Top 10 Mini PCs in 2027

The Apple Mac mini with M6 is the best mini PC for most people, and the best value here. Apple announced it on August 25, 2026, it went on sale on September 22, and it starts at $899, or $799 for education. The new M6 chip has a 12-core CPU, two more cores than before, with 2 super, 4 performance and 6 efficiency cores, plus a 12-core GPU and Apple's first Dual 16-core Neural Engine; Apple claims up to 4.8x the speed of M4 in some workloads. Memory starts at 16GB and can be configured to 24GB or 32GB, with up to 170GB/s of bandwidth, and storage starts at 256GB. The case is tiny at 5.0 inches square and 2.0 inches tall, weighing 1.5 lb, and it is made with 50 percent recycled material overall. Ports are generous: three Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI and 2.5Gb Ethernet on the back, which can be upgraded to 10Gb for $100, and two USB-C ports and a headphone jack on the front. It supports up to two 6K displays and one 5K display. The catch is upgrade pricing. Memory is fixed at purchase and tops out at 32GB, and Apple charges $200 for 24 GB, $400 for 32 GB, and $1000 for a 2 TB SSD, which Daring Fireball notes costs more than the base computer. Buy the memory you need up front.

The GEEKOM A9 Max (2026 Edition) is the best Windows mini PC for most buyers, and one of the easiest to upgrade. It costs $1,499 to $1,599, with a Black Friday price of $1,399 using GEEKOM's code. Inside is an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 or HX 370 running at up to 54W, with AMD Radeon 890M graphics and up to 86 Platform TOPS for AI features, cooled by IceBlast 3.0 with three copper heat pipes. The big advantage is memory: two DDR5 SO-DIMM slots take up to 256 GB, and you can upgrade them later, unlike the Mac mini or the AI Max machines with soldered memory. Selected models ship with 32GB. Storage uses one M.2 2280 and one M.2 2230 slot, both NVMe Gen 4, for up to 8TB. Ports are excellent: two USB 4.0 Type-C at 40Gbps, two HDMI 2.1, two 2.5GbE network ports, five USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, a USB 2.0 port and an SD 4.0 card reader, plus Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. It drives up to four 4K displays. The case is 5.31" x 5.20" x 1.81", it uses a 120 W power adapter, and it comes with Windows 11 Pro and a 3-Year Warranty. It won a Red Dot award in 2026, and GEEKOM quotes PCMag giving it Editors' Choice. GEEKOM itself says its NPU suits smaller AI models.

The ASUS NUC 16 Pro is the best mini PC for businesses. It uses Intel's newest chips, from the Core Ultra 5 325 up to the Core Ultra X9 388H, with up to Intel Arc B390 graphics and up to 180 TOPS of AI performance. The chassis is tool-less, at 144 x 117 x 42 mm, or 0.71 Liters, and ASUS says three heat pipes and dual fin arrays make it quieter than earlier NUCs. Memory depends on the version: models with CSO-DIMM slots take up to 128GB of DDR5-7200, while others use soldered LPDDR5x-8533. Storage is an M.2 2280 NVMe drive at PCIe 4.0 or 5.0, from 128GB to 8TB. The ports suit an office: two Thunderbolt 4 Type-C ports with DisplayPort 2.1, four USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A, one USB-C, two HDMI 2.1 and two 2.5G LAN ports, plus Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0. It ships with Windows 11 Home or Pro as a Copilot+ PC, or with no OS and support for Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and RedHat Enterprise Linux 10.0, and ASUS Control Center helps IT teams manage it. Kit versions ship with no memory or storage. StorageReview's review unit, with 32GB and a 1TB SSD, cost $2,699 at B&H, and it noted the missing headphone jack and soldered memory on that configuration.

The Apple Mac mini with M5 Pro is the pro version of the same tiny box. It starts at $1,699 and went on sale on September 22, 2026. The M5 Pro has a 15-core CPU and a 16-core GPU, configurable to an 18-core CPU and a 20-core GPU, and Apple claims it is up to 4x faster than M4 Pro. Memory starts at 24GB and goes up to 64GB with 307GB/s of bandwidth, and storage starts at 512GB and goes up to 8TB. The biggest upgrade over the M6 model is connectivity: three Thunderbolt 5 ports at up to 120Gb/s, which support Genlock and let you cluster several Mac minis together, plus HDMI, 2.5Gb Ethernet that can be upgraded to 10Gb, and two front USB-C ports and a headphone jack. It drives up to three external displays. It uses the same 5.0 by 5.0 inch chassis and weighs 1.6 lb, with a maximum continuous power draw of 155W. As with the M6, upgrades are expensive. Daring Fireball lists 48 GB of memory at $600 and 64 GB at $1000, and the 4 TB SSD at $1800, more than the base computer, with the 8 TB SSD at $3800. If you edit video or work with large projects and want macOS, this is the one to buy. Otherwise the M6 model is better value.

The GEEKOM A9 Mega is the best-value mini PC for running AI models at home. It uses AMD's Ryzen AI Max+ 395, a 16-core, 32-thread chip that boosts to 5.1GHz, or the Max+ 388, running at 45 to 120W, with Radeon 8060S graphics built on RDNA 3.5 with 40 Compute Units. Total AI performance is 126 TOPS, including a 50 TOPS NPU. The key is memory: up to 128GB of LPDDR5X at 8000MHz that is shared between the CPU and GPU, so large models can fit. GEEKOM claims it runs LM Studio inference 2.2x faster than an RTX 4090 at 13% of the power, though that is the maker's own claim. It costs $2,499 to $3,999, with an early-bird price of $2,299 using GEEKOM's code. Storage uses two M.2 2280 Gen4 slots for up to 8TB, with RAID 0 and 1. Ports include two USB4 Type-C at 40Gbps with DisplayPort 2.1, two HDMI 2.1 ports capable of 8K at 60Hz, two 2.5GbE ports, an SD card reader and Wi-Fi 7; some store versions list dual 10GbE, so check the model. The aluminum case is 6.73" square and 2.79" tall, uses IceBlast 5.0 cooling with a vapor chamber, and weighs 1.9KG including the 330W power adapter. Memory is soldered, so choose your capacity at purchase. It ships with Windows 11 Pro and is Linux ready.

The Framework Desktop is the AI mini PC with the most memory and the most repairable design. Its new top model uses the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 495, with 16 Zen 5 cores and a 40-CU integrated GPU, and memory options of 32GB, 64GB, 128GB and 192GB of LPDDR5X. Framework says the 192GB version can run 300B-class models at 4-bit quantization. That capability is expensive. The DIY Edition of the 192GB model starts at $6,799, the pre-built version with a 2TB NVMe costs $7,449, and the 128GB Ryzen AI Max+ 395 model now lists at $3,449; Hardware Busters notes the 128GB machine launched at $1,999 last year before repeated price increases. Pre-orders opened on September 30, 2026, with shipping expected to start in November. The case is larger than the others at 4.5L and 3.1 kg, but it is built from standard parts: a FlexATX power supply, dual M.2 2280 slots and a PCIe x4 slot that is open-ended on the PRO 495 for x8 and x16 cards. Ports include HDMI, two USB4 Type-C, two DisplayPort, two USB-A, 5Gbit Ethernet and audio on the back, plus two front Expansion Card slots. The pre-built model ships with Fedora, and the DIY Edition works with Linux or Windows. For serious local AI work, nothing here has more memory.

The HP Z2 Mini G1a is the best mini workstation, and HP bills it as the world's most powerful one. It offers up to the AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ PRO 395 with 16 cores, with MAX PRO 390, 385 and 380 options, and integrated Radeon 8060S, 8050S or 8040S graphics. It takes up to 128 GB of unified memory at up to 8000 MT/s, with up to 96 GB assignable to the GPU, which suits large AI models and 3D work. Storage reaches up to 8TB with dual NVMe modules and RAID. Ports include two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C at 40Gbps, two Mini DisplayPort 2.1, a 10Gbps USB-A, 2.5GbE and two Flex IO slots for extra ports, and the NPU delivers up to 50 TOPS for Copilot+ features. What makes it a workstation is the build. HP stresses ISV certification for professional software, the 300W power supply is inside the case, so there is no external brick, and it can be rack-mounted, five units to a 4U shelf. You can choose BIOS modes for High Performance, Performance, Quiet or Rack. It is bigger and heavier than consumer mini PCs at 3.4 by 6.6 by 7.9 inches and from 2.3kg. It runs Windows 11 Pro, WSL2 or Linux. HP did not publish a US price on the pages we could read, so get a quote before you plan around it.

The ASUS ROG NUC 16 is the best gaming mini PC. ASUS announced it on May 15, 2026 at Computex, and it fits up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop GPU with 16GB of GDDR7, with RTX 5070Ti and RTX 5060 options, alongside an Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus or Ultra 7 270HX Plus running at 45 to 160W. ASUS rates it at up to 1334 AI TOPS. Memory goes up to 128GB of DDR5-6400, and storage uses one PCIe Gen4 and one PCIe Gen5 M.2 slot. On the back are a Thunderbolt 4 port, four USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, two HDMI 2.1 and two DisplayPort 2.1 outputs and Ethernet, and it supports up to five 4K displays. The three-liter chassis measures 282.5 x 189.5 x 56.5 mm and weighs 3.2 kg, and a patented removable stand lets it stand up or lie flat. QuietFlow cooling uses three 102 mm fans and a dual vapor chamber, and ASUS says it stays just under 38 dBA even under full load. There is also a Moonlight White Edition for the first time. Keep expectations realistic: it uses laptop-class RTX graphics, not desktop cards, and ASUS says it is up to 2.3% faster in 3DMark than its predecessor. It runs Windows 11 Home on a 380W adapter. ASUS does not print a price on its spec page.

The NVIDIA DGX Spark is not a general-purpose PC but an AI developer box, and for that job it is unique. It uses NVIDIA's GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip with a 20-core Arm CPU, 10 Cortex-X925 and 10 Cortex-A725 cores, and delivers up to 1 PFLOP of FP4 AI performance. The 128 GB of unified LPDDR5x memory runs at 273 GB/s, and NVIDIA says it can run inference on models up to 200 billion parameters and fine-tune models up to 70 billion parameters. Networking is a highlight: a 10 GbE port plus a ConnectX-7 NIC at 200 Gbps, which lets you connect up to 4 DGX Spark systems together, along with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. It also has four USB Type-C ports and HDMI, up to 4 TB of self-encrypting NVMe storage, and a small 150 mm square case that weighs 1.2 kg. It runs NVIDIA DGX OS, a Linux distribution, so it suits developers rather than everyday users. Prices have climbed with memory costs. ServeTheHome reports that the 128GB/4TB model launched at $3999 about a year ago and now costs $6950, while 64GB versions from Acer, ASUS, Dell, Gigabyte, HP and MSI start at $4,999. If you build with NVIDIA's AI software, it is the most direct way to get that stack on your desk.

The HP EliteDesk 8 Mini G1i is the office workhorse on this list, a business mini PC with an on-site warranty. The configuration we checked on HP's store uses an Intel Core Ultra 7 265T with 20 cores, 20 threads and a 30 MB L3 cache that boosts up to 5.3 GHz, with an Intel AI Boost NPU rated at 13 NPU TOPS. It has 32 GB of DDR5-5600 memory as 2 x 16 GB, with HP quoting support for up to 64GB, and a 1 TB NVMe SSD. Expansion is the standout: one M.2 2230 and three M.2 2280 slots, more storage slots than any other machine here. Ports cover a typical office desk: on the back, two 10Gbps USB-A ports, HDMI 2.1, two DisplayPort 2.1 outputs, a Thunderbolt 4 port and Ethernet; on the front, a 20Gbps USB-C port, three 10Gbps USB-A ports and a headphone and microphone jack. It measures 17.7 x 18.1 x 3.42 cm and weighs 1.42 kg, runs on a 120 W external adapter rated at up to 89% efficiency, and ships with Windows 11 Pro and a 3 year limited warranty with on-site repair. HP Australia listed this configuration at A$3,299.00 on sale, down from A$4,851.00, and showed it out of stock, so check your local HP store for current pricing. It ranks tenth because it trades graphics and AI power for reliability and support.