There's no shortage of mini desktop PCs on the market, and after seeing far too many pitches for these kinds of machines from relatively unknown companies, it takes a unique concept to get my attention. So you can imagine my surprise when Khadas — a company I had never heard of — reached out to tell me about the Khadas Mind, a mini PC that got my attention from the start.

The Khadas Mind wants to redefine what a mini PC can be, creating an ecosystem of products that allow it to be more than just a mini PC, and give it the ability to be used in different scenarios. Does it succeed? I'd say so, but there are some issues holding it back from reaching its full potential.

About this review: This review was originally written in September 2023 based on the Khadas Mind and Mind Dock, provided to us by Khadas. The company has since sent us the Mind Graphics add-on. This review has been updated with information on this new add-on as well as additional details based on longer-term use.

Pricing and availability

Khadas launched a 60-day Kickstarter campaign for the Mind starting on Aug. 24. 2023, and the computer along with the Mind Dock went up for sale in October that same year. The Mind Graphics add-on was launched in July 2024.

The Khadas Mind alone starts at $799 with a 13th-gen Intel Core i5 processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. The Premium model, which includes a Core i7-1360P, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD goes for $1,099.99. The Mind Dock costs $179, while the Mind Graphics costs a whopping $999.

Design

Tiny and sleek

One of the most impressive things about the Khadas Mind is just how small it is. This sleek PC comes in a chassis that's smaller in every dimension compared to the Mac Mini, which makes it surprising that it still packs a 28W P-series processor. Portability is one of the big selling points of this machine, and it does that very well. You can easily take this in your hand or slip it into a relatively large pocket. It also weighs less than a pound.

To keep the tiny chassis running cool, the Khadas Mind has large vents on both sides, allowing air to flow through easily. The chassis still gets quite warm, but the cooling solution seems adequate. The front of the computer only includes a power button with an indicator light.

Most of the ports here are on the back, and they include two USB Type-C ports (supporting USB4), two USB Type-A ports (at 10Gbps speeds), and HDMI. Oddly enough, there's no headphone jack on the main unit, which is unfortunate, although you can always use Bluetooth. Overall, though, there aren't a ton of ports on the Mind by itself.

The Mind Link interface

There's one port on the bottom, a custom 122-pin connection known as Mind Link. This is what makes this PC so special. It can support power delivery and PCIe data to enable an ecosystem of accessories that greatly expand the capabilities of this machine. That includes the Mind Dock, which launched alongside the Mind itself, as well as the Mind Graphics eGPU and the Mind xPlay, an external display that turns the Mind into a tablet. That last one is still in development, though.

Using the Mind Link connector is super easy. You just place the Khadas Mind on top of the Mind Dock or Mind Graphics, and push it down to fully connect it. The devices use magnets to make the connection easier and to ensure it doesn't come apart by accident, and it works quite well. I wish I could test other peripherals right now, but just seeing it with the Mind Dock is cool. The connector is tested for 10,000 cycles of plugging and unplugging, so it should last you a long time.

Also on the underside of this PC is a door that gives you access to an extra PCIe 3.0 SSD slot. The built-in SSD isn't upgradeable, but if you ever need more storage, you can always pop in another M.2 2230 SSD, which, thanks to devices like the Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally, is actually fairly easy to find now. We have a list of Steam Deck SSDs you might want to check out if you want an upgrade for this one.

It has a battery, too

Another thing that helps this device stand out is the built-in 5.55Wh battery. Yes, this desktop PC has a battery, and yes, it is very small. But there's a good reason for that. This battery is actually a standby battery. Basically, you can unplug this PC from the outlet at any time without turning it off first, and it will automatically go into sleep mode, powered by the standby battery.

This all plays into the idea of mobility. Say you work in multiple offices, or you shift between working at home or in the office. With this battery, you can be working at the office and simply unplug the PC, take it home, and plug it into your monitor to continue right where you left off. You don't need a PC at every workstation, just the surrounding peripherals. This small battery should be able to keep your PC in sleep mode for up to 5 hours, so you should be able to get through your commute with no issues.

Performance

Laptop processors are all most people need

Given the tiny size of the Khadas Mind, it might come as a surprise that it comes with processors you'd find on some of the best laptops on the market, specifically from Intel's P-series, with a base TDP of 28W and up to 35W on demand. Frankly, for how small it is, even that feels like too much power. The chassis of the machine gets quite hot after a few hours of use, though it doesn't seem to slow down significantly because of it.

Khadas sent me the Mind Premium, which includes an Intel Core i7-1360P with 12 cores and 16 threads, capable of boosting up to 5GHz. This unit also includes 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD, both of which aren't user-replaceable, which is a potential downside. I'm willing to forgive it for the sake of it being this compact, though, and considering 32GB of RAM is already quite good.

For writing, basic office work, and even light image editing, these specs are all you really need.

In real life, using the Khadas Mind for work, I can't complain at all. I had it connected to three Full HD monitors (using the Mind Dock), and it's been serving me perfectly. For writing, basic office work, and even light image editing, these specs are all you really need. Looking at benchmarks, I do notice that the numbers are a bit lower than laptops I've reviewed with similar specs, at least in some tests.

My first thought was that there might be some thermal throttling for demanding workloads, but Geekbench is a fairly short benchmark that doesn't usually result in throttling. It's possible the processor is running at a slightly lower power target to prevent throttling, which might explain why benchmarks like Cinebench R23 actually perform better here. As I've mentioned, performance is great for most day-to-day tasks, and the lesser benchmark scores haven't been a problem at all in real life.

One serious issue I had with the Khadas Mind was the internet connection. I didn't notice for a few months after writing my initial review, but later on, I noticed that the PC would randomly slow down the internet to the point where it was basically unusable. No amount of rebooting or messing with drivers would fix it, but a few months later, I'd pick the PC back up, and it was okay again. Recently, I installed some major firmware updates (my unit initially had pre-release software), and I have had no such issues since then, but it's only been a couple of weeks. Hopefully it's been truly fixed.

The Mind Dock

Rounding out the experience

As I've mentioned, the big appeal of the Khadas Mind is the ecosystem of accessories that use the Mind Link interface, starting with the Mind Dock, which launched alongside the Mind itself.

For one thing, the Mind Dock includes a lot more ports. On the back, it has a USB Type-C port for power delivery (and you only need to plug a power cable into either the Mind itself or the Dock), two USB Type-A ports (5Gbps), two HDMI ports, and RJ45 Ethernet (2.5Gbps). On the front, you'll get another USB Type-A 5Gbps port, a headphone jack, and a full-size SD card reader. If the port selection on the Mind itself isn't impressive, this really gives you a lot of connectivity for anything you need. As I said above, I've been using the Mind with three displays at the same time, plus peripherals like a mouse and keyboard, a headset, and a capture card.

That's not all, though. The Mind Dock also adds an audio system, including two mid-bass speakers and two tweeters that deliver surprisingly powerful sound. I was taken aback when I first played audio out of this setup; it gets pretty loud, and the quality is solid even at max volume. One major issue I noticed was that audio doesn't actually start playing for the first two seconds after you play audio on your PC. Khadas did share a firmware update that greatly improved the situation, so the delay is only a split second, but it's still there. This still hasn't been fixed over a year later, even with updated firmware.

The dock also includes a volume knob, which you can press to mute audio instantly. I find that it's a little too easy to press down accidentally when trying to rotate the knob quickly, but that's not the worse of it. After a few months of use, I noticed that the volume knob seems to be broken, making it impossible to change the volume reliably. When I try to increase the volume, each click of the wheel will do something different, so the volume goes up and down and ends up around the same level it started.

I do feel like the dock is kind of required to get the full experience here because the port setup on the PC is a bit too limited. But the dock itself is a great product. It's sleek, compact, and adds a lot of functionality for what I'd consider a reasonable price compared to typical USB docks. Even with the dock, the entire package is smaller than a Mac Mini, and the connectivity options here are very extensive. You could have a dock at each of your workstations and make it nearly instantaneous to get set up with all your screens and peripherals while keeping your personal files available everywhere.

The Mind Graphics

Turn the Mind into a workstation

Now we turn to the latest addition in the Mind ecosystem, the Mind Graphics. When I initially wrote the review, I wasn't sure what this external GPU would be, but in the end, it turned out to be a desktop-class Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti (8GB). Right out of the gate, that's fairly impressive to me. Most integrated eGPUs out there right now using a laptop-class GPU, but using a desktop part makes this one pretty interesting. It's still not upgradeable, though.

But this chassis isn't just a GPU. The Mind Graphics includes multiple ports, including three USB Type-A ports (10Gbps), two HDMI 2.1 ports, a DisplayPort 1.4a port, and 2.5Gbps Ethernet. It also comes with a Thunderbolt 4 port so it can be used with any PC, but of course, it's designed to communicate with the Khadas Mind using the Mind Link interface. Unlike the Mind Dock, the Graphics actually has a locking mechanism that engages when the Mind is inserted and the PC is turned on. If you want to remove it, you have to press the button on the back of the Mind Graphics and the accept the prompt from the Mind app.

It also comes with a Thunderbolt 4 port so it can be used with any PC

There's still more to it, too. The Mind Graphics as built-in speakers and far-field microphones, which work alright. The speakers get decently loud, and the quality is on par with what I get from my LG UltraWide 49WQ95C monitor, which is pretty good. The microphones are functional, though I've had some complaints about the audio quality if I move a bit further away. There's a built-in volume rocker and a mute button, which doubles as a fingerprint reader for Windows Hello. There's quite a bit going on here besides being a GPU.

Performance is pretty good

But how does it fare as a GPU? Well, the Mind Link interface supports up to PCIe 4.0 x8 bandwidth, which is four times what you'd get with a Thunderbolt 4 eGPU. However, the Khadas Mind itself is limited to an x4 connection, so you get twice the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4, the same as what's offered by an OCuLink GPU. I tested the bandwidth using 3DMark and indeed, the results were very close to what I got using an OCuLink eGPU on a different device, albeit a bit lower. Khadas plans to release a new version of the Mind that supports the full bandwidth of the Mind Link interface.

As for actual performance, the Mind Graphics definitely delivers a big performance uplift, and it's one of the fastest GPUs I've used. Aside from the tests below, I've used it in Photoshop to power the AI Denoise feature, and it's the fastest I've had a GPU be, taking around 8 seconds to process for a 24MP image.

I didn't re-run all the benchmarks without the GPU, but I did re-run PCMark, and the difference in the overall score is very significant. Here's how much better the score was, along with the full breakdown in images:

Of course, I ran a slew of other benchmarks, which I've rounded up below:

I've found VRMark's test to often produce totally random results in some tests, particularly the Cyan Room, so I wouldn't pay too much mind to that one. Otherwise, you can see the pwoer of this GPU is pretty impressive even compared to a somewhat similar GPU inside a laptop, where it doesn't have the same bandwidth restrictions.

I also tried some games on the Khadas Mind with the Mind Graphics attached, and the results were pretty good, too. Here's what I gathered:

While the average FPS in Cyberpunk 2077 was decent, the fluctuations did make this one a bit hard to play at max settings, but you have a lot of wiggle room to improve things. It's also worth noting this game is fairly CPU intensive, and the laptop processor in the Mind itself may be a limiting factor. Elden Ring also had some less smooth movements when looking over the larger expansive world, but when you're more focused on the action in front of you, it runs pretty well.

Overall, performance is very good here, as you might expect from a desktop RTX 4060 Ti. However, I have to point out that this desktop GPU in its normal form factor costs $399 MSRP, so you're paying a big premium for the ability to use it as an eGPU. There's a lot more going on in this chassis, but this is still a huge price bump.

Should you buy the Khadas Mind?

As much as I love the Khadas Mind, I do think it's for a very specific set of users. If you want an ultraportable machine that can easily plug into your peripherals at different office locations, I think this is a phenomenal choice. It's tiny and light, plus the built-in battery means you don't have to worry as much about saving your work before unplugging it. The promise of the Mind ecosystem is incredibly cool in concept, but it needs to find its audience, which I think is very limited.

It may be a bit pricey, but I'd say the price is justified. At MSRP, you'd be paying roughly $1,278 for the Mind Premium and Mind Dock, and that gets you a really solid experience. Sure, it's almost the same price as the Mac Mini with the M2 Pro, but it does include double the RAM and storage for that price, plus everything else that makes the Khadas Mind unique.

As for the Mind Graphics, it's a tough call. If you really want to turn your Khadas Mind into a PC capable of gaming or content creation, this add-on delivers plenty of performance and adds a lot more to your setup to make it more appealing. But it is an incredibly expensive add-on and you can absolutely find a more powerful desktop for a lower price than the combination of the Mind and Mind Graphics. You really have to be sold on the idea of using this PC in all the different modes and across different desks.

You should buy the Khadas Mind if:

• You want a super portable desktop PC
• You have multiple workstations but want to use the same computer across them
• You want to make use of the ecosystem of Mind accessories, including the Mind Graphics

You shouldn't buy the Khadas Mind if:

• You need ports like a headphone jack and don't want the dock
• You don't want to invest in an ecosystem of proprietary accessories
• You want a powerful desktop PC for gaming that isn't overpriced