It's been about twenty years ago since I was playing games on a huge computer, rushing home after school. Not just the monitor I used was huge, but also the PC itself; a white box about the size of a pillow (making lots of noise as well...) Rigs have improved and become prettier and smaller - especially with the advent of mini-PCs. But choosing a mini-PC always seemed a sacrifice of performance, a little box overheating as soon as you load a game or software like Photoshop. But are those days over? Let's look at what this company with the funky name of AceMagician has to offer to us with their latest machines.
A new player on the market
AceMagician is one of many young companies entering the industry with a very fresh approach. Instead of just marginally improving on what others are doing, they start with what's technically possible now, and use that to build very exciting computers.
It's a kind of "young" mindset with which AceMagician is hoping to appeal to young gamers / young professionals as well. And they're doing that with some success already. They crowdfunded the ACE AMR5 - a stunning mini-PC the size of a coke can) on Indiegogo & Kickstarter earlier this year with numerous backers. Even though it's a slightly unknown product compared to more established brands, reviews have been amazing.
The new TK11-A0: Not just for gamers
So they're back with a new mini-PC, this time the TK11-A0. They dropped the RGB lightning effects from the AMR5 and the design isn't as sci-fi either. In fact, I'd say this mini-PC is a bit more all-round, not just perfect for gamers but anyone looking for a high-performance mini-PC.
The TK11-A0 is a beautiful machine, here sitting on my desk. It's like a polished slab of black marble. It's unbelievably small and lightweight, and quiet as well - no matter how hard I'm pushing it.
The inside packaging is done extremely well. The cooling is done cleverly on the full top edge of the product, with air coming from all four corners, and being pushed out to the back. Copper parts help to optimize heat transfer, as well as a very silent cooling fan.
On the front, it has an audio jack, Thunderbolt 4 port, two normal-size USB plugs, and a USB-C one. (I've used the audio jack for my headphone, and the two USB plugs for my keyboard & mouse - sometimes I'm charging my phone on the USB-C.) On the back you'll find two more USB plugs, a HDMI, Display Port, as well as a port for an Ethernet cable and a DC Jack.
If you prefer not to use cables, it's good to know the TK11-A0 also supports Wi-Fi (6) and Bluetooth (5.2).
But here comes the crazy part. The TK11-A0) is already extremely tiny, but its top surface it has a built-in fingerprint scanner to make passwords more secure but convenient at the same time. And on the bottom is a built-in speaker! Don't expect the speaker to be loud enough to fill a huge space, but for your personal gaming experience, it does a really great job and further cleans up your desk by you not having to buy a speaker set. The sound is clean and crisp.
The performance
We haven't really touched on perhaps the most important part yet, the performance. The machine runs with a preinstalled & licensed version of Windows 11 Pro and can support up to three screens. Which again is useful for both gaming as well as applications like Photoshop. It also supports 8K resolution, which more & more media companies are now supporting.
Inside is an 11th Gen Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor with 4 Cores and 8 Threads, with 8MB Intel Smart Cache, up to 4.20GHz. For the GPU, it uses an Intel Iris Xe Graphics (1.30 GHz). Then there's a whopping RAM-memory of 16GB of DDR4. The only choice you may have to make is on how much ROM memory you'd like: 256GB or 512GB.
For me, two monitors are enough but the TK11-A0 supports up to three monitors. This shouldn't be possible on this mini-PC but somehow here we are. All ports support 60Hz but HDMI is limited to 4K, if you want 8K you'll have to use the USB-C and/or Display Port.
Final thoughts
I was never a fan of mini-PCs because the performance could never match a real gaming PC, but like laptops, they've caught up. For me, the space requirement was never that important, but I no longer live in my parent's huge house in a tiny town, but rather in a tiny apartment in Amsterdam, so keeping my space tidy is a challenge.
It's not just for gamers. This is perfect for people working from home (which has become the new normal now), as well as in classrooms, meeting rooms, or in living rooms where it can replace a TV and a gaming console.
For this, the TK11-A0 is amazing. I have already fallen in love with this machine, and not just me - I see many reviews on YouTube and Amazon which are very positive about it.
So if you're - like me - curious or impressed by AceMagician, check out their website or follow them on social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest. And check out the Amazon link to learn more details about TK11-A0.
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of techtimes.com
