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Should you buy a Windows mini PC in 2025? My verdict after a week of testing

I've tested my share of mini PCs, but Geekom's A9 Max stands out for its combination of power and price.

Jack Wallen/ZDNETThe thing that jumped out at me is the "local large model deployment," so I did exactly what you might expect: I installed Ollama and downloaded one of the bigger LLMs to see how well it would perform. At first blush, a mini PC selling for $999 might seem like a bad bargain, but when you consider the performance you get with the A9 Max AI, the cost becomes less of a factor. 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 total AI performance, with 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 with DP-Alt-Mode and Power Delivery 2 x HDMI 2.1 ports Full-size SD card reader Operating System: Windows 11 24H2 Dimensions: 135 × 132 × 46.9 mm

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