The Taiwanese company Geekom specializes in miniature computers. The Geekom Mini Air 11 is one of the cheapest models from the manufacturer: it costs 300 dollars, and with discount campaigns on Amazon, it even goes from around 200 dollars over the counter. And at this rate, the Mini Air 11 is a really great deal.
The power is enough for office, nothing for gamers
Clear thing: For the price of the Geekom, buyers should not expect high-quality components. It starts with the processor. A Celeron N5095 is in the Mini Air 11. It comes from a simpler processor series from Intel (Jasper Lake) and therefore has to make do with four cores. Nevertheless, it shows that even a small chip has power, just not for all tasks. Thanks to 8 gigabytes of working memory (RAM), you can even work fairly quickly with Office programs . The Celeron only runs out of air with performance-hungry software for photo and video editing, such as Photoshop. Because make stronger processorsfrom Intel’s Core or AMD’s Ryzen series are significantly more fun, but then they are also quite a bit more expensive. The current test winner among the mini PCs, the CSL X300, costs 600 dollars, for example.
Play? A round of “Mahjongg” or “Solitaire” is always possible, but the Mini Air 11 is much too slow for graphically complex games. This is due to the processor’s integrated graphics unit (Intel UHD Graphics), which is designed for office work. In the test, it calculated a meager two frames per second in Full HD (1920×1080 pixels), and even just one frame per second in 4K. So gamers are better off avoiding the Geekom and looking for a gaming PC. The Geekom is also not designed for large amounts of data. The built-in SSD is not particularly fast, but it is completely sufficient for use with office programs. Only those who want to transfer tens of gigabytes from an external SSD will have to wait a little longer, because here we were in the test maximum 223 megabytes per second in it.
Gear up? That only works with storage!
The Geekom Mini Air 11 is very well equipped for the price: not every mini PC in this price range offers 8 gigabytes of RAM, and an SSD with 238 gigabytes of usable storage space is not a matter of course. Many very cheap mini PCs are satisfied with 4 gigabytes of RAM and 128 gigabyte SSD. The RAM of the Mini Air 11 can be expanded to a maximum of 16 gigabytes, the SSD can be exchanged for a larger model with NVMe technology. They are available with twice the size (512 gigabytes) from around 30 dollars, with four times the size (1 TB) from around 55 dollars. With the Mini Air 11, a slightly slower, but cheaper SSD with PCIe 3.0 technology can do that be, because the mini PC does not use the extreme speed of top SSDs like the current test winner Samsung SSD 980 with PCIe 4.0 technology anyway.
The Mini Air 11 is extremely small with a footprint of around 11×11 centimeters and just under 4 centimeters in height. This saves space on the desk, but also ensures that the connections are distributed on all four sides of the mini PC (see image above). There are two USB ports at the front, three more USB ports at the back and the remaining ports for the monitor and network. The Geekom also connects to the home network via WLAN-ac. It’s not the latest technology, but it’s fast enough for surfing the Internet. There is also a card reader for SD cards and a slot for a Kensington lock on the sides of the case (see image below). The Mini also requires some space under the desk for the external 65-watt power supply.
Whisper quiet and economical
An advantage of the small processor: It consumes very little power. The chip can consume a maximum of 15 watts, the mini-PC consumes only 24 watts even under full load. This has two advantages: The electricity costs are hardly noticeable despite the significantly higher prices – a few extra dollars a year are enough. And low power consumption means little waste heat – the fan only has to fan a gentle breeze through the mini PC to cool the components. This makes it run very quietly. In normal operation it is just 0.1 sone. You have to put your ear to the mini PC to hear the fan at all. And even when the Geekom gives it its all, it remains extremely quiet at 0.2 sone.
Geekom Mini Air 11 Specification
| processor | Intel Celeron N5095 |
| graphics chip | Intel UHD Graphics |
| Dimensions | 11.7 x 11.2 x 3.8cm |
| TEMPO | |
| Office and web application speed / video, photo and 3D edits | somewhat low (50.2%) / low (31.7%) |
| Game speed Full HD / 4K (frames per second, FPS for short) | too jerky (2 FPS) / too jerky (1 FPS) |
| Tempo of the built-in data storage | very slow (39.9%) |
| Maximum USB speed on mini PC / on external SSD (connector) | 222.6 / 171.5 MB per second (USB-A 3.2 Gen. 2) |
| FURNISHING | |
| RAM (built-in / expandable to maximum) | little: 8 GB (1x 8 GB) / 16 GB (2x 8 GB) |
| SSD Storage / Hard Drive Storage | little (238 GB, SSD-NVMe, SX Micro) / – |
| Free Extensions / Power Supply (Performance) | none / 65W |
| Connections and data connections in front | 1x microphone, 1x headphones (combo jack) / 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen. 1, 1x USB-A 3.2 Gen. 2 |
| Connections and data connections at the back | 1x network (1 Gbit) /1x USB-C 3.2 Gen. 2, 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen. 1 |
| WiFi / Bluetooth | Wifi 5 (ac) / version 4.2 |
| memory card reader | present (SD) |
| Included programs (without trial versions) | Windows 11 Pro |
| VOLUME AND POWER CONSUMPTION | |
| Operating noise (when working / under full load) | very quiet (0.1 sone) / very quiet (0.2 sone) |
| Power consumption in normal application operation / maximum / in the annual mix (at 33 cents per kWh) | 14 watts / 24 watts / 21 KW/h (7 €) |
| SERVICE | |
| Quality and operation of the keyboard / keyboard lighting / standard layout / navigation keys standard size / connection | not included |
| Quality and operation of the mouse / scrolling / additional buttons / connector | not included |
| Biometric access locks | unavailable |
Input devices are extra
Typical Mini-PC: Geekom does not supply a keyboard or mouse. That means either continuing to use the old input devices or buying new ones, preferably as a keyboard-mouse set. This is often cheaper. Good models like the Microsoft Bluetooth Desktop are available for around 45 dollars.
The Cherry DW5100 set is even cheaper for just under 30 dollars. And if you want a mini keyboard without a number pad and extra navigation keys to go with the mini PC, you can simply grab the Rapoo 8000M for around 20 dollars. Software is also hardly included, after all, Windows 11 is one of them. This is also not a matter of course with mini PCs, cheap models are often sold without an operating system.
