Geekom Mini IT 11: a mini PC with maximum attitude

Mini PCs are a great way of getting desktop computers in the kind of form factor that doesn’t take up too much space, yet still offers the kind of connectivity and high levels of performance that you won’t get from a laptop.

They come in diminutive metal cases, are capable of throwing large files around like they’re no bother at all, and can play games too, as long as you don’t get too ambitious with the detail settings.

A mini PC makes an ideal solo machine for home office or a secondary one if you’re the kind of person who has a hugely powerful tower PC but doesn’t want to draw huge amounts of current. Frequently made from laptop parts, mini PCs are more energy efficient than many PCs.

Small computer, big saving

Enter Geekom’s Mini IT 11, a tiny metal-cased PC only 117x112mm square. It hides effectively on your desk, leaving you with more space for the important things in life, such as piles of papers, tangles of cables, and massive racks of external storage.

There’s an extra £50 off for Stuff readers if you order the Mini IT 11 before April 3, if you use the exclusive code stufftvit11 while ordering.

To communicate with external SSDs, or anything else that requires a fast data connection, such as video cameras or the latest mirrorless stills cameras with their huge raw files, Geekom’s mini powerhouse packs USB 4 ports. These latest implementations of the venerable file transfer technology are capable of sending and receiving files at a blistering 40Gbps. What’s more, one of the ports is positioned on the front of the machine, offering a convenient way to connect your camera without needing to fiddle around at the back. If that’s too fast for you, there’s also an SD card reader and three USB 3.2 ports that should take care of all your connectivity needs.

Fast work

If you like to network, the Geekom Mini IT 11 has everything you need, with a gigabit Ethernet port  and Wi-Fi 6 to connect you to the internet and network devices such as storage and printers, while Bluetooth 5.2 means you can go completely wireless, attaching your keyboard, mouse and headphones without having to bother a USB port. Admittedly, you’ll need a few wires at the back, as there are multiple video ports to connect a monitor to, with an HDMI port and a Mini DisplayPort ready to light up a screen.

Inside the Geekom’s Mini IT 11 you’ll find an Intel Core i7-11390H processor. This speedy chip, which has four cores capable of simultaneously processing eight threads, can boost all the way to 5Ghz and is immensely capable. Not only is the processor fast, but it’s backed by up to 64GB of RAM to make task swapping and dealing with enormous documents and projects a smooth process. 

There’ll be no need to swap data to the SSD with that much RAM on board, which leaves the M.2 PCIe SSD, which can be configured for up to 2TB of storage, to the job of holding on to programs and documents. It’s fast too, and Geekom’s figures show that a 1.5GB Photoshop file opens in just five seconds, compared to 20 seconds from a standard SATA hard drive. As it happens, there’s just such a SATA hard drive available too as a secondary drive, again expandable to up to 2TB, for a really huge amount of capacity that’s ideal for photo libraries, video footage, or a game library.

Game for anything

Yes, gaming. Despite not having a separate GPU chip on board, the Intel Iris graphics chip built into the processor package is perfectly able to chuck pixels around, and while you might not be playing the latest 3D games in 4K at Ultra quality settings, there’s a lot of 1080p goodness to be enjoyed from PC games released in the past, many of which will prove no problem to this extremely effective mini PC. Windows 11 Pro comes pre-installed, so you’ll be able to start right away, whether it’s work or play.

Founded in 2003 by Kom de Olde, Geekom merges his name with the word used to tease him about his love of computers. Nobody’s laughing now, however, as the Geekom range of PCs and accessories has grown to encompass not only mini PCs such as the Mini IT 11, but keyboards and portable monitors too. Thanks to strategic partnerships with world-renowned companies such as Intel and Kingston, Geekom is able to design and construct its own PCs via its R&D headquarters in Taiwan and branches in many other countries worldwide. Upholding the philosophy that “everyone should pursue their passion,” its products and service have won wide acclaim from users in North America, Europe, and other territories worldwide.

• Check out the Geekom Mini IT 11