By Minisforum has grown from an insider tip to a well-known brand in the micro PC industry in recent years. The firm has gained recognition for its smart designs, inventive cooling, and small systems with powerful processing capabilities.
Minisforum hopes to demonstrate this claim with the new AI X1 Pro, a potent all-around PC with built-in AI acceleration that is meant for creatives and smart home enthusiasts in addition to professionals and developers. Whether the maker fulfills its own claims is demonstrated in the review that follows.
Specification
- CPU: AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, maximum frequency of 5.1 GHz, 12 cores, 24 threads
- NPU (AI performance): up to 80 TOPS
- AMD Radeon 890M graphics
- Memory: 2 × DDR5-SO-DIMM 5600 MHz, 64 GB
- Internal storage: pre-installed Kingston OM8TAP41024K1 1TB M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe Gen4 x4 SSD
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, 2 × 2.5 Gbit/s LAN ports (RJ45)
- Front connections: 1 × USB 4 (Alt PD), 2 × USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A 15 Watt output, 40 GB/s data rate, 3.5 mm combo connector, co-pilot button, and two digital microphones (DMIC)
- One USB2.0 Type-A, one OCuLink (PCIe 4.0 ×4), one USB4 (Alt PD-In 65-100 watts & PD Out 15 watts), one DisplayPort 2.0, one HDMI 2.1 FRL, and one Kensington lock are the rear connections.
- OS: Windows 11 Pro; size: 195 x 195
Design
The AI X1 Pro’s silver housing and black accents give it a subtle Mac Mini-like appearance at first glance, but this impression quickly disappears when you examine the specifics. Minisforum adopts a far more practical strategy.
Fundamentally diverse design ideas in the micro PC market are evident when comparing the housings of the Minisforum AI X1 Pro and the Geekom IT15. Although both gadgets prioritize compactness, their sizes and structures show that they have different objectives.
The Minisforum AI X1 Pro is significantly larger than many of its rivals, measuring 195 × 195 × 47.5 millimeters (IT15: 117 × 112 × 49.2 millimeters). Compared to the Geekom IT15, its square footprint is nearly twice as huge. Nonetheless, this increased volume is a purposeful design choice that offers two clear benefits: First of all, it makes it possible to install an integrated power supply. Lastly, many tiny PCs no longer require the ugly external brick that results in cable clutter. A neat and polished appearance is the end product.
Features
Examining the AI X1 Pro’s internal values and connectivity reveals its true strength. Equipment made by Minisforum redefines the term “mini PC” and turns it into a legitimate desktop substitute. The capacity to upgrade—a characteristic that is now uncommon in this class—is the focal point.
The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, one of the first desktop APUs built on the Zen 5 architecture, is the central component of the Minisforum AI X1 Pro. The chip has a dedicated NPU that provides up to 50 TOPS of AI performance in addition to 12 CPU cores and the potent Radeon 890M graphics. This makes it ideal for local language models, image analysis, or co-pilot tasks without relying on the cloud.
The AI X1 Pro has two SODIMM slots for up to 128GB DDR5-5600 RAM in place of soldered memory. This allows fans to tailor the system to their requirements, whether they are for intricate data processing or memory-hungry virtual machines running Home Assistant and other applications. Although there are versions with 32 and 96GB RAM, our test device had 64GB.
The mass storage, which has three M.2 slots for quick NVMe SSDs, is another feature. This enables the realization of a large and quick storage solution, perfect for a large collection of material. The test device is equipped with a Kingston OM8TAP41024K1 with a 1TB capacity. A 2TB NVMe SSD is included with the 96GB RAM variant.
Operating system
During the initial setup, an active internet connection and Windows 11 25H2 are used to install and activate the Minisforum AI X1 Pro.
Drivers and firmware are immediately updated, and the setup functions flawlessly. Copilot integration, which includes NPU support, is operational and flawless. The small PC is instantly prepared for all new Windows AI features, from local text recognition and image understanding to automated workflows, eliminating the need for the customary retrofitting of updates or AI packages.
Although we don’t go into great depth regarding Windows 11 25H2 in the test, it is evident in numerous instances that the Minisforum AI X1 Pro completely supports the latest AI features of the system. The Ryzen AI 9 HX 370’s NPU is directly accessed by Copilot, Recall, and local model acceleration.
Because of this, AI-based functions like text recognition, image analysis, and voice help operate much more quickly and independently of the cloud—a clear sign that hardware and software are in perfect harmony in this situation.
Performance
In terms of performance, the Minisforum AI X1 Pro with the new AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 is far superior to the previous generation of tiny PCs and, in many situations, directly competes with potent ultrabooks and small workstations.
The desktop computing performance was evaluated using the PCMark 10 benchmark test. Through the sequential execution of routine operations, this software provides us with accurate values. Only systems with high-end mobile processors, such the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H or the Apple M3 Pro, have reached the PCMark 10 overall score of 7,809 points thus far.
In particular, the “Essentials” (11,353 points) and “Productivity” (10,594 points) categories demonstrate how effortlessly common office, communication, and multitasking applications are managed. With 10,746 points, the “Digital Content Creation” category also shows good performance in photo and video editing, which is a sign of a well balanced CPU and GPU.
Conclusion
All things considered, the Minisforum AI X1 Pro offers an outstanding bundle and convincingly illustrates the amount of performance that can now be found in a small PC. It combines desktop power, energy efficiency, and AI capacity in a small package with the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, the potent Radeon 890M, and the integrated NPU.
It is incredibly adaptable for home office, smart home, and gaming thanks to its three NVMe slots, twin 2.5 GbE, OCuLink, and USB4. The features and craftsmanship are unquestionably superior to the class average. The only things that somewhat ruin the picture are the cost and the absence of 10 GbE. All things considered, a strong, future-proof little PC for power users.
