CONCLUSION

    AOOSTAR is not a name I was familiar with even 3 months ago so the GEM 10 is actually the very first product I received from them and well, I seriously doubt it could had been any better. Performance is excellent across the board (CPU/GPU/SSD - you can even play Forza Horizon 5 at FullHD with high settings), power consumption and noise levels are well within acceptable levels and as features and connectivity nothing is really missing. For reasons unknown the AX200 Wi-Fi/BT card by Intel acted up during my tests (modem is 5m away and yet signal strength was very low even at maximum – perhaps I messed up the antenna when I opened the enclosure) but other than that the GEM 10 passed my tests with flying colors. Unfortunately, the OCuLink board AOOSTAR was going to send over so I could also do such tests didn’t arrive in time so I can’t really comment on OCuLink performance but when it does, I will be sure to update my tests for anyone interested. One thing I need to point out is that AOOSTAR allows you to change the power mode via the BIOS and not through Windows 11 Pro. You can manually set every setting inside Windows 11 Pro to get the same results, so you don’t really need to get into the BIOS but for people who don’t know how to change those settings the BIOS option is quicker.

    The GEM 10 version by AOOSTAR which I reviewed today (AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS/Radeon 780M/32GB LPDDR5/512GB PCIe 4.0 Gen4 SSD) retails for USD579/531Euros a price tag which is normal for what you’re getting in return. Honestly if I was to nitpick, I’d probably point out that the GEM 10 lacks A/RGB lighting, replaceable RAM and a DP port, but I really have nothing bad to say about it and since it delivers on everything I could ask from a mini PC (at this point in time) it deserves the Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Impressive Performance (Ryzen 9 7940HS / Radeon 780M / 32GB LPDDR5 / M.2 PCIe 4.0 Gen4 SSD)
- Compact Size
- 3 BIOS Power Modes (Power Saver/Balanced/Performance)
- 3 M.2 PCIe 4.0 Slots
- Wired Connectivity (OCuLink / 2xHDMI v2.1 / 4xUSB 3.2 Gen2 / USB 4.0 TypeC / 2x2.5G LAN)
- Intel AX200 Network Card (WiFi6 / BT 5.2)
- Power Consumption / Noise Levels

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- Fixed RAM