mini machine, but I’d still recommend investing in an eGPU if that’s your main use here.
Read our full Geekom A8 Max review
Office powerhouse: Geekom IT15
One of the most powerful processors around
The Geekom IT15 comes loaded with one of the most powerful CPUs you can get – and in our tests, it blasted through pretty much every kind of office and creative task we threw at it. The only area where it falls down is graphical processing for those who need to render live video files or play games. Beyond that, this mighty machine is possibly the perfect desktop replacement for office and administration tasks and mid-level creative applications.
Read our full Geekom IT15 review
Home server: GMKtec NucBox G9
The perfect home lab mini PC
There’s so much I like about the GMKtec G9 – and that starts with the price, which is impressively low. Beyond that, this mini PC is capable of dual-booting Windows 11 and Ubuntu, and has serious potential for those who need a machine that can act as a NAS or media server with a good level of performance. Usually, you’d pay a lot more for the features and performance on offer here.
Read our full GMKtec NucBox G9 review
The best mini PCs for all budgets
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can also Follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.
