Thursday, December 28, 2023

Finally! AMD-powered workstation mini PC comes with USB 4 ports – allowing creatives to connect Thunderbolt-powered GPU docking stations

Geekom, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in October 2023, produces some excellent mini PCs, including the Mini IT13 which we reviewed here in October, and the Mini IT11, reviewed at the end of 2022.

Its next big – well, tiny – release will be the Geekom A7 mini PC. This will be officially unveiled at CES 2024, but we’ve had a sneak peek, and it looks like the company has another hit on its hands.

The Geekom A7, with a metal body, will be powered by Ryzen 7000 series APUs - specifically Ryzen 9 7940HS and Ryzen 7 7840HS – matched with up to 64 GB of DDR5 RAM, clocked at 5600 MHz in dual-channel. This setup means it should be able to handle some reasonably heavy workloads. An M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 slot means the A7 can accommodate up to a 2TB SSD, and the new mini PC has a connector for a SATA drive too.

USB4 support

Its wireless capabilities include Intel Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, and it comes with a decent selection of ports, including a 2.5G Ethernet, USB Type-A, 3.5 mm audio, and HDMI.

Most notably, the A7 mini PC will come with a USB 4 Type-C port. USB 4 mirrors many of the specifications of Thunderbolt 4, so it will be able to support DisplayPort 2.0 and deliver speeds of up to 40Gbps. It will also be backward compatible with USB 3.2 (and even USB 2.0). This inclusion means creatives can connect GPU docking stations to the device, delivering a significant performance boost.

According to Alan Chen, the CEO of Geekom, "In terms of body size, the A7 will be the thinnest Mini PC on the market, with stability and performance guaranteed."

There’s no word on pricing or availability for the Geekom A7 yet, but with CES 2024 just around the corner, we won’t have to wait too long to find out the full details.

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