If you want a tiny, yet very capable desktop PC, ASRock has just announced the world's thinnest AMD Mini PC, which takes advantage of the AMD Ryzen 4000 U-series processors.
The most impressive aspect of the ASRock Mars 4000U Series PC is its size, or lack thereof. It measures just 194-by-150-by-26mm (0.7 liters), making it easy to mount out-of-sight on the back of a monitor. As Liliputing reports, ASRock is offering three chip options for this barebones system. The Ryzen 3 4300U, Ryzen 5 4500U, and the Ryzen 7 4800U, with each one using a Radeon Graphics GPU.
It's possible to fit up to 64GB of 3,200MHz DDR4 RAM as well as PCIe Gen3 x4 M.2 NVMe SSD and a 2.5-inch SATA drive for storage. In terms of connectivity, there's four USB 3.2 Gen1 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, one USB Type-C port, microphone and headphone jacks, Gigabit LAN, Wi-Fi 6, VGA, HDMI, a card reader, and Kensington lock. Included in the box is a VESA mount and a stand if you'd prefer to place it next to your monitor. When on the stand, positioning it next to a PlayStation 5 should make this tiny PC look even smaller.
ASRock wants the Mars 4000U used by everyone and is marketing it as a PC for entertainment, education, digital signage, and the office. When powered on it is expected to be whisper quiet, producing 24dB when idle, although we'll have to wait for some real-world testing to see how much noise the cooling fan produces under load.
In terms of price, a Newegg listing appeared and then quickly disappeared for the base 4300U model, which cost $390. So I'd assume the Ryzen 7 model is going to be north of $500. For now, we don't know when the planned launch date is, but with a listing already appearing it shouldn't be too far off.