Petite yet powerful, the Beelink GTR7 Mini PC brings to your living room or business the power of a PC multiple times its size. And while diminutive desktops have traditionally attracted a very specific class of customers and niche use cases, the new power budget of options like this have started to change the narrative for good.
This Mini PC, whole not the most powerful we’ve reviewed, punches well above its size class – with an AMD Ryzen 7 3750H CPU, 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD boot drive – walking that fine between bulk and brawn with finesse. Among mini-PCs, it’s in a class by itself if you need both a serious general productivity workhorse and exceptionally flexible display output in a PC that’s barely there.
Just mind the total cost of components and OS if you’re thinking of going the kit route, meaning you’ll save hundreds of dollars by just buying the GTR7 Mini PC, or even the Apple Mac Mini. All said, the Beelink GTR7 easily rates an Editors’ Choice award as one of the best pint-sized PCs on shelves today.
Beelink GTR7 Specs
Here is the Beelink GTR7 Mini PC configuration in this review:
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3750H up to 4GHz
- Graphics/GPU: Radeon Vega 10 Graphics
- RAM: DDR4 16GB
- Storage: 512GB SSD
- Wireless LAN: WiFi 6 (802.11ax) Bluetooth 5.0
- Fingerprint Login
- Intelligent assistant voice interaction
A Petite Powerhouse
The Beelink GTR7 Mini PC is slightly smaller than competing NUC designs, with a boxy mini tower that straddles the line between Mini PCs and small form factor desktops – much like we saw in last year’s Beelink GTR Mini PC. With grills on both sides of the compact chassis, this 6.6 x 5.1 x 1.5 inches desktop is made for performance.
As designed, the Beelink GTR7 seems less like the company’s take on the Apple Mac Mini – which is what defined many of the early NUC designs – and instead looks more like an attempt to wed the mini-PC concept with the most extreme small form factor systems. The result is a capable workstation class desktop crammed into the very least of physical space, offering more power per cubic inch than any other desktop we’ve seen.
On the Beelink GTR7 Mini PC, you’ll find a good number of ports. A total of 6 USB 3.0 ports and one USB Type-C slot offer plenty of connectivity for peripherals, as well as two HDMI ports and one DisplayPort for multi-monitor setup. That means you can have upto four monitors connected to this Mini PC, a handy tool for corporate signage.
Wireless capability is also built in with Wi-Fi 6 (802.11AX), in addition to a pair of Ethernet ports around the back of the system. Others include an audio jack, dual-mic ports on the front as well as a fingerprint reader on the front-top that allows for secure logins.
A Top Performer, in a Small Package
Our review unit comes equipped with an AMD Ryzen 7 3750H, a laptop-grade CPU made to provide fluent multitasking and speedy performance in a tiny package. With 16GB of RAM and a 512GB solid state drive, the Beelink GTR7 Mini PC is surprisingly nimble. Of course, larger desktops towers in the same price range, like the Dell Inspiron 3880 or the HP Envy TE01-1022 offer more muscular processing options, but none will do it in the cramped environs that the GTR7 Mini PC is made of.
The Beelink Mini PC can copy a 4.97GB folder in 6.9 seconds, translating to transfer speeds of 737.39 MBps. Compared to a stick PC like the Azulle Access3 (27.81 MBps), or even an office Mini PC like the Lenovo ThinkCentre M710q Tiny (169 MBps), the GTR7 Mini PC is a speed demon. But when stacked against any outrightly powerful Mini PCs, such as the 2020 Apple Mac Mini with Apple M1 Chip (2,894 MBps) or the Intel NUC 11 NUC11PAHi7 (1,018 MBps), and it falls short.
That said, by simply hitting the sweet spot between design and performance makes the Beelink GTR7 well-suited to all sorts of office applications, home entertainment and pretty everything else, and more than fast enough to get you through your work day.
With only Radeon RX Vega 10 Graphics to rely on for rendering capabilities, the Beelink GTR7 is a far cry from a graphics powerhouse. At the end of the day, this is a tiny mini-PC designed for office functions, like e-mail, PowerPoint presentation, corporate signage or home entertainment. And for those tasks, it’s well-suited.
Verdict: A Mini Powerhouse Without a Fuss
While there’s nothing exactly revolutionary happening in the Beelink GTR7, it’s more about refinement this time round, adding new features, and we’re perfectly okay with that.
If you’re looking for a styling way to power some digital signage on upto four screens or just want a peppy desktop that won’t take much of your working space, the Beelink Mini PC is an aggressively priced entry into a small but popular market for both enterprise and professional customers.
As for professional applications, this is a unique Mini PC that suits both roles necessary in the world of cutting-edge advertisements and corporate event experiences: power and stealth.
No matter what your preferred use case, this Mini PC is capable jack of all trades. Sure, it won’t add up to the raw power of a true desktop gaming PC, but for those whose primary concern is discretion, with productivity power in a close second, this Beelink GTR7 Mini PC should be at the top of your shopping list.
Our Pick
