My problem with mini-PCs is that when I see them listed online, they always look like a great deal, with great specs that pack the latest mobile processing into a petite form factor, but the next thing you know, they're barebone units. Sure, it's got a great chassis and micro-motherboard connections, but if you have to buy your own RAM, SSD, Windows license, etc., the value is a bit tarnished.

And to be honest, the Geekom A7 mini PC's $799 price tag seems a bit pricey considering the kinds of gaming PCs you can get for the same price. For this price, you get a full RTX 4060-based gaming rig. However, a closer look reveals that it has 32GB of DDR5-5600 memory and a 2TB SSD.

Look even closer, and you'll see that the little box comes with a PC Gamer discount code for an additional $120 off the Geekom A7's list price, and with an 8-core, 16-thread CPU at its heart, it delivers not only impressive 1080p gaming, but serious productivity as well.

The Ryzen 9 7940HS is a great mobile chip. Sure, it's not a flashy chiplet like the Zen 4 for desktops, but it's still the best AMD laptop APU of the past generation. It also has a full Radeon 780M integrated GPU, so with such fast RAM, it can really show its stuff in gaming.

In addition to the 2TB Gen4 SSD, it also has a Wi-Fi 6E connection (if your router is OK) and a USB4 connection. So, if you pack an external GPU, you can turn it into a very high performance gaming PC.

For $679, you get a functional, high-performance mini-PC packed with all the high-tech features you'd expect in a small form factor machine. And it really is a small form factor.