I've made it no secret that I love mini PCs, and because of that, I've had my eye on Minisforum for quite a while. The company may not be the most recognizable name in the industry, but it has been pumping out plenty of interesting devices over the past few years. Most recently, the company launched one of the more unique products in its lineup, the atomMan X7 Ti, and I couldn't wait to try it out.

There are certain products that I feel are winners just by their very concept, and they have to fumble really hard to fail. The AtomMan X7 Ti is one of those, and thankfully, it doesn't falter at all. This is now my favorite mini PC, even if it's also the largest one I've reviewed so far. With fantastic performance and really thoughtful design and features, this is absolutely the PC I want to have at my desk now. And if you like mini PCs, you'll probably feel the same way.

About this review: Minisforum sent us the AtomMan X7 Ti for the purposes of this review. The company had no input in its content.

Pricing and availability

Minisforum launched the AtomMan X7 Ti on May 20th, 2024, and it's exclusively available through the company's own website.

Officially, pricing starts at $829 for the barebones version (without RAM or storage) and $1,059 for the fully assembled version with 32GB RAM, a 1TB SSD, and Windows. However, it's frequently discounted so the prices are actually $669 and $849, respectively.

Design and ports

A mini PC with a screen

The reason the Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti got my attention in the first place is that it has a built-in screen. This 4-inch display doesn't actually do a whole lot, but it does show you how the CPU, GPU, RAM, and storage are being used, which is nice to have available at a glance without having to do anything. You also see upload and download transfer rates at any given moment, plus the current speed of the fan.

It also shows the time and weather, and if you want, you can adjust the display brightness and the PC's volume level through here, since the screen supports touch. In fact, you have a few options for rearranging the UI, and you can even choose a power mode using this screen (though it's independent from the Windows setting). It's pretty neat, though I wouldn't consider it essential. The screen itself has a bit of light bleed, but for what it is, it's not a big problem. I did ask if it would be possible to update the software on the screen to add more features, but didn't get a clear answer on that. The screen is powered by an app in Windows, called SCCS, so in theory it could be updated with some changes.

Partly because of the screen, the AtomMan X7 Ti actually comes with a stand in the box, because it's designed to stand up so you can look at the screen easily. It's definitely different from any other mini PC I've tested, and it's much more spacious as a result. Plus, the PC itself is fairly large for a mini PC, with a smaller footprint than the Mac Mini, but being taller (when laid horizontally). Even with the stand, it's still small enough to fit neatly under my monitor, though I did have to raise it to its maximum height.

It has a webcam

It's not just the screen that contributes to making this PC larger than other mini PCs I've tested, though. Above that screen sits a 1080p webcam and dual microphones for you to take calls with. The camera may not blow you away, but the image quality is solid and it's more than good enough to take calls on. The larger size kind of ends up being a boon here, so the camera isn't too far below your face and creating a super awkward angle. It's still not amazing, but it works well enough, which I'd say is all you can expect for this form factor. Here's a sample with me sitting next to a window:

Even better, the camera even supports Windows Hello facial recognition, and I've found it to work really well for signing me in without having to enter a PIN. It's cool to see the company went all the way to make this camera useful. There's even a privacy cover if you don't want the camera on all the time, and you can also sign in with the fingerprint reader on the power button. There's a lot of hardware packed into this chassis to justify it being slightly bigger than other mini PCs I've tested. Sadly, that doesn't include built-in speakers, which is a bit of a shame, but typical for a desktop PC.

A ton of ports, too

Topping it all off, the AtomMan X7 Ti also has a ton of ports. The left side houses most of the ports, including one USB4 connection, two USB Type-A (one USB 2.0 and one USB 3.2), HDMI, DisplayPort, dual 5Gbps Ethernet, and eventhe rare OCuLink port. This is used for external GPUs and provides significantly more bandwidth than USB4, allowing you to take advantage of more powerful GPUs.

The right side still has a few ports, too, including another USB4 connection, two USB 3.2 Type-A ports, and the headphone jack. Rounding things out, there's an SD cad reader along the top of the PC. Given its larger size, I'm glad no ports are at the top, as the cables coming out of them would definitely get in the way of my monitor. Minisforum knew what it was doing here.

Performance

The best of Intel Core Ultra

Inside the Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti is an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H, the most powerful processor in the Intel Core Ultra lineup. It has a 45W default TDP, though Minisforum's page for this PC claims the unit has a 65W TDP in this case. You'd probably expect some top of the line performance i that case, and indeed, that's what you get. The AtomMan X7 Ti has never had a problem keeping up with my workload, and on top of that, it runs fairly quietly, too. I can hear the fan, but it's far from obnoxious, and I can't really recall a time when it seemed unusually loud.

Of course, I ran the usual suite of benchmarks, including the recent 3DMark Steel Nomad test that was just released in the past month or so. Here's a quick look at how it stacks up:

As you can see, the AtomMan X7 Ti trades blows with some of the best comparable PCs performance-wise. It's not always a clear-cut winner, but to be clear, any of these PCs is already very fast, and there's no reason to complain here.

I will note that the PCIe 4.0 SSD isn't the fastest when it comes to sequential speeds, sitting slightly below 5,000MB/s, but that's still incredibly fast. It's also worth noting that it seems to have higher random speeds in exchange for that, so you win some, you lose some.

It's also worth pointing out that this is one of the first PCs to come with Wi-Fi 7 support, and internet seems pretty fast overall through my 1Gbps Wi-Fi 6 connection. Most people probably still don't have Wi-Fi 7 in their homes, so this is future-proofing you, too.

Should you buy the Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti?

I have no problem recommending the Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti if you're looking for a mini PC and don't have to worry about it being slightly larger than usual. It's comparable to a Mac Mini in terms of size, but considering the hardware it includes, like the screen, webcam with facial recognition, and a ton of ports, I think the larger size is perfectly justified.

This has pretty much become my favorite mini PC, and my favorite computer in general. At MSRP, it's a bit pricy, but considering I'm seeing it discounted more often than not, I'd say it's definitely worth the price of admission.

You should buy the AtomMan X7 Ti if:

• You want a mini PC that's still powerful
• You want high-speed connectivity, including dual 5Gbps Ethernet and Wi-Fi 7
• You value things like Windows Hello being built-in

You shouldn't buy the AtomMan X7 Ti if:

• You want the smallest possible mini PC and don't care for the extra features