Minisforum G1 Pro review: The perfect mini PC for ditching your console
The Minisforum G1 Pro isn’t your typical mini PC. Instead, it feels like a true small form factor (SFF) rig thanks to its internal, desktop-grade power supply and its dedicated GPU. We aren’t dealing with a power-limited laptop chip here; instead, you’re getting a low-profile Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060.
After seeing the G1 Pro at Computex last summer, I knew I had to get one in for testing. I’ve been using it for both work and play for almost two months now, and it hasn’t disappointed on either front. With an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX processor and 32GB of DDR5 RAM under the hood, the G1 Pro handled my daily workload with ease. Then, when work was done for the day, it transformed into a console-like gaming powerhouse capable of playing the latest AAA releases with the settings cranked.
Still, at $1,439, the G1 Pro is more expensive than your average mini PC — though it’s still significantly cheaper than the Asus ROG NUC. There are also some trade-offs to consider: its small footprint means a sparse port selection for accessories, and the G1 Pro can get loud when you push its hardware to the limit.
Minisforum G1 Pro: Cheat Sheet
- What is it? A gaming-focused mini PC with a desktop-grade power supply and GPU.
- Who is it for? Gamers who don’t have the space for a full tower, those who like to travel with their gaming PC and people who want workstation power in a small form factor with the option to play demanding games too.
- What does it cost? The Minisform G1 Pro costs $1,439 at Minisforum and Amazon.
- What do we like? Its console-like design, the fact that it uses desktop-grade components, that you can swap in more RAM or storage, how there’s no bulky power brick and that you can even upgrade its GPU.
- What don’t we like? The form factor limits port availability and it can get loud when playing demanding games cranked up to max settings.
Minisforum G1 Pro: Specs
|
Price |
$1,439 |
|
CPU |
AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX |
|
GPU |
Nvidia RTX 5060 8GB, AMD Radeon G10M |
|
RAM |
32GB DDR5 (supports up to 96GB) |
|
Storage |
1TB M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 SSD (expandable up to 8TB) |
|
OS |
Windows 11 |
|
Ports |
1x USB-A, 1 x USB-C, 3.5 audio jack (front), 2 x USB-A, 1 x USB-C, 2 x DisplayPort 2.1, 1 x DisplayPort 1.4a, 2 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x 5 Gigabit Ethernet (rear) |
|
Connectivity |
Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 |
|
Size |
12.4 x 8.5 x 2.25 inches |
|
Weight |
8.3 pounds |
Minisforum G1 Pro: The Ups
The Minisforum G1 Pro is far from your standard mini PC. However, its powerful components and upgradability make it just as useful in your living room as it is in the office.
Even sleeker than a console
At 12.4 x 8.5 x 2.25 inches with a white outer shell, it’s hard not to draw comparisons between the G1 Pro and Sony’s PS5. Personally, though, I prefer Minisforum’s more uniform design. On the left side of the G1 Pro’s case, there are two triangular sets of vent holes while the right side is completely flat.
A black strip runs between the two sides and on the front, there’s a high-speed USB-A port, a USB-C port (that can do video out), a 3.5mm audio jack and the power button. There are also customizable RGB lightstrips on either side of the G1 Pro’s front ports.
Now around back is where things get interesting. In the center, you get two more high-speed USB-A ports, another USB-C port (that can also do video out), an HDMI 2.1 port and surprisingly, a 5 Gigabit Ethernet port. Then on the left side, you get another HDMI 2.1 port, two DisplayPort 2.1b connections and a DisplayPort 1.4a one too from the G1 Pro’s dedicated GPU. Finally, there’s a standard PC power port along with an on/off switch on the right side.
Unlike with the PS5, the G1 Pro comes with a vertical stand in the box. It screws onto the bottom of the device using a thumb screw for additional support. While you can technically use the G1 Pro horizontally too, doing so is a bit awkward because when you flip it over to have its vents facing up, the Minisforum and AtomMan logos are upside down. Now if you were to mount it under your desk horizontally, this wouldn’t be the case and the device would still have plenty of airflow.
Just like with my PS5 Pro or Xbox Series X, one of my favorite things about the G1 Pro is that it doesn’t have a bulky power supply like the Geekom A9 Max and many of the other mini PCs I’ve tested. In fact, the only other mini PC I’ve tried that uses an internal power supply is Apple’s Mac mini M4.
Since standard PC power cables are incredibly cheap, I plugged one in at my desk and had another in the entertainment center under my TV. That way, when I did want to play some of the best PC games on a large screen, I could just move the G1 Pro into my living room.
Console aesthetic, workstation performance
The G1 Pro may have a more gamer-friendly aesthetic but unlike the AtomMan G7 PT, it won’t look out of place in an office setting. Sure, its white shell and unique design will draw attention but not the unwanted kind.
While the G1 Pro may be marketed as a mini gaming PC first and foremost, it’s a surprisingly capable work machine too. A big reason for this is because of its upgradeability. For instance, while my review unit shipped with 32GB of DDR5 RAM, you can actually put up to 96GB of RAM in its small case — but more on that later.
In terms of my daily workload which consists of dozens of Chrome tabs opened simultaneously and editing images in GIMP, the G1 Pro never missed a beat. It handled everything I threw at it with ease with plenty of power left over for more demanding tasks.
| Header Cell – Column 0 |
Minisforum G1 Pro |
Geekom A9 Max |
Framework Desktop |
AtomMan G7 Ti |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Geekbench 6.5 single-core |
2806 |
2976 |
2966 |
2864 |
|
Geekbench 6.5 multi-core |
11612 |
15140 |
17574 |
15651 |
|
25GB file copy test (MBps) |
1659.65 |
1749.79 |
2976.46 |
1445.75 |
|
Handbrake (Mins:Secs) |
3:12 |
3:25 |
2:43 |
3:50 |
In the table above, you can see how well the G1 Pro fared compared to the competition. It held its own in Geekbench’s single-core tests in our lab, but its multi-core results weren’t nearly as high as those from the A9 Max, Framework Desktop and even the Intel-powered AtomMan G7 Ti. Still, when transcoding a 4K video to 1080p in our Handbrake test, the G1 Pro finished the task in just over three minutes.
Another area where the G1 Pro really excels is with connectivity. In addition to Bluetooth 5.4, you also get full Wi-Fi 7 support. When connected to one of the best Wi-Fi 7 routers in the other room and running a speed test, I saw download speeds of 1.5 Gbps which is quite fast over Wi-Fi. Then again, if you have a real need for speed, you can always use an Ethernet cable to connect the G1 Pro directly to your router using the 5 Gigabit Ethernet port around back.
The biggest difference between the G1 Pro and the rest of these mini PCs though is in gaming performance, especially since it’s the only one with a dedicated, desktop-grade GPU.
Not your average mini PC GPU
Typically when gaming on a mini PC, you’re relegated to using either integrated graphics or a discrete laptop-style GPU. The latter is obviously better but with the G1 Pro, you don’t have to settle for either of these lesser options. Instead, you have the power of a discrete, desktop-grade Nvidia RTX 5060 GPU at your disposal.
The G1 Pro is mainly designed for playing games at 1440p. However, as I had it hooked up to a 4K gaming monitor, I leveraged Nvidia DLSS 4 — and then later DLSS 4.5 — to bump up the framerate in more demanding games.
With Super Resolution enabled, Death Stranding 2 ran like a charm on this smaller, console-sized mini PC. I also played through a bit of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart with DLSS enabled for equally impressive results. As it’s still in development, I even ran the demo for the upcoming skateboarding sim Skate Style natively and even at 4K, it looked and ran great.
| Header Cell – Column 0 |
Minisforum G1 Pro |
Framework Desktop |
AtomMan G7 Ti |
AtomMan G7 PT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Metro Exodus |
51.45 |
56.56 |
91.63 |
86.12 |
|
Cyberpunk 2077 |
45.21 |
22.09 |
39.90 |
21.35 |
|
Red Dead Redemption 2 |
90.66 |
56.57 |
73 |
58.78 |
In our lab tests, the G1 Pro performed well across the board without DLSS enabled. We saw 90 fps in Red Dead Redemption 2 at 1080p, while Cyberpunk 2077 saw a less than ideal but still playable 45 fps at native resolution. With DLSS and upscaling enabled, though, you can easily push past 60 fps in the most demanding AAA titles.
Having a desktop-grade Nvidia RTX 5060 installed from the get-go is one of the most compelling things about the G1 Pro. However, just like its RAM and storage, you can actually swap out your GPU later on if you need even more power.
Small but surprisingly expandable
Opening up the G1 Pro to make upgrades is surprisingly simple. After removing the vertical stand and two screws on the base of the machine, the vented side panel just slides right off.
Doing so lets you see the Nvidia RTX 5060 from Gigabyte on the left, a large blower-style fan above the CPU in the center and the 350W power supply on the right. Despite the G1 Pro’s smaller size, Minisforum managed to pack a lot of powerful components into this case with well-managed cables to boot.
Now you can add more memory or storage, but doing so requires unplugging the power supply’s main connector and removing the CPU fan. While one of the M.2 SSD slots is occupied with a 1TB drive, there’s a free one next to it. In total, you can add up to 8TB of storage with a 4TB SSD in each slot. Minisforum even includes an extra SSD heatsink in the box, which is a nice touch for those adding a second high-speed drive.
Although you can’t see it here, there’s a single stick of 32GB DDR5 RAM underneath the CPU cooler. However, there’s a second, free slot next to it. Once RAMaggedon is behind us, you could utilize both to configure the G1 Pro with a whopping 96GB of memory.
A quick note on the single-channel RAM configuration my review unit shipped with: running a PC in single-channel mode does lead to a bottleneck, which is likely why those Geekbench multi-core scores from earlier were lower than expected. However, if you do decide to upgrade the G1 Pro’s RAM, you can just add another 32GB stick; if you had two 16GB sticks, you’d have to ditch them entirely to reach 64GB or more.
Though 96GB of RAM will definitely be overkill for most, if you’re using this mini PC for 8K video editing or running LLMs locally, it’s nice to know that you have plenty of room to expand in the future. Speaking of which, since the G1 Pro uses a standard GPU — albeit a low-profile one — you could theoretically swap out the included RTX 5060 with an RTX 6060 once Nvidia’s next-gen GPUs hit the market.
Minisforum G1 Pro: The Downs
The Minisforum G1 Pro is truly a remarkable mini PC that breaks new ground. However, it’s not without its downsides, which include a sparse port selection for your accessories and fans that can get quite noisy when running demanding workloads or graphically-intensive games.
Port shortage (but not for video)
Just like with the AtomMan G7 Ti, I wish the G1 Pro had a few more USB-A ports. Since I switch between computers so much, I prefer using a 2.4 GHz USB dongle for my mouse and keyboard as opposed to Bluetooth. This lets me quickly get up and running when setting up a new PC.
You do get three USB-A ports — one on the front and two on the back — with the G1 Pro. However, since I have a pair of Kanto Ora bookshelf speakers hooked up via USB along with the dongles for my mouse and keyboard, I found myself at a loss when I wanted to plug in the dongle for a controller. One more USB-A port to get the total up to four would have been a nice addition here.
While you don’t get quite as many USB-A ports as you do on a machine like the Geekom A9 Max, you do get loads of video out ports. Both the front and back USB-C ports are capable of video out, but the G1 Pro also features two HDMI 2.1 ports and two DisplayPort connections.
If you want to run a multi-monitor setup, the G1 Pro is more than capable of doing so with ease. However, if you have a lot of older accessories that use USB-A, then you’ll likely need to pair this mini PC with a hub to get all the ports you need.
The beast unleashed
Let’s face it: mini PCs can get noisy due to their smaller size, and the G1 Pro certainly suffers from this, but only when pushing the machine with demanding games or intensive workloads. With my sound meter, I measured 40dB when using this mini PC for work which is roughly as loud as a quiet library. However, when I booted up a resource-intensive game like Death Stranding 2, I saw sound levels reach as high as 60dB.
Although 60dB is quite loud if you have the G1 Pro sitting right next to you on a desk, switching to a pair of wired USB-C headphones did the trick and made that extra fan noise a lot less noticeable. One of the best gaming headsets would have worked just as well.
To help manage the noise, Minisforum’s pre-installed software allows you to switch between Work, Gaming, and Beast modes. These modes adjust the Ryzen 9’s power limit from 60W all the way up to a staggering 100W. Depending on which one you use, the G1 Pro will prioritize either a quiet workspace or raw performance. While the software is intuitive and easy to use, I would have liked to see a dedicated physical mode switch on the front of the case, similar to the one on the AtomMan G7 Ti or G7 Pt.
Minisforum G1 Pro: Verdict
The Minisforum G1 Pro certainly lived up to the initial early impression I had when I first saw it at Computex last summer. It’s sleek, small and packed with powerful but more importantly upgradeable components and this really helps set it apart from other mini PCs as well as Minisforum’s previous devices.
At $1,439, it is more expensive than a console as well as most other mini PCs. However, for the price, you’re getting a dedicated Nvidia GPU which gives you access to DLSS and loads of other features. At the same time, you’re not stuck with soldered RAM and also have the ability to add more storage or even to swap out its low-profile GPU for a more powerful one down the line.
Despite its small package, the G1 Pro delivers both as a gaming machine and as a workstation. While I would have loved a few more USB-A ports, that’s by no means a dealbreaker. The same is true for heightened noise levels under heavy load since wearing a pair of headphones completely drowned out all that extra sound.
If you’re looking for a mini PC you can also game on and don’t want to be stuck with a laptop GPU or an external GPU dock, the G1 Pro is an innovative and fantastic machine for both work and play.
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