Mini PCs are small computers with laptop processors, which make them particularly economical and remain both quiet and cool. Especially in summer, you don’t heat up the entire room in your home office like you would with a gaming PC (guide). Compared to foldable notebooks, they also take up significantly less space and can be easily hidden behind the monitor. They can now even replace desktop PCs – provided there is sufficient performance, which is available, as this example shows.
The Nipogi AM07 mini PC is a top-equipped model. An AMD Ryzen 5-5560U is installed, which is supported by 16 GB of main memory (RAM) and a 512 GB NVMe SSD. Windows 11 Pro is already on board. In this test report we will show whether you should buy it. The Nipogi model is in high demand and is currently out of stock again. Under the Acemagician brand, the virtually identical model with a Ryzen 5500U instead of a Ryzen 5560U is available again from Nipogi – it currently costs 310 euros on Amazon.
Design & workmanship
The Nipogi Mini PC AM07 comes in a simple square plastic housing in matt black. On the side it offers the usual ventilation openings for heat dissipation. Overall, the workmanship is solid, although nothing special.
The weight is still okay at 500 grams, but it’s not too low compared to other models like the Nipogi AK1 Pro with 390 grams. This is much higher on average among mini PCs. The dimensions are 127 × 126 × 43 millimeters – this is also common. If necessary, the mini PC can be mounted behind monitors using the included Vesa mounting plate.
Furnishing
Our test sample offers 16 GB of RAM (DDR4, 3,200 MHz) and a 512 GB m.2 SSD. Of course, the CPU AMD Ryzen 5 5560U also helps. This has six cores (12 threads) with up to 4 GHz.
Thanks to two SO-DIMM slots, the RAM can be easily expanded up to 64 GB. The 512 TB hard drive in m.2-2280 format can also be easily replaced. The maximum possible here is 2 TBytes. That’s very neat for a mini PC. The graphics card is permanently integrated, so you shouldn’t expect miracles.
Unfortunately, the manufacturer does not provide a data carrier with drivers or installation files.
connections
The Mini PC has various interfaces located at the front and back.
The following connections can be found on the front:
1 x USB-C 3.0
2x USB-A 3.1
1x Klinkenbuchse (3,5 Millimeter)
The following interfaces are located on the back:
2x LAN (RJ45)
1 x HDMI
1 x DisplayPort
2x USB 2.0
The AMD Radeon graphics chip allows up to three screens to be connected via HDMI, DP and USB Type-C with the 4K@60Hz output.
Unfortunately, the wireless connections lack the much more current standards Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 6E as well as Bluetooth 5.0 or better. While the WLAN connection uses the Wi-Fi 5 standard (802.11ac), Bluetooth version 4.2 is still used. For example, if you use a current Fritzbox or another router, you cannot use the maximum performance that could be available in the WLAN. The integrated WLAN adapter supports the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands.
Since the PC has two LAN interfaces, it can also be used as a firewall appliance, for example for OPNsense/Pfsense.
Facility & Operations
The operating system is preinstalled and all drivers can also be found on the system.
The mini PC is particularly suitable for complex office work, but also as an entertainment system for streaming and surfing. The PC can also be used to play games that aren’t too demanding, and even video editing is possible if you don’t overdo it with effects. Accordingly, the Nipogi AM07 scores just under 5,400 points in PC Mark 10. This means that it is even faster in the benchmark than the significantly more expensive one Geekom Mini IT11 (test report), which relies on an i7 processor. As expected, it easily outperforms inexpensive budget mini PCs like the Nipogi AK1 Pro (2540 points). However, the mini PC’s fan is not very quiet, so its use in very quiet environments is not recommended.
Anyone looking for a mini PC to install a firewall appliance can also use the computer. However, there are only two LAN interfaces available, which is of course not enough for a DMZ.
Since no data carrier is included, it makes sense to obtain the installation files from Microsoft after setting up Windows 11 Pro. Since the product key is stored digitally, you no longer need it for new installations. But if you want to have the key, there are various tools for reading it on the Internet, such as the Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder.
Preis
The Nipogi Mini PC AM07 is currently available on Amazon 399 Euro to have. As part of Black Friday, it was available for a short time for just 269 euros. At the time of the test on October 21, 2023, the price was around 300 euros.
Since then, demand for this model has been enormous and the AM07 is often sold out. With the Acemagician AM07, the virtually identical model with a Ryzen 5500U instead of a Ryzen 5560U is available again from Nipogi – it currently costs on Amazon 310 Euro. Acemagician is a brand of the Mini-PC-Union, which also includes Nipogi and Acemagic as brands. The models are therefore similar in terms of features and appearance. We assume that the Acemagician model and the Nipogi variant achieve almost identical values in the benchmark; the connection portfolio and housing are the same.
Alternatives
The Geekom Mini IT8SE (test report), which we recently tested, is even cheaper for currently 200 euros. With an Intel Core i3-8109U (8th generation, 2 cores), it is not particularly powerful and the processor is already a few years old. In particular, the RAM and SSD storage are a bit low for the price – other models offer 16 GB instead of 8 GB of RAM and an SSD with 512 GB instead of just 256 GB for 100 euros less. However, the performance is definitely sufficient for the home office. The model is also suitable as a streaming PC.
The Blackview MP60 (test report), which you can get for just under 200 euros, is also really attractive. It offers an Intel Celeron N5095, 8 GB of RAM and an M.2 SSD with 256 GB of storage. The performance is still good enough for the home office, but the graphics performance is expectedly poor for the low price.
Conclusion
The Nipogi Mini PC AM07 is one of the more powerful mini PCs on the market currently. It has many ports, with the USB-C port being particularly noticeable. The performance is quite high: In the PCMark benchmark, the system calculates faster than a mini PC from Geekom that costs 150 euros more.