Geekom GT1 Mega review: A very capable mini PC that lacks a wow factor

Geekom is no stranger to making great mini PCs, and the GT1 Mega is the first to feature Intel’s Core Ultra Series 1 processors. That alone makes this an exciting PC, and that’s about it. This is a pretty standard Geekom mini PC, which is to say it’s a great one, but it’s not doing anything to break the mold.

I like the Geekom GT1 Mega. My unit comes with the fastest processor available, so performance is fantastic, and it’s got a premium-feeling design. I did have a couple of small issues, but overall, this is a great PC. There just isn’t much more I can say about it.

About this review: Geekom sent us the GT1 Mega for the purposes of this review. The company had no input in its contents.

Solid mini PC

Geekom GT1 Mega

A little large, but very capable

$849 $999 Save $150

With powerful Intel Core Ultra processors, a premium design, and a ton of ports, the Geekom GT1 Mega is a great mini PC for any office that requires a fast computer. It’s somewhat large for a mini PC, though.

Pros

• Intel Core Ultra processors are still pretty fast
• Premium-feeling and sleek chassis
• It has a ton of ports

Cons

• It’s bigger than I’d like for a mini PC
• Intel Core Ultra Series 1 isn’t the latest and greatest anymore
• A couple issues with USB-C

Geekom GT1 Mega pricing and availability

The Geekom GT1 Mega was launched in September 2024, and it’s available through Geekom’s website as well as Amazon.

According to Geekom’s official website, it starts at $999 for the base model with an Intel Core Ultra 7, or $1,099 for the Core Ultra 9 version, which is what I got for review. However, pricing currently starts at $849 on Geekom’s website or $799 on Amazon.

What I like

It’s very fast

Geekom sent me the high-end version of the GT1 Mega, packing an Intel Cure Ultra 9 185H, 32GB of RAM, and a 2TB SSD. This is a pretty high-end machine, and as you’d expect, it performs excellently. I never had any performance struggles with it during my usual workloads, juggling multiple browser tabs across different windows, running Beeper and Slack, using the Clock app to track focus sessions, and occasionally running Photoshop and Lightroom to edit photos. It all worked flawlessly.

To put some numbers to that, I ran the usual set of benchmarks, so here’s what it looks like:

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The scores here are certainly good, though maybe not as high as you’d expect, comparing against the Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti. It seems like the GT1 Mega struggles with more demanding continuous workloads such as in Cinebench 2024, where the multi-core scores were actually closer to the Core Ultra 7. I did notice the computer spins up the fan more than others, so maybe the cooling system isn’t as effective as it could be. Still, it’s a very fast computer across the board.

It feels premium

One thing I appreciate about the GT1 Mega is that it feels very premium, which isn’t always a guarantee with mini PCs. This computer is almost all metal, and it looks and feels great. In contrast, I just reviewed the Asus NUC 14 Pro, and that one has a mostly plastic chassis, which can feel a bit cheap.

Looks-wise, it’s very subdued, which makes it great for an office environment, even if I like PCs to have a little more personality. This looks like many other Geekom mini PCs, like the Geekom A8 I reviewed a while back, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

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There are a lot of ports

One area where Geekom’s mini PCs tend to excel is ports and connectivity, and that’s certainly the case here. This is on the larger side of mini PCs, and Geekom makes use of the space by packing in plenty of ports. There are two USB4 40Gbps ports (not certified for Thunderbolt 4, however), two USB Type-A ports, two HDMI 2.0 ports, and two 2.5Gbps Ethernet ports on the back, which is already a lot. Having two Ethernet ports is something I’m sure some will appreciate, though it’s not something I’ll ever need.

On the front, you get four more USB Type-A ports, all with 10Gbps speeds, plus a headphone jack. There’s even a full-size SD card reader on the side, too. It’s hard to ask for much more than this in terms of ports on a small machine like this.

What I don’t like

It’s pretty large for a mini PC

Anyone who follows my work knows I absolutely love mini PCs, and it’s mostly because of how much space it can save and how it simplifies my desk setup. For the most part, the Geekom GT1 Mega still follows that, but it’s also one of the biggest mini PCs I’ve reviewed. It’s almost as big as the Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti, but it doesn’t do anything all that unique with that space. It has a lot of ports, which is nice, but I’ll never need this many ports.

A computer like the AtomMan X7 Ti is even larger, yes, but it has a built-in screen, and even a webcam with Windows Hello facial recognition, including a physical privacy shutter. The Geekom GT1 Mega doesn’t even include a fingerprint reader, so the large size is harder to excuse in my eyes.

I had some unusual issues

One frustrating problem I kept having with the Geekom GT1 Mega is that, out of the two USB-C ports, one of them seems to be broken, at least for display output. It does work 99% of the time, but I keep getting random screen flickers while I’m working, which can be very frustrating, especially during meetings.

This is also a USB-C port that’s supposed to support power input, but it’s not clear how much power is needed to boot the computer using USB-C. My monitor provides 90W power delivery, and I couldn’t get the computer to go past the Geekom logo at startup. The included power adapter (which uses a barrel port) does offer 120W, so maybe 90W isn’t enough, but considering this is a computer with a laptop processor, this seems strange. I have no such issues with the Khadas Mind, for instance.

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Finally, I did notice a couple instances of Wi-Fi behaving weirdly. One time, after leaving the computer idle for a long time, the internet just wasn’t working at all and I had to reboot the PC. I’ve also felt that the internet is generally a bit slower here than other PCs, but I haven’t managed to put numbers on that. It’s been perfectly usable for the most part.

I wish it was Lunar Lake

I mentioned this in my Asus NUC 14 Pro review so I feel like I should mention it here: this computer was released around the time that Intel introduced its Lunar Lake processors for laptops, which makes this hardware seem a little less exciting. Lunar Lake, or Intel Core Ultra Series 2, is genuinely a huge step forward for Intel, so to now have a PC with Meteor Lake processors is a bit deflating in a way.

That said, there are no mini PCs with Lunar Lake processors just yet, so this is still the best you can get right now.

Should you buy the Geekom GT1 Mega?

The Geekom GT1 Mega is a great mini PC overall. It offers great performance and a ton of ports in a premium-feeling chassis, which is par for the course with Geekom mini PCs. I do think there are some more exciting options ot there, like the Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti if you’re okay with a larger PC. Or, if you want to go compact, the Khadas Mind is still my favorite mini PC, even though I only have the last-gen model.

But that’s not to say this is a bad computer. It’s a good one, but there’s a lot of competition out there and other options worth considering. The main standout feature of this one is the sheer number of ports, so if that’s what you’re looking for, this is the mini PC for you.

You should buy the Geekom GT1 Mega if:

• You want a powerful mini PC
• You want something that feels premium
• You need a lot of ports, whether it’s for networking or USB peripherals

You should NOT buy the Geekom GT1 Mega if:

• You want a more compact PC
• You want something with Windows Hello support
• You’d rather wait for Lunar Lake models to hit the scene

Geekom GT1 Mega

$849 $999 Save $150

The Geekom GT1 Mega delivers plenty of performance and offers a ton of ports for all your connectivity needs, plus it feels premium. However, there’s some stiff competition out there.