I switched my laptop for a mini PC and I’m never looking back
Image: Bonnie Bayley
Sometime after my social feeds started to fill up with ads for mini-PCs, I realized that there’s a silent revolution going on in desktop PCs. Welcome to the era of the mini-PC, where you can do all your computing from a PC smaller than a box of Pop-Tarts and much cheaper than a fully fledged desktop PC in many cases.
Naturally, I wanted one, so I bit the bullet and bought a GMKtek G5 mini-PC, the smallest mini-PC of 2024. Now, I couldn’t be happier. The first advantage I noticed was the price. While a new laptop of comparable performance would cost me upwards of $600, the mini-PC cost me just $150 — that’s with delivery and Windows 11 Home pre-installed, too.
I was skeptical at first about how I’d use it for work in place of my laptop, but it’s worked out to be just fine. Admittedly, I can’t use my mini-PC on the go without power and a display like I can with my laptop, but then again, I don’t need to. All my computing is done either in the office or at home and my mini-PC has all the peripherals it needs at each location.
Its tiny size alone has made my travel to and from work so much easier. While my laptop took up the whole back section of my backpack, my mini-PC slides in next to my lunchbox, taking up no more than a few inches in either direction. At only 7 ounces it’s a lot lighter too. I’ve managed to drop a whole 2 pounds weight from my shoulders on my daily commute.
Bonnie Bayley
The fact that the performance is excellent has been icing on the cake. The mini frequently hits clock speeds of 3.4GHz; it runs all my apps smoothly and silently; and it feels a lot more powerful than my work-issue laptop. It’s not designed for games, but it’ll also run some lightweight games, and I enjoy playing Fortnite and CounterStrike 2 when I’ve knocked off work.
The power draw is very small too, only 12W and it also doesn’t heat up like my laptop does. Sometime down the track I look forward to installing more RAM in it, which I should be able to do much easier than in a laptop.
As to setup, it only takes me a few minutes to plug in my mouse, keyboard, and HDMI cables, about the same time that it takes to load up my laptop. I also really like the fact that I can choose the peripherals I want to use with my mini-PC. It means I can use my favorite keyboard at work, the Razer DeathStalker V2 Pro, which feels so good for writing.
So, if you only need to use your laptop between work and home and don’t need a device for working out and about, consider switching to a mini-PC. You won’t regret the portability and performance!
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Author: Dominic Bayley, Australian Editor, PCWorld
Based in Australia, Dominic Bayley is a hardcore tech enthusiast. His PCWorld focus is on PC gaming hardware: laptops, mice, headsets and keyboards.
