9 Best Mini Gaming PC in 2023 – Reviewed & Buying Guide

Windows mini PCs are a technological evolution of classic laptops, much smaller but no less important and effective.

These devices meet the interests of many people who are looking for an inexpensive computer for mainly multimedia activities, such as watching movies, TV series or similar.

For surfing the internet or simply for playing games. Read on to find out the guide to buying the best Windows mini pc.

A mini PC can be an excellent device for watching movies, thanks also to the low energy consumption compared to a large traditional desktop computer and, connected to a TV or monitor and a controller. It can be used with video games that are not too complex in terms of graphics.

Normally it is similar in size to a TV Box, but thanks to the presence of a more complete operating system, such as Windows or Linux, it offers enormously greater versatility. In short, you can do everything you usually do with a standard size computer!

Buying Guide to Choose Best Mini Gaming Pc

Mini PCs with Windows or Android operating systems are very useful for making a TV smart as well as being used as real PCs. They connect to the TV via the HDMI port and interface with a display having an interface similar or analogous to modern PCs or Tablets on the market.

The characteristics of each device vary according to the price range, as well as the operating system, Windows or Android, although generally, they offer the possibility of being used in the multimedia, office or gaming fields.

The video resolution can be Full HD or 4K UHD. That’s why a mini pc is currently one of the most popular solutions for those who want to benefit from platforms such as Netflix, Spotify, Youtube, Amazon Prime Video and the like.

Hardware Components

Before starting with the choice of your next computer, you must also know some definitions of the internal components that are almost always found within a computer system. I’ll list them below.

Processor:

The processor is the central unit of a computer, the one that performs all the calculations. The higher the processor power (CPU), the higher the performance.

It can be divided into several cores to allow better parallelization in the calculation of the various processes running, and each core has its operating frequency measured in MHz.

Memories:

There are two main memories necessarily present in a computer. RAM is the “short-term” memory with which the operating system stores all the information in use at a given moment.

Storage is instead persistent memory, the one where you can save data, files, applications. To deal with storage on a PC can be a mechanical hard disk, characterized by low cost, or an SSD, faster but also more expensive.

GPU

Just as the CPU is the generic processing unit of the computer, the GPU is the unit dedicated to processing graphics. A powerful GPU is used almost exclusively with video games (or with heavy graphics processing, especially in the professional sphere).

So if you need the computer for office operations or multimedia, even the integrated CPU can be fine.

Optical Drives

in a computer, you can also find one or more optical drives (DVD or Blu Ray). Evaluate if you need them. Since with the spread of ultra-broadband Internet connections, the usefulness of optical discs is always waning. The advantage, however, is that by now the drives on the market are very cheap and can always serve.

Power Supply

This is a fundamental component of the computer and if it is missing it cannot be turned on. It is used to transfer the electric current from the socket to every single component of the computer.

Therefore it must be stable, reliable and sized appropriately for the energy consumption of the entire computer. Usually, a 450 or 500W power supply may be fine for less powerful computers, but for a configuration with two or more GPUs and different peripherals 700W or higher units are preferable.

Monitor

Without a monitor, i.e. the display in which the graphic interface is reproduced, you can do very little. The choice of monitor size (measured in inches) can be subjective, but the quality of the reproduced images is not.

The best monitors are those based on IPS LCD technology, but they are also the most expensive ones.

PC monitors can also support different resolutions (HD, Full HD, Quad HD, Ultra HD 4K or 5K) and different perspective ratios (4: 3, 16: 9, 16:10, or Ultra-Wide formats such as 21: 9 and beyond). If you are looking for a monitor for your next computer, I suggest you take a look at my guide on the best monitors.

Why Buy a Mini Pc?

Mini PCs, as already mentioned, are ideal for playing audio-video content with a very high resolution. Thus, if you want to benefit from Netflix, Youtube, Spotify, Amazon Prime Video, Kodi and other similar software, a mini pc will greatly facilitate your life.

Lying comfortably on the sofa or lying on the bed, you can control the box connected to the TV with the remote control possibly supplied (always present on the Android boxes, not on the Windows boxes) or, better still, with a wireless keyboard.

Mini PCs also allow you to reproduce what is visible on your smartphone on TV using Miracast technology, open-source unlike what happens with Apple’s Airplay.

These compact TV boxes respond to different needs: there will be the ultra-compact and economical one, the one that comes much closer to a fixed PC, the one that represents the right medium between the two roads.

The CPU is different from the GPU ( Graphics Processing Unit ): the latter is a processor specifically designed to perform graphic elaborations and calculations.

The GPU depends on the performance of the computer with the “rendering” of three-dimensional scenes, but often on mini PCs, they are integrated into the processor and therefore can show very limited performance.

Compatibility of Windows Mini PCs

Windows mini PCs, unlike what happens on Android, are generally also compatible with Sky go and Premium Play.

Both services have imposed restrictions on devices with root permissions installed and, recently, Netflix has also adopted the same system to combat piracy.

Thanks to root permissions it is possible to get to the heart of the TV box even going to significantly modify the Android firmware.

Also in this sense, except in rare cases, Windows mini PCs are more versatile ensuring full compatibility with Sky go, Mediaset Premium Play, Netflix, Youtube, Amazon Prime Video and many other services.

Which One to Choose?

Below I will list the best Windows mini PCs, very flexible and suitable for any need, probably ideal for a wider audience than the one intended for Android TV boxes.

I would point out, then, that mini PCs will be divided by price range in ascending order, from the least to the most expensive, and not sorted in a ranking.

It is difficult to draw up a ranking or think of a mathematical comparison in these cases, which I leave to those who love numbers, benchmarks or other statistics that have little to do with practical use.

Each Windows mini pc will be accompanied by photos, a short opinion, technical datasheet, price and recommended stores for purchase.