GMKtec Mini PC, G5 Micro Desktop Computer, 12th Gen Intel Alder Lake N97 (up to 3.60GHz) 12GB DDR5 256GB Hard Drive for Business, School, Office Sky Blue

I love this little thing. The performance is impressive. It has 12 gigs of RAM so its quick. The hard drive that it comes with holds an adequate 256 gigs. Lucky for me it also has a micro SD slot for memory expansion. I added another 512 gigs SD card for a total respectable 768 gigs. I bought this mini-computer to use with flat screen TVs that that I have in the house. Now, while my wife watches her shows in the living room, I watch mine on the TV in the dinning room using the TV sound or Bluetooth headphones so as not to disturb anyone else. I can also edit YouTube videos and audio for our church podcast. It's so small that I can easily move it from room to room or take it with me. It came with Windows 11. I installed Linux Mint on it. I am impressed with the stylish plastic case and over all build quality. The fan is very quiet. This mini-computer has 3 USB and 2 HTML ports. I use the TV for the sound and also Bluetooth headphones which sound great to me. I use the WiFi to connect to the internet and there is a plug for direct wired connection to the network provided. I would buy this again.

Bought this to use as an x86 alternative to a Raspberry Pi (mostly for Linux). So far been very impressed... Pros: * Decent value and specs - most Intel N-series computers at this price seem to be hampered by low memory (4Gb), DDR4 instead of DDR5, limited storage (32-64Gb of eMMC), or any combination of the above. With 12Gb ram and a 256Gb SSD (upgradable) it allows the N95 to shine without being hobbled. It's never going to be a power-house, but it's been more than capable when compiling packages, playing videos off the web or doing simple image editing in GIMP. * Nice internal build quality - Looking inside the unit, I was impressed buy the layout. It takes 4 screws to remove the base, allowing easy access to the storage and WiFi/Bluetooth modules should you ever need to upgrade them. * Very quiet - I set the Bios to maximize the performance; even so the fan rarely kicks in and when it does it's surprisingly quiet. * OS support - It's very encouraging to see the default OS is Windows 11 Pro and not Home (or heaven help us, S-Mode). I myself didn't keep Windows for long, but didn't encounter any issues with hardware working in Linux (Arch). If you are keeping Windows, this should be a huge benefit. Cons: * Plastics - There is nothing wrong with the design or build quality, but materials used in the case feel a little chintzy. That said, the internals (which are what really matter) seem very well made and considering the price-point, I would consider this a fair compromise. * Windows updates - Not a GMKTec issue but more of a Microsoft issue, the 24h2 update (along with the other pending updates) made the initial performance sluggish. I've seen Windows updates bring more powerful computers to their knees, so you can't blame the G5, but wanted to mention it for those who encounter the issue after first startup. For me, this was moot since I nuked Windows in favor of Linux shortly afterward anyways. ...I happened to show the computer to some of my co-workers and they all seemed impressed; some even expressed interest in buying one for themselves (either for the same use-cases as mine, as a kid's PC, something for the living room or otherwise). If you're in the market for an inexpensive but capable little PC I would definitely recommend this.

This adorable little computer is *tiny*. The power supply that comes with it feels heavier. It packs a lot of power in a small package, though. I didn't test gaming performance because on-chip GPUs can't handle high end games, but based on on the video tests, it should probably play games like Minecraft, League of Legends, and other games which are highly optimized to play on just about everything. The wifi out of the box is decent. With it connected to a Wifi 6E router about 18 feet away in the same room, it got 314 Mbit/s download on Speedtest, both in the Edge browser and with the app from the Microsoft store. With it plugged into a 2.5 gigabit ethernet switch (note it only has a 1 gigabit port), it got a 820 Mbit/s speed test. For reference, my main PC gets 750-800 Mbit/s with the same wifi router and a 1060 Mbit/s speed test with a wired 2.5 Gbit/s connection on a 1 Gbit broadband cable internet connection. So wifi is a respectable for browsing and watching videos, and wired, it is able to use about 80% of the available bandwidth. Video is good too with some caveats. 4k video on Youtube on a 4K HDR monitor is smooth with no jitters, stalls, or buffering. Same with Disney+ with 4k ultraHD with HDR. The caveat is for uncompressed 4k video. I installed Jellyfin media player and watched the same movie which played well on Disney+. The difference is that the media was not compressed, so it is running at about 80 Mbit/s for video. Even using ethernet, there were frame drops and low frames per second. For reference, AppleTV and Roku Ultra both play that movie smoothly from my Jellyfin server. 1080p content plays flawlessly from the Jellyfin server on everything I tried. It's just 4k HDR content where it struggles, and I think that HDR might be the reason. So wifi and network speeds are good, and video from a streaming web site plays perfectly in a browser. Windows Professional costs $200 by itself. I will try Teams on a meeting next week and update the review if needed, but I expect video conferencing to work just fine. There is nothing else this size on the market as far as I can tell, and I am completely satisfied with this little, inexpensive, powerful PC.

I was able to purchase one of these with a coupon for about $100. At that price I would buy more! I’m hoping to see the coupon again. At the current price it’s still a good deal, but you might do better elsewhere. I can confirm the initial windows install was clean and the BIOS is up to date. I didn’t find any bloatware or malware. I encountered a couple of small issues that result in the 4 star rating based upon the current price. As you will see in my photos, the initial hard drive write speeds weren’t quite up to par. I ran through some basic troubleshooting without any luck, so I decided to reinstall windows. The Gmktec site that hosts their windows images and drivers had reached its daily capacity, so the next day I downloaded the windows image but it would repeatedly fail when trying to install. I decided to use Rufus and an image downloaded from Microsoft which installed cleanly after a full format, but needed some drivers. Some were found using windows update. The other drivers are readily available from Gmktec. This solved my hard drive speed issue as shown in my photos. The other odd thing is the nucbox g5 does not recognize the native 2560x1440 resolution of my BenQ 27” monitor. Every other computer I have recognizes it. The nucbox g5 does recognize my 2560x1440 Samsung monitor resolution. I am using this in a small office environment for web based applications and it works well. It is quiet, stays cool and has plenty of storage capacity for my use case. I can confirm the WiFi work and I have read of people upgrading the WiFi card with a newer intel card successfully; but I use it with an Ethernet cable and have the WiFi disabled. If you need more storage capacity or speed you can upgrade the hard drive and it does support NVME, but the 512gb version from Gmktec regularly has a coupon placing it just a few dollars more than this unit. I have not tried any gaming with it I can’t speak to its gaming capability. But it works well for office productivity. I was able to power it with a small PD charger for those that think the included power supply is too big, but I am using the included power supply. If I see the coupon again, I’ll be replacing several more i5-6500t mini pcs in our office. I don’t think you will be disappointed in this unit and if you can score a coupon you’ll be very happy with your purchase. This item is regularly 10% off and occasionally more. EDIT: After about two months, the unit has started to thermal throttle and occasionally my streaming video will stutter. Using HW Monitor and CPU-Z I was able to find the CPU was quickly reaching 85-86c and confirm thermal throttling. A little searching online led me to decide to repaste the CPU. Search for a video on how to change the battery to see the easy way to disassemble the unit. After repasting, operating temps had dropped 10-15c and stress testing for an hour on CPU-Z never saw above 79c.

Using this as a Linux Docker host and it's been solid. N97 handles the load fine, DDR5 is a nice touch at this price point, and it runs quiet and cool around the clock. Small footprint, low power draw, does exactly what I need it to do. Hard to ask for more at this price.

Easy to load all the apps. Large storage hard drive works seamlessly and fast. Adequate USB and SD ports. Compact size will fit in any briefcase or backpack. Can setup easily to a monitor or a smart TV. Great unit to have.

I'll admit I partly bought it because, well, it's so tiny and cute! But it's a very capable little computer. The on-board storage is a bit limited, but that's easily addressed with external USB drives. Since it comes with the Pro version of Windows 11 it supports RDP connections, meaning that once I had it set up to my satisfaction I was able to disconnect the mouse, keyboard and monitor, and just access it remotely through my home network. There is a fan to keep it cool. If I hold the computer right up to my ear, I can faintly hear the fan. From a foot or two away it is effectively silent. The only thing I might wish this had would be a USB-C port for data. The one it has is for power only, as advertised. But the presence of three USB 3.2 ports makes this insignificant. Speaking of power, the wall wart power supply is almost as big as the computer itself, which is kind of amusing. Well worth the money if you need a small project computer.

I purchased the GMKtec Mini PC N97 in August 2024, and so far, it has performed exactly as advertised. It came preinstalled with Windows 11 Pro, and setup was quick and straightforward. The performance has been excellent for its size. , it runs fast and smooth for everyday tasks. I’ve primarily used it for standard office work, and it handles multitasking with ease. I also installed a virtual operating system, and it runs flawlessly — impressive for such a compact machine. The display output is crisp and as expected, with no issues. One of the standout points is how quietly and efficiently it operates — no abnormal heat or noise even under moderate workloads. Provides sufficient space for typical work applications. Overall, this has been a reliable and efficient micro desktop.

Super,

Love this little pc, very fast, nice graphics, clear 4K picture

Aucunement déçu de mon achat. pour 209$ canadien avant taxe, c'est un beau petit bijou. Je ne game pas avec lui mais pour le traitement de texte, tableur, facebook, youtube et streaming c'est un 5 étoiles assuré

This little computer ran very cool. Windows Pro and watching 4k videos worked well The smallest computer I have ever used.

Bought it to plug on the tv to watch from the internet. Very fast to start, gives nice picture on the tv. Plugged in a A/V ampli, easy to use!