Geekom Mini IT11 review

Geekom makes solid mini PCs and the Mini IT11 is the latest success. This little workhorse is ideal for most desktop tasks, well-suited for office and home use cases. It features plenty of flexibility with user-upgradeable RAM and storage. You can even install Linux on it, but it comes equipped with Windows 11 Pro.

Not only is it a great-looking machine in its minimalism, but it sports a ton of top-spec ports. With USB 3.2 Gen 2, USB 4, gigabit ethernet and two display outputs, you have a ton of options given how small this PC is. You can even add a 2.5-inch SATA drive to the PC. The 11th-gen processor as tested has great performance, too.

As you’ll see in this Mini IT11 review, this is the mini PC I’d recommend for most people. It has four different configurations with an affordable starting price. You get a lot bang for your buck with the Mini IT11 and it is now one of my favorite mini PCs I’ve tested.

Geekom Mini IT11 review: Price and availability

Geekom has four configurations available for the Mini IT11. The base model starts at $619 MSRP with a quad-core Intel i5-1135G7 CPU (2.4GHz, boost up to 4.2GHz), 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. Jump up to $649 and you upgrade to the i5-1155G7 (base 2.5GHz, boost 4.5GHz) processor. 

You can bump up to an Intel i7-1165G7 (2.8GHz base, 4.7GHz boost) for $719 with the top-end Mini IT11 coming equipped with the i7-1195G7 (2.9GHz base, 5GHz boost) for $769. At time of writing, all four variants are on sale on Geekom’s website. 

Geekom currently has the i5-1135G7 for $549, the i5-1155G7 for $549, the i7-1165G7 for $629, and the i7-1195G7 for $649. You can pick up the latter for $699 on Amazon (with a $50 coupon at time of writing) if you’d rather.

Another competitor to consider is the Beelink GTR5 mini PC, which uses a Ryzen 9 5900HX. That’s an 8-core, 16-thread monster with at least 32GB of RAM. It starts at $779, $179 more than the top-end Mini IT11. There’s also the $699 Mac Mini M1 to think about ($899 for the 16GB model), though it’s due for a refresh.

Geekom Mini IT11 review: Design

The Mini IT11 looks a lot like the other two Geekom mini PCs I’ve reviewed, the Mini IT8 and the MiniAir 11. It’s a small, unassuming black cuboid with a hefty amount of ports, a matte lid — an improvement over the Mini IT8, which was glossy — and a minimal footprint. You can even VESA mount it, freeing up even more desk space.

I can best describe the Mini IT11’s overall look as functional. It gets the job done. There’s no flair, no personality, no flamboyance. It’s a simple machine that focuses on functionality, allowing it to fit into many office spaces. I love its minimalist design.

Geekom Mini IT11 review: Ports and upgradeability

Like other Geekom machines, the Mini IT11 features a lot of ports for expandability. In total, it has three USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, two USB-C Gen 4, an SD card slot, a mini DisplayPort, an HDMI and a gigabit ethernet jack. If I had to make one nitpick, I wish the Mini IT11 had a 2.5GbE port, but most home networks aren’t set up for those speeds (let alone most people don’t have internet plans that exceed gigabit).

As for upgradeability, the Mini IT11 keeps with Geekom’s tendency to offer its users flexibility. All four models come equipped with 16GB of dual-channel SODIMM (laptop) RAM. However, you can upgrade to 64GB of RAM on your own should you so choose. When coupled with the 11th-gen processors, you’d have yourself one speedy machine.

Similarly, each Mini IT11 variant comes with 512GB of NVMe storage. You can go up to a 2TB NVMe SSD for extra space. And if you need even more, you can install up to a 2TB 2.5-inch SATA drive, too, potentially making for 4TB of storage on the Mini IT11. (That SATA drive could be an SSD or HDD with the latter being more cost effective.)

Everything else about the Mini IT11 is fixed in place, but I love seeing more and more mini PCs offer users the opportunity to upgrade the RAM and storage. And as for ports, Geekom is one of the best around when it comes to selection. I highly doubt that you’ll need all of these, but having the option available is definitely something I appreciate.

Geekom Mini IT11 review: Performance

The Mini IT11 I received for review came with the i7-11995G7 CPU. This is a 4-core, 8-thread processor with a base clock of 2.9GHz with a boost clock of 5GHz. For a mobile CPU, that’s an impressive spec. As for the RAM, the Mini IT11 comes with 16GB of dual-channel DDR4 memory clocked at 3200MHz.

I decided it would be interesting to see how the Mini IT11 compares to its little cousin, Geekom’s Mini IT8. I also brought out the Mac Mini M1 to show how Apple’s chip, despite its age, compares to Intel.

The Mini IT11 shows marked improvements over the Mini IT8, though it’s not a truly fair comparison. The Mini IT8 uses an i5, which is Intel’s mid-range chip. But I found the delta between the 8th-gen and 11th-gen processors interesting.

But even at two years old, the M1 chip still bests Intel in every benchmark we ran. Whether it was an over 1000-point difference in Geekbench multicore, a playable frame rate in Civilization VI’s 1080p benchmark, or the speedier Handbrake transcoding test, the Mac Mini proved to be a better-performing machine. And with the potential for an M2 Mac Mini on the horizon, with rumors suggesting that it’ll cost about the same as the Mini IT11, I have to wonder what’s going to prove to be the best option.

A big caveat with the Mac Mini is that not everyone is onboard with macOS, which I understand. The Mini IT11 is much more open given that you can run Windows or Linux at your discretion.

However, even though the Mini IT11 isn’t as powerful as the Mac Mini M1, it’s still a great machine for most desktop needs. For intense gaming or video editing, the Mini IT11 struggles, so if those tasks are part of your workflow, then this might not be the best mini PC for you. Given that neither of those use cases are what most people look for in mini PCs, I think the Mini IT11 is more than powerful enough for a lot of people.

Geekom Mini IT11 review: Software

Windows 11 Pro comes standard on the Mini IT11, which I love to see. I also love to see that there’s very little bloatware installed out of the box. It’s mostly just Microsoft’s stuff instead of the garbage like TikTok, Prime Video, etc. This is a very clean Windows install.

As such, there isn’t a whole lot to say here. Geekom didn’t include any special software. You get Intel’s graphics console, which isn’t much to write home about. There’s the Office suite if you want to activate that, too.

I appreciate the minimalism here, which is better than I can say for factory ISO images I’ve gotten directly from Microsoft. Of course, Geekom says you can install Linux on the Mini IT11, too. Mini PCs also make great little servers with things like Proxmox for hosting virtual machines. All you need to do is pick your flavor of Linux and install it to the Mini IT11 and you’ll be good to go. I love the software freedom the Mini IT11 offers.

Geekom Mini IT11 review: Verdict

I can confidently say that the Mini IT11 will meet the needs for most people seeking a minimal desktop PC. It has more horsepower than both the Mini IT8 and MiniAir 11 for tasks that might require it. For example, the Mini IT11 handled a large amount of photo edits in GIMP and RawTherapee very well without a hitch, which is more than I can say for some other machines.

With a ton of ports and user upgradeability, I think the Mini IT11 should be at the top of your list if you’re not interested in a Mac Mini (M1 or the rumored M2). Stick with Windows 11 Pro or install your favorite Linux distro — or turn it into a little server — and you’ll have yourself a fine mini PC. And for the price, the Mini IT11 offers a good bargain.