OK, I'll start by saying the headline is a little tongue in cheek. Of course, we think aWindows 11PC is better than a Mac. You are not convincing us otherwise.
But Geekom's next mini PC is very much in the same arena as theMac Studio. They're billing theGeekom A9 Megaas "the most powerful mini PC on earth" and there's a degree of truth to that.
It won't stand alone, but there isn't much company for it. That's because it's going to be one of only a small number of PCs, mini or otherwise, confirmed to use AMD's Strix Halo APU. Or, to give it its full title, theAMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395. I'll be calling it Strix Halo from here on out.
This is simply the king of mobile chips right now, and not yet widespread. Part of that is surely due to the price. We've seen it ourselves inside theASUS ROG Flow Z13, and it is inside an HP mini workstation we currently have in the review backlog. You will also find it in the Framework Desktop, and a mini PC from GMKTec.
I might have missed one or two, but there's not many. And that in itself is enough reason to take serious notice of the Geekom A9 Mega.
The beating heart of the Geekom A9 Mega is the Strix Halo APU backed up by up to 128GB LPDDR5X 8000 unified memory. Unlike previous generation APUs from AMD, the Strix Halo adopts a similar approach to Apple Silicon, where the system can dynamically allocate memory to the GPU up to a total of 96GB.
That's different from the way it's done on previous generation chips, like the Ryzen AI 9 HX370 in the Geekom A9 Max I'm currently reviewing. On these chips, you're able to isolate a portion of the RAM to be dedicated for the GPU, but it's not able to do it dynamically like a unified memory system.
It's more efficient, reduces bottlenecks, and latency. It's just better.
The Geekom A9 Mega will also be a powerful little box for running local AI. Despite its size, the fact that it can dedicate up to 96GB of memory to the GPU means even pretty large LLMs will run locally. This device will handle the full gpt-oss:120b.
That GPU is also a big deal. Strix Halo comes with the Radeon 8060s, the first true desktop-quality integrated graphics. It can compete with RTX 40 series cards. It can even do ray tracing.
AMD has really changed the game with Strix Halo, but it doesn't come cheap. Geekom will be launching first through Kickstarter, and if you sign up before the launch, you can get one at a reduced price of $1,899.
But hey, to get a Mac Studio with just 96GB of unified memory you have to spend $3,999. In that context, it's an absolute steal. It will also be better for gaming, because Windows 11.
I'm just happy to see another option coming with Strix Halo inside. Alongside the Snapdragon X platform, it's one of the most exciting hardware advancements in Windows PCs in many a year. I'm looking at my gaming PC under my desk right now and starting to wonder how long it is for this world.
Sign up to be notified of the Kickstarter launchfor the Geekom A9 Mega on its page right now. At this time, there is no indication when that might be.
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