GMKtec K8 Plus Mini PC - A Mac Mini Alternative? Ryzen 8845HS, 32GB RAM

[@michaelcorcoran8768]

Mac mini seems like a great deal until you even make two small upgrades and then it's double the price. Then when you start cross shopping with other options it's not so compelling. Especially with desktop PCs where you don't really have to worry so much about battery efficiency.

[@MorganEdgy]

That's why these are better

[@AndrewTSq]

One of these is $600 for me, while a Mac Mini 16GB, 1TB NVME is $1400. They charge me $560 for a 1TB drive, completely insance.

[@GeeksAndGamingNetwork]

@@AndrewTSq they have the same approach for their phones too. it's ridiculous...i have never bought anything from apple for that reason. they're a bunch of thieves in nice suits.

[@LeroyMustang]

@@michaelcorcoran8768 you can get get cpu or gpu performance for anything like $600 in the pc world, best price for performance without question. A fast usb-c memory addition for $50-70 you’ve fixed the cost of memory upgrades. You’re right if you need more ram. Most people don’t need more than 16gb on Mac, it’s more efficient, I understand there are outlying cases.

[@kattz753]

I can't speak for this model, but I bought the M7 and it was painless to do a clean install. All of the drivers were available for download. There was a system image as well but I didn't use it. It picked up the Windows key and authenticated without issue. That's rare with these mini PCs. I'd recommend gummies or Xanax if you're going to try to do a clean install on a lot of them. I've been pretty happy with my M7 so far. I would buy this brand again.

[@baysidejr]

Look into this dock its probably the nicest Oculink dock Minisforum DEG1 eGPU Dock. But its still not enclosed and no built in power supply. I do like what Beelink did with the EX Docking Station where the mini pc has a connector and connects directly and that one does have a built in power supply. Hopefully Oculink gets more support and we see more elegant all in one solutions that still let you add your own card. There are a bunch with Mobile graphics that are all in one but they are always expensive for the gpu horsepower you get.

[@Just_Mike64]

Great review thanks, ordered one myself at the recent 11.11 discounts here locally for 300 Euro barebones. Looking forward to playing with it :-)

[@IMDABROWN]

That coupon was $200 on and before Nov 15th, now it’s $170 .

[@LonSeidman]

The prices and coupons change almost daily!

[@SmittyAZ]

Reverse Black Friday Sale.

[@drewnewby]

They're under $500 USD on AE, skip the coupon roulette. Under $400 16 GB / 256 GB.

[@jimcabezola3051]

Another great Linux box! Mahalo for testing Linux on this one!

[@mrsrhardy]

Aliexpress have the $100USD/$150AUD after coupons and discount the SOYO with M2 PLUS 2 Mini PC Intel Alder Lake N100 Windows 11 Pro Mini PC 16GB DDR4 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD WiFi 5 BT5.0 ~ pretty hard to beat too!!! Got a macmini comming but damn, 16gb and 5132gb and for many thing will do just fine with a monitor (TV-free) keybaord and mouse!

[@GeeksAndGamingNetwork]

i just got mine from amazon for $400 (coupons and credit card application).... i'm coming from a beelink ser4 so it's a decent upgrade for me. i was planning to buy the barebones version so i can just transfer my ssd and ram over to the k8 plus but i found out that ddr4 and ddr5 are different sizes.(d'oh!)...i'll probably put an led strip for that translucent top...i may make a video on the process which shouldn't be too hard.

[@radeksparowski7174]

the r/w results of the system drive were poor, is that limitation by shitty drive it was delivered with or is the pcie interface on the motherboard capped?

[@kon_radar]

There's a Mini PC with a Ryzen 3 5300U priced as an N100 Mini PC ..

[@JoshuaTheYouTubeGuy2000]

Hi there, Lon! I have a question. Can Linux Mint be installed on this mini PC, and other mini PC's you've taken a look at in the past?

[@israellewis5484]

Yes.

[@RomanOnARiver]

Watch the Linux portion of the videos for Linux compatibility. The protocol is to test the latest version of Ubuntu in live mode (where it boots from the USB and runs from RAM) and see if hardware works out of the box (ideal) or it doesn't. And if it doesn't, Lon goes into the Additional drivers screen to see if any proprietary drivers can be installed.

[@JoshuaTheYouTubeGuy2000]

@@israellewis5484 Oh I see.

[@CouchCoach]

Je für minisforum deg1 not the oculink doxk you are looking for?

[@DimasFajar-ns4vb]

wow and peace be upon you sir from me

[@Charles-r6c]

What about temperature

[@Pallidus_Rider]

Mac Mini seems to be the better choice, due to customer support. -Ore- More experienced PC users would probably prefer to build their own rig. IMHO

[@GeeksAndGamingNetwork]

i guess, if you're willing to spend $600 to upgrade the ram on those mac mini's.

[@mohamedfayed8013]

every KZbinr are hyping M4 mac mini for $600 segement consumers and it drives me mad . they all use external drives or NAS (more expensive than the whole pc) for video editing and assume that all people who buy it use it for that . storage is more important in this price segemnt than raw power . all youtubers will fill the 256 GB in a week after installing their progams and apps . and mac mini is not repairable nor upgradable because the power supply is built in and ram is on package and ssd is apple serialized .

[@bnolsen]

If I used this for a desktop I would put in 64gb.

[@dansanger5340]

Nice. The iGPU seems powerful enough that Red Dead Redemption 2 might be playable even on high settings, which would be amazing.

[@roobear78]

dude you get better docks than that thing for sure

[@GeeksAndGamingNetwork]

but they probably cost twice as much i'm sure.

[@LonSeidman]

Ok show me where?! :)

[@davidmiedema2950]

Does this one come with military grade backdoors embedded in the overprovisioned space of the ssd... like the acemagic you promoted a while ago...

[@MandoMTL]

No way in hell would I leave a Chinese built pc formatted as is.

[@LonSeidman]

I test every PC for Trojans/backdoors with multiple tools. The ace magic PCs I reviewed - not promoted - did not have the problems that some of their other models had.

[@Noname-iq1gz]

What’s your source for this?

[@alansmithee.01]

Did the iGPU support hardware transcoding in Plex Media Server?

[@Lp-ze1tg]

Same price as Mac mini m4 in my area. Not sure if the extra 16gb ram is a big advantage.

[@GeeksAndGamingNetwork]

it is if you plan on doing some intensive gaming and video editing... these days, 16gb is the minimum requirement for most triple a games and even then it has shown not to be enough as you'll likely encounter some crashes during gameplay....i upgraded my mini pc from 16gb to 32gb for $70...can't say the same for that mac mini.

[@ericB3444]

The odds on this lasting 10 plus years like a new m4 Mac mini for 499 from the Mac education store are zero.

[@LonSeidman]

You are probably correct.

[@bjsc1100]

pc's are typically upgraded every 3-5 years, but you can keep on keeping on with your 2014 core i5 mac mini.

[@jabonorte]

Apple also offer Apple Care for support and the ability to take one into an Apple Store for help is a bonus.

[@israellewis5484]

@@ericB3444 true. But if you try it will last. Besides Linux will extend it's lifespan

[@ericB3444]

@@bjsc1100 is said mac still fast ?

[@fleetingfacet]

IMO, the best thing about these mini computers is that they are portable and easy to hide from thieves. To take that a step further, the case for my mini PC is disguised as a box of tampons.

[@utube9487]

AMD and Intel has not developed hardcore APU's for over 15 years because it would cannabalise their overpriced GPU and CPU sales. Apple has forced them to get off their arse and develop proper APU's with no compromise, high spec CPU with high spec GPU all in one. Thank Apple for putting on the heat and for AMD to come out with the HX 370 APU. Now AMD, Intel and even Nvidia will be forced to develop all in one SOC's and the next 5 years the days of power sucking CPU's and Graphics Cards will be relegated to the niche ultra nerd types. If Apple can build a CPU that uses 20W max and lays waste to 250W Intel and 170W AMD CPU's, we can see how much Intel and AMD has held the SOC market back to not affect their CPU and Graphics card sales back. Now they are forced to develop them to keep up with Apple.

[@CouchCoach]

Nice story. Exept that m1 came out in 2021. And amd started its apu push with the vega line in 2018 and i have been using some great mini pcs ever since. Even the steam deck came out only months after the m1 launch.

[@israellewis5484]

@@CouchCoach I guess what op means is that expect SoC from AMD & Nvidia soon. They both have an arm license and don't use it. Lunar Lake is a baseline SoC. It's lower power compared to Ryzen AI, better single thread perf, and because of on die memory it's actually better in some titles compared to rDNA 3.5. rDNA is memory starved in an APU, just like Vega and just like the old GCN graphics from early 2010's

[@CouchCoach]

@@israellewis5484 that does sound great. And If Steam gets arm compatibility would make great tiny low power gaming devices...

[@fleetingfacet]

Comparing a PC to a Mac is like comparing an apple to a fork.

[@israellewis5484]

@@fleetingfacet you can eat an apple with a fork. But not a fork with an apple

[@fernandoblazin]

@@fleetingfacet Mac sucks

[@fleetingfacet]

@@israellewis5484 only a dork would eat an apple with a fork, and a master geek could swallow a fork with an apple

[@fleetingfacet]

@@fernandoblazin Don't Macs require a $5,000 peripheral for that sucking functionality?

[@fernandoblazin]

@@fleetingfacet hopefully it will be on sale on black friday