The Taiwanese manufacturer Geekom is moving up a gear by partnering with Asus and choosing a powerful AMD processor to power the AS 6, its new high-end mini PC which intends to set the benchmark in its category.
Who says mini PCs are inherently much less powerful than big tower desktops? Certainly not Geekom, which is about to launch the AS 6, a new model designed for high performance, both for intensive creative tasks and for demanding games. The result of an exclusive collaboration with its compatriot Asus, this miniature PC is the first computer from the Taiwanese manufacturer to be powered by an AMD processor. And not the least since it is the Ryzen 9 6900HX, a powerful 8-core and 16-thread chip designed for high-end laptops and capable of offering good graphics performance with its integrated GPU, a Radeon 680M 12 cores.
Geekom AS 6: superior performance to Intel chips?
According to Geekom, the AS 6 would be more powerful than the NUC 13 Pro Arena Canyon, an Intel mini PC cut out for video games, equipped with a Core i7-1370P processor, with 30% better overall performance. The manufacturer even assures that, thanks to various optimizations, the Radeon 680M would be almost twice as fast as the Iris Xe, the graphics circuit integrated into the Core i7! A tempting promise, especially since the AS6 also benefits from a cooling device signed Asus which provides both adaptive ventilation, both efficient and silent, including at full load.
This is not the only asset of this ambitious mini PC which also benefits from a particularly rich connection with two USB 4 ports (in USB-C format), five USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports (in USB-A), a 2.5 Gbit/s Ethernet socket, two HDMI 2.1 ports and a DisplayPort 1.4 port. A wide range to connect many peripherals – including several screens in 4K and 8K -, to which are added Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax) and Bluetooth 5.2 for wireless connections. Better still, like the other Geekom models, the AS6 would be particularly scalable. Thus, its dual-channel DDR5-4800 RAM in SODIMM could be increased to 64 GB and its storage could accommodate two m.2 SSDs in NVMe but also a hard drive or a 2.5-inch SSD in Sata format. Not bad for a tiny case measuring 130 x 120 x 58mm!
Geekom AS 6: a complete mini PC at a tight price
If we will have to wait for tests to verify Geekom’s promises, we can already hope for a good quality of manufacture and finish, as on the different models that we had the opportunity to test (the MiniAir 11, the Mini IT8 and the Mini IT11). And if the manufacturer has not yet given a price for France, he assures that the AS 6 will be much cheaper than Intel’s NUC 13 Pro Arena Canyon, of which he is a direct competitor. We can believe it insofar as Beelink, another mini PC specialist, also offers a model equipped with the same AMD processor, the GTR6 6900HX, sold for less than 800 euros with 32 GB of Ram and 512 GB of storage…
Geekom also does not intend to stop there. And while opening up to AMD chips, the manufacturer will also enrich its catalog with a new model equipped with Intel chips of 12e generation (Core i5-1240P and Core i7-1260P), the Mini IT12. A manufacturer to follow, especially as it currently offers promotions very interesting spring.