Why I Recommend This Windows Mini Pc To Casual Users And Professionals Alike (and It's Priced Well)

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• The Geekom A9 Max AI is disposable for $999 connected Amazon.
• This mini PC has tons of powerfulness to spare and tin moreover activity good pinch nan inefficiencies of Windows.
• However, its fans tin beryllium rather loud.

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When I reappraisal small shape facet PCs, I thin to support my expectations successful check. Given that I usage a monstrous System76 Thelio desktop for astir of my work, it's mostly a situation for specified a tiny, shiny container to match. In fact, I've ne'er met a mini PC that could outperform my Thelio.

Also: I recovered a mini PC that performs for illustration a velocity demon (and comes successful bold colors)

The GEEKOM A9 Max AI Mini surely gave it a tally for its money. And while being hampered by an inferior OS. Note to each companies sending maine PCs to review: Please nonstop maine machines pinch Linux preinstalled. Not only do I find it acold easier to reappraisal computers pinch Linux, but it besides shows consumers that you do connection open-source options.

With that petition retired of nan way, let's talk astir nan A9 Max AI.

My experience

Naturally, because this instrumentality sported nan Windows operating system, it took a agelong clip earlier I could moreover usage it. There were updates aplenty, logging successful pinch my Microsoft account, blah, blah. You cognize nan drill.

As you astir apt noticed, nan sanction of nan PC includes AI, and I'm judge you tin conjecture what that means. That's right, this small buddy was built for "unmatched AI performance." What does that moreover mean? 

Also: 5 of nan easiest, quickest Linux distros to instal - and I've tried them all

Consider this: astir group who usage AI aren't utilizing it locally; they'll beryllium utilizing ChatGPT aliases 1 of nan galore cloud-based services. 

According to nan description, nan AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor "delivers an industry-leading 80 TOPS of full AI acceleration, featuring a next-gen XDNA 2 AI motor that pumps retired 50 TOPS of dedicated NPU performance, enabling seamless Copilot+ experiences, section ample exemplary deployment, and precocious contented generation."

Yeah, of course. And why wouldn't it, right?

The rear of nan A9 Max AI PC.

Jack Wallen/ZDNET

The point that jumped retired astatine maine is nan "local ample exemplary deployment," truthful I did precisely what you mightiness expect: I installed Ollama and downloaded 1 of nan bigger LLMs to spot really good it would perform. The exemplary successful mobility was nan 9GB deepseek-r1:8b, and I pulled it for some nan A9 Max AI and my System76 Thelio, moving Pop!_OS. 

After nan exemplary was pulled, I asked each nan aforesaid mobility (both being utilized from nan bid line:

What is Linux?

It's a reasonably straightforward and elemental question. So, really did they fare? Here's a breakdown.

Even though some machines utilized nan aforesaid LLM, deepseek-r1:8b moving connected Linux produced an reply that was considerably longer and much in-depth. On apical of that, nan reply produced by nan A9 Max AI suffered from unspeakable grammar and created acold much mistakes than that nan Thelio's.

As acold arsenic nan times, they looked for illustration this:

• Thelio: 2:42.38
• A9 Max AI: 01:07.69

Unfortunately, nan times don't really show an meticulous story, fixed really overmuch much in-depth nan Thelio reply was. 

Also: You tin effort Linux without ditching Windows first - here's how

From an wide experience, my System76 Thelio was overmuch much up to nan task of moving AI. To beryllium fair, nan A9 Max AI was hampered by Windows 11, which would make a large difference, fixed that Windows 11 consumes acold much strategy resources than Linux.

I past tried to really push nan A9 Max AI and usage nan gpt-oss:120b model, which is considerably larger and much tin than nan DeepSeek exemplary I primitively used. I thought this would task nan A9 Max AI beyond what anyone would usage it for. 

The results? Well, it was very slow, but that should beryllium expected by specified a monolithic exemplary connected a mini machine. The bully news is that nan results were considerably much accurate. I could perceive nan fans moving astatine precocious speeds to support nan CPU cool, and nan extremity consequence took astir 5 minutes to complete.

But fixed that this instrumentality doesn't person a powerful NVIDIA GPU, it was still beautiful awesome that it was capable to tally nan exemplary to beryllium with.

Let's get beyond nan AI rumor and look astatine this from a much accepted personification experience.

Installing and moving applications

You'll find plentifulness of USB ports connected this baby.

Jack Wallen/ZDNET

I installed respective applications connected nan A9 Max AI and recovered they each installed very quickly and ran rather well. I installed LibreOffice, GIMP, Msty, and VirtualBox to spot really good nan A9 Max stood up to what I'm accustomed to. 

In nan end, everything installed quickly and ran smoothly. With nan applications ready, I decided to create a virtual lawsuit of Ubuntu utilizing VirtualBox to spot really good it performed. I gave nan VM 10GB of RAM and 4 CPU cores (out of 32GB of RAM and 24 CPU cores).

Also: 7 things each Linux beginner should cognize earlier downloading their first distro

After nan installation vanished (took astir 2 minutes), I started nan VM to spot really good it would run. During nan installation of nan Ubuntu guest, nan fans connected nan A9 Max AI were astatine their loudest, truthful nether load, this is not a quiet machine. I was capable to perceive nan fans moving from wrong different room of nan house. If quiet is simply a necessity (and you really push your machine), this mightiness not beryllium nan machine for you. If sheer powerfulness and a mini size are what you're looking for, this mini PC is simply a awesome option.

After nan VM was created, I fired it up. It should travel arsenic nary astonishment (especially fixed nan resources I allocated for nan machine) that nan Ubuntu impermanent ran very well. Even pinch nan VM up and running, installed applications performed rather well.

I should adhd this: The Ubuntu impermanent OS ran circles astir Windows 11, moreover though it had a 3rd of nan RAM and a sixth of nan CPU cores. That unsocial validated my supposition that Windows was a hamper.

ZDNET's buying advice

At first blush, a mini PC trading for $999 mightiness look for illustration a bad bargain, but erstwhile you see nan capacity you get pinch nan A9 Max AI, nan costs becomes little of a factor. This small instrumentality handled everything I could propulsion astatine it, and nan only logic it blinked was because of Windows 11. If I had taken nan clip to instal Linux connected this machine, I tin ideate it would execute insanely well. Unfortunately, Windows is simply a assets hog and doesn't execute astir nan ratio of Linux.

That being said, nan Geekom A9 Max AI mini PC earnestly impressed me. If I were connected nan hunt for a powerful PC that took up adjacent to nary space, this mightiness good beryllium my first choice.

Also: Want to prevention your aged computer? Try 1 of these 8 Linux distros for free

Geekom A9 Max AI mini PC tech specs

• Processor: AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (configurable TDP up to 54W) 
• Graphics: AMD Radeon 890M (RDNA 3.5, 16 compute units) 
• AI Performance: Up to 80 TOPS of full AI performance, pinch a dedicated AI engine 
• Memory: Up to 128GB of dual-channel DDR5-5600MHz RAM 
• Storage: 1 x M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD slot, 1 x M.2 2230 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD slot 
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 2 x 2.5 GbE RJ45 ports  Multiple USB ports, including USB 4.0 Type-C ports pinch DP-Alt-Mode and Power Delivery 
• 2 x HDMI 2.1 ports 
• Full-size SD paper reader 
• Operating System: Windows 11 24H2 
• Dimensions: 135 × 132 × 46.9 mm