Pros & Cons
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- Excellent price
- Competitive productivity performance
- Lots of ports
- Compact design
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- No front-facing USB-C ports
- Weak graphics
- Runs loud under heavy workloads
- Single configuration
GEEKOM A6 Mini PC, AMD Ryzen 7 6800H(8C/16T, up to 4.7GHz), 32GB DDR5 1TB SSD, Radeon 680M, Compact Aluminium Design Win Specs
| Boot Drive Capacity (as Tested) | 1 |
| Boot Drive Type | SSD |
| Desktop Class | Small Form Factor (SFF) |
| Graphics Card | AMD Radeon 680M |
| Operating System | Windows 11 Pro |
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 7 6800H |
| RAM (as Tested) | 32 |
The A6 Mini ($499 as tested) is the runt of the litter in Geekom's A-series of mini desktop PCs. Its minuscule size—and eye-catching price—might raise red flags about weak performance. But make no mistake: The A6 Mini is a surprisingly mighty mite, delivering a no-nonsense mini PC that can handle a decent workload at a budget price (sometimes discounted to as low as $449). Sure, the A6 Mini isn't going to challenge the Mac mini—which it closely resembles—on speed. But the A6 Mini's AMD Ryzen 7 6800H processor outpaces key competitors in its budget-oriented domain, earning our Editors' Choice award for budget-priced mini PCs.
Configurations: Just One Flavor Is All You'll Need
The A6 Mini is a small machine with a very small range of possible configurations: one. This solo setup gives you an AMD Ryzen 7 6800H CPU, Radeon 680M integrated graphics, 32GB of DDR5 memory (upgradable to 64GB after purchase), and a 1TB SSD. The system also includes Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 radios for wireless connectivity. Like Geekom’s other mini PCs, this one includes a VESA mount if you want to install the system under your desk.
It’s a shame Geekom doesn't offer other configurations for purchase. Surely, I'm not the only one who would welcome smaller (or bigger) memory and storage options, especially if the A6 Mini falls into the budget category. To be fair, what you’re getting out of the box isn't too bad, and expanding the memory or storage on your own shouldn’t be too much of a project.
Design: Not a Mac Mini—But You Might Look Twice
For people looking to declutter their desk, the A6 Mini is, well, extraordinarily mini, with top-notch build quality. It looks a lot like the Mac mini with its silver aluminum matte finish, but shrinks the footprint even further: The tiny PC sits at 1.4 by 4.4 by 4.4 inches (HWD) and weighs just 14.6 ounces, making it considerably smaller and lighter than the 2024 Apple Mac mini. The A6 Mini can easily fit into a bag (and is sturdy enough to survive the trip) if you want an on-the-go budget work box.
Despite the tiny frame, the A6 Mini provides plenty of connection options. On the front panel, two USB 3.2 Type-A ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack sit next to the power button (unlike the Mac mini’s hidden underside power button). However, I am bummed to see there's no USB Type-C port on the front panel. It’s not a deal breaker, but it's annoying if you often use a modern portable SSD.
In the rear panel, you'll find two HDMI 2.0 ports—ideal for dual monitor support—two USB-C ports (one 10Gbps and one 40Gbps USB4), two USB-A (USB 3.2 and USB 2.0) ports, a DC-in jack, and an RJ-45 Ethernet connector. Last but certainly not least, the system has an SD card reader on the left-side panel—a relative rarity on mini PCs. I love this, since it eliminates any bulky USB SD card reader taking up one of my precious few ports.
The VESA mount included in the box allows you to install the A6 Mini under your desk or on a wall to save even more space. You could also mount it somewhere to avoid the unusually loud fan noise when it’s chugging away on more-intense workloads.
Performance Testing: Small Wonders
To assess the Geekom A6 Mini's performance, I ran it through our standard PCMag benchmarking suite and compared its scores with those of competitive mini PCs in terms of size, performance, and price. First, we looked at the Asus NUC 14 Pro ($799.99 as tested) and the ECS Liva Z7 Plus ($616 as tested)—both of which pack Intel CPUs. Also, we looked at the Apple Mac mini with M4 Pro. Admittedly, our test Mac mini is far more potent and pricey with the M4 Pro chip, but it's also our best look at how this mini PC compares with Apple's, and it also gives an idea of how the A6 Mini stacks up to a higher-end system.
The results? I found that the A6 Mini punches above its weight class, handily surpassing the ECS and threatening the Asus in some benchmarks. (Note that the Apple Mac Mini doesn't appear in all of the charts below, as not all of our benchmark tests are compatible with it.)
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Productivity and Content Creation Tests
Our primary overall benchmark, UL's PCMark 10, puts a system through its paces in productivity apps ranging from web browsing to word processing to spreadsheet work. Its Full System Drive subtest measures a PC's storage throughput.
Three more tests are CPU-centric or processor-intensive: Maxon's Cinebench 2024 uses that company's Cinema 4D engine to render a complex scene; Primate Labs' Geekbench 6.3 Pro simulates popular apps ranging from PDF rendering and speech recognition to machine learning; and we see how long it takes the video transcoder HandBrake 1.8 to convert a 12-minute clip from 4K to 1080p resolution.
Finally, workstation maker Puget Systems' PugetBench for Creators rates a PC's image editing prowess with a variety of automated operations in Adobe Photoshop 25.
When it came to productivity tests, the A6 Mini and its Ryzen chip performed admirably, holding its own against its more expensive Intel-powered contemporaries. While it fell short on raw processing power compared with Apple and Asus' models, it didn't lag behind the Asus as much as it probably should have for the price. In every test but Geekbench, the A6 Mini outpaced the ECS Liva.
The allowable CPU power consumption of the Geekom explains some of this. Despite housing an older (early 2022) AMD chip than the late-2023 Intel Core Ultra CPUs inside its competitors here, the A6 Mini has a higher power profile of 45 watts, versus those PCs' 28W limit. That gives the CPU a good bit more room to flex.
Graphics Tests
We challenge each reviewed system’s graphics with a quartet of animations or gaming simulations from UL's 3DMark test suite. Wild Life (1440p) and Wild Life Extreme (4K) use the Vulkan graphics API to measure GPU speeds. Steel Nomad's regular (4K) and Light (1440p) subtests focus on APIs more commonly used for game development, like Metal, DirectX 12, and Vulkan, to assess gaming geometry and particle effects. A fifth test, Solar Bay, emphasizes ray-tracing performance using Vulkan or Metal APIs at 1440p resolution.
The A6 Mini wasn't quite as competitive in graphics processing, placing at or near the bottom of the pack in several benchmarks. The A6 Mini just can't grok these rendering tasks, especially with a dated integrated graphics processor (IGP). Intel's Core Ultra CPUs—which have updated IGPs based on its Arc graphics architecture—clearly outpaced the Ryzen processor's RDNA graphics from 2020.
You can get away with some light gaming here, assuming you’re willing to play games at low settings—720p or 1080p resolution—and of a particular vintage. (The A6 Mini could be a fine retro gaming box.) If you need a mini desktop with way more horsepower, such as for 3D rendering or media and design work, then the Mac mini is the best in town, but moving to macOS is a big decision.