Geekom IT8 Mini Workstation PC Review

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Two-minute review

This is the first time we learn about Geekom, an up-and-coming brand looking to make a splash with two products: the oddly-named Bookfun laptop, a price tag of $1,999 mobile workstation with a Core i7-11800H, Windows 11 Pro and an RTX3070 and the most anonymous IT8 minicomputerwhich is the subject of this review.

Geekom has done a great job of producing a small workstation computer which offers excellent value for money in a very small form factor; it comes with Windows 11 Pro out of the box with plenty of ports and can drive a quartet of monitors. It works reasonably well for what it costs and while there are a few issues, they are minor. That said, offering professional-grade aftermarket like some of its much larger rivals is something Geekom won’t be able to match.

Device base

(Image credit: future)

Design

The IT8 looks like one of many Intel NUC mini PCs that have appeared over the past decade. At 117 x 112 x 48mm, that’s almost the size of the NUC 11 Performance Mini PC, so much so that you’d be far wrong (note: makes us wonder if they share common DNA).

Side view

(Image credit: future)

Geekom’s mini PC surprises with its weight; it feels and looks heavy (it weighs almost 600g). The top is made of shiny plastic, so prone to greasy fingerprints and hair marks. The rest of the body is solid metal with two grilles on the side to help airflow (and cool the 28W processor inside).

Rear ports

(Image credit: future)

Despite its very compact appearance, the IT8 has nearly a dozen ports and connectors: three USB 3.2 Gen2 Type A ports, two USB Type-C connectors, a Gigabit Ethernet port, a headphone jack, an SD card slot, an HDMI connector and a mini DP one. The power connector is a barrel-style design and is powered by a 90 W (19 V, 4.74 A) brick-style power supply unit.

Price and availability

the Computer Geekom IT8 that we reviewed sells for $499 straight with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. The cheapest SKU has half the memory and half the storage capacity and is priced at just $399. By comparison, Dell has a desktop PC (the Inspiron 3891) powered by a Core i5-10400 processor for the same price but with half the memory and storage capacity. Plus, it’s much, much bigger in terms of size. On the other hand, the TRIGKEY Speed ​​S is a more serious rival selling for $430 at Banggood with Windows 10 Pro rather than Windows 11 Pro.

Front ports

(Image credit: future)

Equipment

Technical sheet

Here are the full specs of the Geekom IT8 setup sent to TechRadar Pro for review:

CPU: Intel Core i5-8259U

Graphic: Iris Plus 655

RAM: 16 GB DDR4

Storage room: 512 GB SSD (Kingston OM8PDP3512B-A01)

Ports: 3 x USB 3.2 Gen 2, 2 x USB Type-C, 1 x HDMI, 1 x Mini DisplayPort, 1 x Gigabit Ethernet, SD card reader, audio jack

Connectivity: Intel AC-7265, WiFi 5, Bluetooth 4.2

Weight: 565g

Cut: 117 x 112 x 48mm (H x W x D)

The IT8 is powered by the Intel Core i5-8259U processor, a popular mid-range processor that has made its way into a number of products from, shall we say, challenger brands. the Teclast TBolt 20 Pro (a business laptop), the GMK NucBox 2 and the Miniforum U850, all had that 4-year-old processor at their core. There are a few good reasons why this model is so popular. It has a powerful graphics processor, the Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655, which is a cut above anything you’ll typically find in this price range. Add in four cores (with eight threads in all), a fairly high CPU base speed, and a turbo frequency of 3.8 GHz and you have all the makings of a really good CPU rig.

The processor is paired with a 512GB SSD (Kingston OM8PDP3512B-A01), an entry-level PCIe Gen3 NVMe SSD along with 16GB DDR4 memory in dual-channel configuration which should give an extra boost to the device. Connectivity is handled by an Intel Wireless AC-7265 card which only supports Bluetooth 4.2 and Wi-Fi 5, which is somewhat disappointing.

Performance and use

Landmarks

Here’s how the Geekom IT8 fared in our benchmark test suite:

Average: 3291

Passmark Processor: 6918

CPU-Z: 426 (single wire); 2155 (multi-threaded)

Geek Bench: 940 (single-core); 3668 (multi-core); 7787 (calculation)

CrystalDiskMark: 2537 Mbps (read); 1216 MB/s (write)

Cinebench: 942 (single processor); 3964 (multiprocessor)

Novabench: 1575

Attack: 2910 MB/s (read, 256 MB); 2770 MB/s (write, 256 MB)

Windows Experience Index: 8.1

The Geekom IT8 comes with Windows 11 Pro, which in itself is a bit of a surprise given the SRP of the latest version of Windows Pro. Along with VESA support, the mini PC also has a spare 2.5-inch SATA bay that can accommodate a compatible SSD and HDD. As expected, there is no bloatware that could hamper startup performance.

Test-wise, the IT8 held its own against newer competitors like the Core i5-10210U with Geekbench scores that put it just behind the latter. As a workstation or business PC, its performance will be more than adequate thanks to its above-average storage subsystem speeds (it hit 2.7GB/s/2.9GB/s in the benchmark ATTO). Its fan didn’t run too loudly even under load, nor was it too hot to the touch.

SD card reader

(Image credit: future)

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