Minisforum AtomMan G1 Pro

Pros

Quite compact for a desktop
Great 1080p gaming performance
Some upgradeability
Fast networking
Integrated power supply

Cons

Somewhat large for a mini PC
Defaults leave lots of performance on the table
Will gather dust
Limited port selection

The Minisforum AtomMan G1 Pro is an exciting PC. At least on paper. It is extraordinarily compact for a desktop gaming PC, though still much larger than some of Minisforum's other offerings. It uses that extra size to its advantage, offering a larger CPU cooler, integrated power supply and a desktop-sized graphics card (kinda, since it is a tiny one that likely will be near-impossible to find if upgrading in the future). This all helps it deliver ample performance for everyday computing and strong, triple-digit performance for 1080p gaming.

It is not quite a surefire pick, though. Plenty of laptops, like the Lenovo Legion 5i Gen 10, can keep pace even with their laptop-class GPUs. They will also be more versatile since they are properly portable. Normal desktops do not come with the mini PC price premium either, so you will be able to find more powerful, better-equipped options like the Lenovo Legion Tower 5 Gen 10 at competitive prices compared to the AtomMan G1 Pro. Those bigger desktops will also be much easier to upgrade down the line. This puts the G1 Pro into a niche, where it might work for those who need a computer that conforms to a small space but do not want to go for a laptop.

The Minisforum AtomMan G1 Pro comes in two configurations. The first is a barebones option with no installed memory, storage or operating system for $1,299. It does include an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX CPU, RTX 5060 graphics card and other hardware components. The second configuration is a fully prepared build with 32 gigabytes of DDR5-5200 memory on SO-DIMMs, a 1-terabyte PCIe Gen 4x4 solid-state drive for storage and Windows 11 Pro installed for $1,799.

Not quite using its size to its advantage

The AtomMan G1 Pro brings plenty of performance to the table. It may not be leading the market since it is running a laptop-class processor and a lower-end GPU, but it still manages some surprises.

Having a ton of CPU cores certainly helps out the G1 Pro. With 16 cores that all support multithreading, the Minisforum AtomMan G1 Pro manages to outpace even a desktop-class AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D as tested in the Lenovo Legion Tower 5 Gen 10 in the Cinebench R24 benchmark. However, it still falls behind competing systems running Intel processors, even dating back to the Intel Core i7-14700HX as tested in the Lenovo Legion 5i Gen 10.

Even without raw CPU horsepower, the G1 Pro is a competent machine for general computing. It managed a staggering 9,066 points in the holistic PCMark 10 benchmark, a lofty height usually reserved for top-tier gaming PCs. This indicates that the Minisforum AtomMan G1 Pro will more than make do for most work. But how about play?

While the AtomMan G1 Pro may be running a laptop-class CPU, it has a desktop GPU. So one might expect a step up in performance compared to gaming laptops running similar hardware. That just does not happen, at least not without some tweaks. The Minisforum AtomMan G1 Pro consistently performs in line with some of its RTX 5060-powered laptop contemporaries like the HP Omen 16 and Lenovo LOQ 15. It lags behind more beastly models like the Lenovo Legion 5i Gen 10 by a sizable margin. Even next to its generation-old sibling, the Minisforum AtomMan G7 Ti, with a mobile RTX 4070, which has a much thinner design, the G1 Pro falls well behind (and that likely gets worse next to the refreshed RTX 5070 version). That said, Minisforum's own Gaming Mode performance plan appears largely to blame.

After changing to the PC's Beast Mode for some extra testing, I saw the G1 Pro leap in performance by almost 20% in 3DMark's Time Spy, by 38% in 3DMark's Steel Nomad and 26% in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. These bumps were enough to bring it back in line or even ahead of the AtomMan G7 Ti and Legion 5i Gen 10. Oddly, it is not as though the Beast Mode has major compromises. It is not much louder than Gaming Mode fan-wise, and sustained its speed well, passing 3DMark's Steel Nomad stress test.

Keeping up with laptops and thinner mini PCs is not necessarily a grand achievement. Also, the AtomMan G1 Pro is not just competing with similarly equipped laptops and mini PCs. Going compact comes at a premium, and when looking at price, the G1 Pro falls in the range of some larger systems that bring even more to the table. The $2,380 Dell Tower Plus EBT2250 (27.5 liters) and $2,100 Lenovo Legion Tower 5 Gen 10 (42.7 liters), for example, both offer desktop RTX 5070 graphics, which gives them a massive advantage in graphical performance well beyond the increased price. From a pure performance-per-dollar standpoint, that holds the Minisforum AtomMan G1 Pro back.

A software oddity

We test systems in their default settings, and the G1 Pro defaulted to Gaming Mode in my testing. One might think would provide the best gaming performance but, looking at the results, that clearly was not the case. The system's Beast Mode was a click away and brought meaningful gains without questionable overclocking. But these kinds of software fixes rely on you knowing they exist in the first place. They also have to be reliable, which brings us to the issue at hand.

A few days after benchmarking the system, while using the computer normally, Windows Defender had a flag. It alerted me to a dangerous file on the computer called Winring0. As PCWorld explains it, this is a vulnerable driver integrated into a lot of hardware monitoring and customizing software (fan speeds, RGB lights and the like). In this case, it appears to have been in Minisforum's software, as the driver lived in a Minisforum folder on the PC. Since the driver is vulnerable to attacks, Windows Defender automatically locked down the file.

What all this did to Minisforum's software is unclear. It can still monitor fan speeds and adjust system lighting. Performance profiles seemed affected, however. After the removal of the questionable file, all performance profiles appeared to run at full speed, performing at Beast Mode levels regardless of which mode was selected.

All this to say, while it is alarming to see an unpatched vulnerability like this in Minisforum's software, it at least does not appear linked to any degradation of performance.

A little bit desktop, a little bit mini PC

Minisforum is no stranger to small PCs, but next to the AI X1 Pro and AtomMan G7 Ti I tested last year, the G1 Pro is a different animal. It is much larger than those, though it still sits at a tame 3.85 liters with a chassis that is just 12.4 by 8.5 by 2.2 inches. This is closer in form to game consoles, though even then it is a little smaller.

The white plastic frame wrapping around a black core gives off PlayStation 5 vibes, even in the way the frame curves down around the front. The geometry is a lot more tame than the PS5, but a pair of RGB light bars on the front add some flair. The G1 Pro includes a small stand for holding it vertically, and that seems to be the intended orientation. Setting it on its side, at least in a way that would leave its vents unobstructed, orients its logos upside down.

The inside of the system benefits from the extra space compared to smaller Minisforum PCs. Even though the G1 Pro has a laptop CPU, it gets a thick cooler. The system does not rely on an external power brick, instead integrating its power supply. It also gets a desktop graphics card in a PCIe 4.0 x16 slot. That said, this desktop graphics card (a three-fan Gigabyte model) is probably not what you are picturing. Rather, it is a diminutive version that takes up a fraction of the space of even your typical one-fan card. With that in mind, options to upgrade to a new graphics card down the line will be severely limited by this size restriction.

There are some more feasible upgrade options, however. There are two M.2 slots, though they are buried beneath power supply cabling. The memory is not soldered on, so it can be expanded after purchase, but accessing the memory slots requires removing the CPU cooler.

The system has two large intake grilles on the left side to pull air into the CPU cooler, power supply and graphics card. The grille is not filtered in any meaningful way, though, so expect dust to build up quickly and plan on regular cleanings. The air exhausts out of extensive venting on the top and back of the chassis, which leaves little room for the kind of port quantity you might expect from a desktop.

Even with the fans running hard, the system is quiet. It is not dead silent, but its fans are hushed. The power supply fan adds a bit of racket with a dull clicky sound at a higher frequency than the whir of the fans and flow of air, sounding a bit like a cricket. Even that is quiet enough to drown out with speakers or headphones. The kit also includes a power cable, an HDMI cable and a heat shield for use with any extra M.2 drives you might put into the system.

The connectivity of the system is mixed. The front includes a conveniently placed headset jack. For networking, it is strong enough with both Wi-Fi 7 and 5GbE, so fast internet speeds are possible. It does not impress with its USB connections, however. The front includes one USB-A and one USB-C port, while the rear has two USB-A and one more USB-C port. Disappointingly, all of them top out at 10Gbps - no 20Gbps or USB4 ports and no video output over USB-C. With such modest USB connectivity, the display connections feel like overkill. The motherboard has one HDMI 2.1 out while the graphics card offers a second alongside three DisplayPort connections (two 2.1b and one 1.4a).

So, overall, the AtomMan G1 Pro performs decently well for the size, but that compact size increases the price and decreases the upgradability.