INTRODUCTION

   Portability is something many consumers and professionals all over the world place much weight on and even though i was never into Mini PCs I’ve always understood why many others are. I did try to test/review a few extremely compact Mini PCs like 10 years ago but i was so seriously disappointed by their performance that i simply decided to pass them by. Today however things seem to have changed and thanks to both AMD and Intel Mini PCs now pack quite a punch and are ideal for home and office use and in some cases even for "light" 1080p (Full HD) gaming. The very popular AMR5 Mini Gaming PC by Ace Magician is one such model and it's been in the lab for almost over a month now.

   Ace Magician is a leading provider of personal consumer microelectronics, specializing in miniature personal computer devices in an effort to make technology more accessible and convenient. Founded in 2013 by a group of tech enthusiasts inspired by the "Magician Impossible" series, the company's brand slogan, "Mini Space, Big World," reflects their mission to bring the magic of technology to everyone. Their passion for empowering individuals and businesses with powerful mini-PCs that unleash maximum computing power in a compact form factor enables them to work and create from anywhere. Through innovation and dedication to efficient computing, Ace Magician is committed to helping people achieve more with limited space and resources. For more information, please visit: www.acemagicians.com

   The Ace Magician AMR5 comes with Windows 11 Pro inside, was first announced on a Kickstarter campaign (a rather successful one since it raised over 34k USD) well over a year ago and was marketed as "The First Mini PC with Three Operation Modes". Since then, however Ace Magician has changed its hardware configuration so although back then the AMR5 was equipped with the Ryzen 5 4500U (6C/6T), up to 32GB SODIMM DDR4 RAM (2x16GB - expandable to 64GB) and either an 256GB or an 512GB M.2 SSD (up to 2TB supported for each of the two available slots) today it can be equipped with either the Ryzen 5 5800U (8C/16T) or the Ryzen 5600U (6C/12T), 16GB SODIMM DDR4 RAM and an 512GB M.2 SSD. Needless to say, the integrated Radeon graphics featured in these CPUs (8-core for the 5800U and 7-core for the 5600U) are not meant for serious gaming (not really) but they can still produce decent frame rates in light, non-demanding games. Ace Magician has also equipped the AMR5 with a operation mode dial (silent/auto/performance), detachable magnetic side panel, 4 USB 3.2 Gen1 ports (5Gbps), USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C port (10Gbps), 3.5mm audio out, Wi-Fi 6/BT 5.0 connectivity, Gigabit Ethernet port (RJ45), HDMI v2.0 port, DP v1.2 port and RGB lighting (can be controlled via their own software). So, let's see what the AMR5 by Ace Magician is really capable of.