I tested this mini PC that’s smaller (and cheaper) than the Mac mini M4 — and I’m impressed

The Geekom A6 is a tiny yet powerful mini PC with an all-aluminum design that packs plenty of ports and powerful components. Even though it might look similar to the Mac mini M4 at first glance, it’s actually smaller.

While it may be an ultra-compact mini PC, the Geekom A6 comes equipped with an AMD Ryzen 7 6800H processor with built-in Radeon 680M graphics, a 1TB SSD, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, Wi-Fi 6E connectivity and not one but two USB4 ports. You can also open it up to add more storage, extra RAM and even a new wireless card.

During normal use, the Geekom A6 remains relatively quiet. However, its fan gets slightly noisy during heavy multitasking and light gaming. Even then, this sleek mini PC stays cool to the touch thanks to Geekom’s IceBlast tech. If the extra noise bothers you, you can always mount it behind your monitor using the included VESA mount.

My Geekom A6 review will help you decide if this tiny computer is the best mini PC for you or if it’s worth looking for something slightly larger with better gaming performance.

Geekom A6: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A tiny, mid-range mini PC designed for web browsing, office work and even some light gaming.
• Who is it for? Those who want a reasonably priced mini PC with a very small footprint and a similar look to the Mac mini M4.
• What does it cost? The Geekom A6 costs $449 on Amazon but you can also purchase it directly from Geekom’s website where you can get an additional 5% off using the code TOMSGKA6 until April 1st.
• What do we like? Its small size, wide selection of rear ports, powerful components, support for up to four 4K displays and upgradeable RAM and storage.
• What don’t we like? The Geekom A6 can get slightly noisy under load and its gaming performance leaves something to be desired.

Geekom A6: Specs

Geekom A6: The ups

The Geekom A6 not only looks great with its full aluminum design but doesn’t take up much space on your desk. It also has a great variety of rear ports and is no slouch when it comes to performance, especially at this price.

Small as can be

At 4.4 x 4.4 x 1.34 inches, the Geekom A6 is noticeably smaller than the Mac mini M4. However, it’s slightly smaller than the slim version of the Asus NUC 14 Pro. It’s also the first mini PC I’ve tested that’s under one pound.

Unlike the Mac mini M4, it uses an external 120W power supply instead of an internal one. Fortunately, it’s smaller than the one that ships with the NUC 14 Pro which makes the A6 an ideal mini PC for traveling even if it’s not as pocketable as the Khadas Mind.

Ports aplenty

The Geekom A6 has far more ports than you’d expect to find on a mini PC of its size. Around the front, you get two USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports (one which supports power delivery) and a 3.5mm headphone jack next to its power button. I like having full-sized ports where I can reach them to plug in one of the best USB flash drives, and not having to reach around back to plug in wired headphones is always a plus too.

Now around the back is where the magic happens. Not only do you get two HDMI 2.0 ports, but you also get two USB 4 ports which allows the A6 to support up to four 4K displays. I didn’t go that far during testing though, and spent most of my time using this mini PC in a dual-monitor setup. You also get two USB-A ports and a 2.5G Ethernet port which is great for multi-gig internet or transferring files to a NAS device.

Oddly enough, the A6 has almost the exact same rear port configuration as the much more expensive NUC 14 Pro. However, the difference between these two mini PCs is that Asus’ machine has two Thunderbolt 4 ports instead of USB4.

A pint-sized punch

Instead of making you choose between multiple configurations with different processors like Asus does, Geekom only sells one version of the A6 and unlike the very budget-friendly Kamrui E3B mini PC I reviewed, this one is fully equipped for most workloads.

The A6 packs an AMD Ryzen 6800H processor with onboard Radeon 680M graphics, 32GB of DDR5 memory and 1TB of NVMe SSD for storage. As you can see in our performance benchmarks above, it performed well ahead of the Kamrui E3B in Geekbench’s multi-core tests and its Kingston SSD is a lot faster than the Netac one in that machine.

The A6 fell behind the Minisforum EliteMini AI370 in multi-core performance and encoding in Handbrake, but that mini PC costs more than twice as much and features one of AMD’s newer Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 chips.

To put the A6 through its paces, I used Geekom’s tiny mini PC as my main machine for two weeks. While I initially tested it at my dedicated gaming desk, I ended up building a new desk setup around it in my office with a 1080p gaming monitor on the left and a 4K one on the right. This allowed me to take advantage of its dual HDMI ports but it also helped show just how small the A6 really is.

As for my workflow, I’m a Chrome power user and I do most of my writing and editing in my browser with dozens of tabs and multiple windows open simultaneously. The A6 held up well here and never froze up or let me down while working. I also do a lot of photo editing in GIMP and Geekom’s tiny mini PC handled that well too.

The Geekom A6 isn’t marketed as a mini PC built for gaming by any means. However, it can play older games fairly well at 1080p and can even run some newer titles if you’re willing to drop down your graphics settings to low and your resolution to 720p which isn’t ideal.

As you can see in the results from our testing lab, we put the A6 through a few more gaming benchmarks than we did with the Kamrui E3B or the Acemagic F2A which aren’t gaming-focused mini PCs either. It did fairly well in Civilization VI but had a hard time getting above 30 fps in other more graphically demanding games.

In my own testing, I played the skateboarding sim Session and a bit of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart on the A6. I managed to get 60 fps in Session with Epic graphics settings enabled thanks to AMD FSR 3. However, the framerate dipped down to 50 and then 40 fps in that game during a lengthy playthrough. In Ratchet & Clank, the A6 managed to stay around 30 fps at 1080p on high and jumped up by 10 or so frames when I turned it down to medium.

Tiny but still expandable

The Geekom A6 has one feature that I haven’t seen on a mini PC of its size yet: an SD card reader. Sure it’s tucked out of sight on the left side, but this card reader is great for quickly getting photos off your camera and you could use it to add extra storage space in a pinch.

If you flip the A6 over, there are four rubber feet you can remove and easily pop back into place without having to worry about their adhesive losing their stick. They cover four screws you need to remove to get inside the case.

The A6 isn’t the most easily upgradable mini PC I’ve tried (that award goes to the Acemagic Tank 03), but with some patience and a careful hand, you can take off its bottom case and the heatsink under it. This gives you access to its RAM and storage if you want to swap them out. With a mini PC this small, I was pleasantly surprised that I could open the A6 up at all.

Geekom A6: The downs

Even though the Geekom A6 gets quite a lot right, it’s not perfect. Its two biggest issues are that it doesn't have one particularly useful port on the front and its fans spin up rather loudly at times.

No front USB-C port

I’m a bit torn on this one and let me explain why. Having a USB-C port at the front would be really useful for connecting one of the best external hard drives or even a flash drive with a USB-C connector. However, I like the approach that Geekom has taken with A6 where you have two USB-A ports as opposed to the Mac mini M4 which just has two USB-C ones.

One thing I’ve noticed with some of the mini PCs I’ve reviewed like the AceMagic F2A and the Kamrui E3B is that while they both have USB-C on the front, the port is capable of video out. This is great if you want to quickly connect a portable monitor but less so when you’re using a mini PC in a more permanent setup since you now have a cable running across the front of your desk. With the A6, both of its USB4 ports are at the back which is more useful in this situation.

Cool but not always quiet

Just like with the more powerful Geekom A8, the A6 features the company’s IceBlast cooling technology. There are tiny holes on either side where cool air is pulled in and directed at different layers of this mini PC before it’s eventually expelled through the back of the case. I was really impressed by how well this worked, and even after a long gaming session, the top of the case wasn’t warm to the touch.

Since the A6 isn’t fanless, you can hear its fan spin up and it can get slightly noisy. For instance, when I measured it with my sound level meter, it was at 55 db under heavy load and got as loud as 60 db after gaming for over an hour. The A6’s noise level was noticeable but not nearly as bad as the Acemagic F2A under the same conditions. However, with the included VESA mount, you can always put the A6 behind your monitor instead of on your desk if the noise really bothers you.

Geekom A6: Verdict

Geekom didn’t cut corners with the A6, and it shows in this mini PC’s performance. Instead of 16GB of memory with the option to upgrade, the company went all out with 32GB and paired this with a relatively fast AMD Ryzen 7 processor equipped with surprisingly capable onboard graphics. At the same time, you also get two USB4 ports, a 2.5G Ethernet port and Wi-Fi 6E for faster wireless speeds.

Although I would have liked to have a single USB-C port on the front, this isn’t a dealbreaker by any means and USB-C video out ports on the back are much more useful in a desk setup. If you’re after a mini PC with a very small footprint and want one with a premium look, the Geekom A6 is very easy to recommend, especially at this price.