GMKtec Mini PC, G11 Plus AMD Ryzen 5 3500U16GB DDR4 RAM 512GB SSD Computer

It's been exactly 1 year since I received and started using this PC. It's currently unavailable to purchase, but in the event it's ever available again or you come across one on the secondhand market, I thought I'd leave a review and talk about my experience with it. This little nugget (which I will refer to hereafter as "the Cube," though no it's not exactly a cube if you want to get pedantic about it) has been in use almost daily, and I've got a lot of positive things to say about it. I'm going to put a little bit of technical stuff in this review, but if just you want the simple version: I wish I'd bought three of these. I want one in every room. Especially considering its size and power consumption, it's a surprisingly capable computer. For the price, it was an absolute steal. My lil Cube is connected to the TV in my bedroom. I wanted a device for streaming video and music, but with a complete desktop operating system and web browser for watching content without ads. The Intel N97 processor, 12G of RAM, and 256G SSD are more than competent enough for basic desktop applications. For bonus points, this N97 supports hardware-accelerated decoding of basically every video codec in use on the modern web, so it has no trouble playing content from YouTube, Twitch, etc. It's fully capable of 4K output at 60 Hz/FPS, but the desktop experience in Windows 11 was ever-so-slightly smoother for me at 1080p. Not much of an issue, since the difference in image quality on a 55" display from across the room is negligible, but maybe worth considering if you plan to use this in a more "traditional" desktop configuration. Out of the box, Windows 11 was installed and fully licensed. For the price I paid, I was a little concerned about the validity of the product key, but I never had any activation issues or trouble receiving updates. At the time of this writing, my Cube is running Fedora Linux 44 KDE Plasma Edition. I won't turn this into a diatribe about Windows, but my experience with desktop Linux on this PC has been about as good as one could hope for. With the manual installation of a few packages from the RPMFusion repos, the integrated graphics (and specifically hardware decoding) are working flawlessly even at 4K60. I ultimately had to replace the internal WLAN adapter after switching to Fedora—the stock CDW-C9821CE-00 card is based on the Realtek RTL8821CE, a chipset with known Linux driver issues. That said, I was able to find a compatible Intel AX210-based M.2 card for a mere $20, and this little computer was surprisingly simple to disassemble. GMKtec are probably not expecting the "average user" to be replacing internal parts or installing a different OS on this thing, so I really appreciate how easy they made it to open the case for repairs or upgrades. As for the thermals? I've never had any reason to investigate them. While in use, the case is only slightly warm to the touch, and I don't think I've ever heard the internal fan once. Even up close it's completely silent, so it won't be a nuisance sitting on your desk or tucked away in your home theater cabinet. I don't have any grand conclusion here. I just wish I had bought several of these while they were available. Over the past year, I've encountered several scenarios and projects where one of these liltte N97 cubes would have been the perfect device to use. It's so small and silent it's hard to believe how smoothly it runs a full x86_64 desktop environment. I'd get another one in a heartbeat!

Didn't waste time setting it up since it is Windows 11. Took a while but finally had all the updates installed. The first test was 4k video on YouTube - no issues. Network speed on fiber was almost 400mbs. The green color plastic case is nice, and wife thinks it's cute. Pretty snappy for what it is - paid $137 and it is well worth it. Basically, as much as a Raspberry Pi but $37 dollars more for memory and a hard drive. Loaded some GIS software to test performance and didn't see any issues there either. Loaded a fancontrol program for more refined control. Will test more but am very satisfied👍 FEW DAYS LATER I bought this little PC ($135) for streaming TV and web browsing from a hotel. In the past I purchased a travel router and a streaming TV dongle, and it worked OK. This G3 is substantially better, is a great deal with all the hardware and Windows 11. The TVs picture is substantially better than the Chromecast while running the same YouTube TV app on the same TV. There were a number of settings I had to figure out but it's well worth it. First I like using a Bluetooth mouse with Windows accessibility virtual keyboard. The fan was a little loud but go to GetFanControl and read what their software does. The bios is very functional also with many settings but didn't change any yet. Had to change settings on my Samsung TV for the way the TV monitors USB connections. Turned it all off to work properly. It's a PC so it has all the same issues - updates, power settings, etc. but WOW! Connect to TV, log into Wi-Fi and you're up and running. Purchased an air mouse with keyboard and track pad but a regular mouse works well and less complicated. I didn't know my TV could look this good. You will need to figure out how to use the power button to hibernate and turn on. Once I turn it on I have to move the mouse to get a picture but as I mentioned - ITS A NICE NUC👍 for a TV streaming and web browsing from a hotel. In the past I purchased a travel router and a streaming TV dongle, and it worked OK. This G3 is substantially better, is a great deal with all the hardware and Windows 11. The picture is substantially better than the ChromeCast and running the same YouTube TV app on the same TV. There were a number of settings I had to figure out but it's well worth it. First, I like using a Bluetooth mouse with Windows accessibility virtual keyboard. The fan was a little loud but go to GetFanControl and read what their software does. The bios is very functional also with many settings but didn't change any yet. Had to change settings on my Samsung TV for the way the TV monitors USB connections. Turned it all off to work properly. It's a PC so it has all the same issues - updates, power settings, etc. but WOW! Connect to TV, log into Wi-Fi and you're up and running. Purchased an air mouse with keyboard and track pad but a regular mouse works well and less complicated. I didn't know my TV could look this good. You will need to figure out how to use the power button to hibernate and turn on. Once I turn it on, I have to move the mouse to get a picture but as I mentioned - ITS A NICE NUC👍 It has computer graphics and the latest Wi-Fi chip too...

For the first 24 hours, I was really impressed. Really snappy performance, 8 GB of RAM was plenty for simple tasks, and the SSD was capacious at 256 GB, considering the price. The inclusion of Windows Pro made the box almost free! However, after updating to Windows 11 Build 22H3, during the process of applying updates, the computer locked up. After 60 minutes with the computer no longer visible on the network and the keyboard and mouse non-responsive, pulled the power cord. Upon restoring power and turning on the computer, the PC was stuck for hours at the spinning circle during boot. Two more power-cycles and Windows repair interface appeared. Selected Windows Reset, Local Source (wouldn't work with cloud source), Windows began resetting. However, after a restart, computer back to the infinitely spinning circle. :-( If this had proved reliable, I'd have bought a dozen or more as remote monitoring PCs for client networks. But given that I've had good luck with the similarly priced AWOW models, I will not be investing any more money or time in the GMKTek offerings. Update 01-07-2024 ----------------------- Fortunately, GMKTek provides a download for a Windows 11 re-installation ISO. With this and leveraging a fair amount of knowledge of Windows installation options, was able to re-image the SSD. Unfortunately, the product key is invalidated and I had to use a spare Windows 10 product key to re-activate Windows. Unfortunate the GMKTek hasn't worked out the same relationship with Microsoft that Dell has, whereby any Windows 11 ISO used to load Windows onto a Dell OptiPlex results in an automatically activated Windows 11 installation. Bottom line is that after recreating and updating all apsects of the re-installed Windows 11 OS, the PC is back to running normally. I know to steer clear now of some driver updates. The PC has been running for about 36 hours and I'll post an update if that changes in the near future. When this PC works, it represents a great value for the money in terms of hardware specs and a Windows 11 license. However, taking into account the time issue remediation takes and the expertise required, the TCO (total cost of ownership) rises significantly. If I never have to do brain surgery on this device again, I'll still feel the cost was justified based on the performance of this sub-$200 device. P.S. I now make a complete image backup before running/installing ANY updates so I can simply restore the image backup rather than running into yet another Windows 11 re-installation process and the requirement to use/purchase another Windows product key. P.P.S. The WIndows 11 re-installation ISO download was 11 GB and was not a standard Windows 11 installation ISO. This had to be burned to a flash drive (I used a 16 GB USB3 model; I used Rufus to create the bootable UEFI flash drive) and then the GMKTek PC booted with it. Upon boot, I was faced with a terminal window and a couple of choices. The one I chose led to an image/sysprep process that fortunately got the PC bootable once again with Windows 11 Pro. P.P.P.S. Highly recommended --> As soon as you boot the device for the first time, find a tool such as ProduKey by NirSoft and extract and save the Windows 11 product key. Ideally (although I didn't have a chance to test), this key would work if a re-install was ever required. The other option, that I was waiting for until the PC was fully updated, is to create an image backup using any number of tools, including the image backup tool in Windows. Thus, if any of your update processes results in a non-bootable PC, you can simply re-image from the backup and avoid having a non-activated instance of Windows 11. Update 01-12-2024 ----------------------- Vendor reached out proactively and offered some assistance, although I'd resolved the corrupt Windows 11 issue independently. However, that level of customer support is remarkable considering the price of this product and the lack of such support from other vendors with much pricier offerings. Due to this, upgrading the rating to four stars. Update 01-13-2024 ----------------------- Customer support proactively reached out and provided a product key so I could activate Windows 11 and free up my personal product key. GMKtec's proactive reaching out to a customer with issues is almost unparalleled in my experience over 40 years, so despite the issues I encountered, I'm raising my review to five stars. For a product this inexpensive but with excellent performance, providing this level of customer support is laudable.

I love this thing. Easily one of the best purchases I've ever made. It's super portable with accessible and sufficient ports. Quiet, compact, I actually prefer to bring this with me over my laptop if I have a screen with me or waiting for me. The issues I've found are few and modest. 1. The sound card sometimes glitches, for 1-3s where the signal gets garbled but then restores itself to normal quality. I'm running the sound over the same Hdmi 2.0 cable so it might just be electronic interference. I think if you run your sound separately through dedicated channel you're probably fine. But I just tolerate a little scuff because it honestly happens about once ever 20 hrs of audio play time and the video is never affected. 2. It comes with windows 11 which is more gross than your dying mother's feet. If you know what you're doing I'd recommend running it with linux instead. It sometimes gets really hot when in active use for over 16 hrs straight but its never encountered an issue due to that, its just unpleasant. If you can't mount it, I'd recommend putting it on a little box so it has more air flow. I use an old box that some dubai chocolate came in.

Because I work from home, I require something with slightly a bit more power. Will this unit be good for most casual users? Absolutely. It's a great unit, but because of the intensity of my WFH VMware and other virtual desktops, this little guy just didn't have enough power. However, this is to no fault of the unit, and most likely the fault of the programs I have installed, so I am currently in the process of working with GMKtec to resolve this issue. Even though this item didn't meet my specific needs, I wasn't upset about it - I was more frustrated with myself for not doing a bit more research. Bright side? Working with GMKtec (if you've ever emailed their support, you know the guy I speak of! J is probably the reason for most of the 5 star reviews on here!) has resolved this issue, in a seamless, hassle-free way. I recommend this unit for those who don't need a lot of power, and are more of a casual PC user - You'll enjoy this unit. But if you, like me, are a tech guy who does a LOT of work on his pc, this may not be the best for you. I'm already looking forward to my next purchase from GMKtec! If you're looking for an amazing pc that doesn't take up a lot of space, and can keep up with larger, more bulky desktops, and even outperform them, you won't find anything better than GMKtec. Thanks to assistance from GMKtek, I was currently in the process of ordering the M5 unit. This one is more ideal, as it has a larger RAM capacity, and can keep up with my virtual desktops! Having researched the 16 GB of ram this unit has, I am confident that it will allow me to resume my work with ease. Users may also enjoy the fact that the M5 unit is Ryzen based, not Intel, which removes some of the limitations that Intel has on their PCs. While the M5 is not a heavy-duty gaming unit (It's unlikely it will play the latest AAA games) but casual gamers will find the Nucbox M5 unit's Radeon Vega will definitely be enough for older games. The price is affordable, and the Nucbox M5 unit currently has a rating of 5 stars. Almost unheard of for technology! But this is GMKtec we're speaking of here. Quality items with incredible support plus a 1-year warranty = Massive win for their customers! Note: This is not a paid endorsement for GMKtec - Just the honest words of a true fan of this business.

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 little i3 system is small enough to fit into the palm of my hand (which always amazes me how small these systems are getting considering how powerful they are). On top of being small, the power efficiency is fantastic. While on idle it was drawing around 6-7 Watts total. While running a Youtube video and a second window for browsing it only came up to about 8-9 Watts. When I tested it around max load it went up to 22 Watts. As this is an i3 CPU and not an AMD APU don't expect to be able to do much gaming on this. I tested out the Final Fantasy 1 Remaster and it mostly ran at 60FPS 1080p, but that game is not going to have very high requirements at all. I also tested out Super Tux Kart, which ran well enough at 1080p. Much older games or very basic games should run fine. I didn't test any other games, because honestly, I don't plan to use this system for gaming. Eventually I plan to put Debian Linux on it and use it for containerized applications, which this system will happily handle. This system would also be a great candidate for Batocera Linux. The default OS on this system is Windows 11 PRO. Take note of this being the PRO version, as it comes out of the box as a much cleaner experience and the ability to run a local only account without workarounds. It also came without any OEM bloat and the advertisements seem to be turned off by default. This is a much better Windows 11 experience than I am accustomed to. The internals are VERY easy to get to. Just pop the top off (no screws) and you are able to access the RAM and SSD. Two HDMI Ports and plenty of USB ports as well. I am a very big fan of the ease of access. Overall I am happy with this product. I would recommend it to anyone who wants a decent system for basic desktop tasks or for small container workloads.

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.

Super,

A fully loaded pc. Add a monitor, keyboard, mouse and cables and you have an 8/256 gb system for under £200. The G3 nucbox is no powerhouse but it doesn’t need to be, it does everything I want it to. Well recommended..

small size high quality

I received this package from Amazon last Monday, superfast delivery even without Prime. The packaging was sealed and already small, and the box is even smaller, all the content is shown on the photo. The G3 is very light weight and there's a metal clamp, I believe this is to attach and hide it behind a screen, however the box takes so little space that I simply place it even on a really small desk. The box's plastic material feels like good quality and the colour is a nice, maybe dark-olive green, I prefer that over white which often gets yellowish over time, black collects dust and grey looks boring. It is replacing a bulky old Omen gaming PC in the living room area that was 8 time more in height and about the same difference is true for the surface area, the photo gives you an idea. The old PC was used mainly for internet researches, some homework related uses, some attempts in coding and writing emails etc. A Steam client was running on it with quite a collection, but more casual games. One issue was that the old PC was on 24/7 and a gaming PC is drawing a fair bit of power and I don't need the heat it produces now in summer, the Omen must have used at least 10x more energy than this G3. The tiny charger that came with the box says in small font I believe 36W, but I suppose the G3 is running on a lot less on average, so at 20 Watts it costs just about 3 cents a day to run permanently. The box is slightly warm but definitely not hot. The other issue with the Omen was that it didn't allow an upgrade to Windows 11 although the specs on that gaming PC are not bad. The G3 comes with Windows 11 preinstalled and that was very is easy to set-up. I recommend to take a backup with a 16/32 GB USB stick immediately once you've installed your browsers and any additional software. It takes about a night to run a Windows backup but it is just good practice because you don't want to be forced to buy an expensive Windows licence if ever something happens, even if it feels unlikely with a fresh Windows 11, which in my experience is a stabile OS and has become fairly secure, make sure you don't disable the updates. I've been running the G3 now for a week with three different browsers (Edge is preinstalled), countless tabs open. I had no problems connecting the Samsung screen via HDMI, a USB keyboard (even has French has second layout), a USB mouse and a headphone (cinch). My Wifi printer worked without much hassle, very easy to add it in Windows 11. This purchase fully meets my expectation and use case.

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