Typically, if you wanted a PC rocking a Core i9 9900K
and a DTX 1080, you would need something like this.
But here's the problem.
If you have a desktop on top of your desk
and there isn't a whole lot of desk left on the top,
which is why you need one of these.
The ASRock Mini comes in at just 2.7 liters
while packing nearly the maximum amount of power
that you can expect in any PC.
So if you're a content creator
and looking for a new system
that fits your minimal aesthetic,
should you go for the reigning champ, the Mac Mini,
or the new kid on the block, the Desk Mini?
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The first big difference between the Mac Mini
and the Desk Mini can be seen before even powering it on.
With the Mac, you just have this nice cord
that goes from the back of the machine to the wall.
Whereas ASRock has included this,
massive 330 watt external power brick
that you'll need to put somewhere.
Next, pressing the power button on the Mac Mini
causes it to power on,
which surprisingly isn't the case with the Desk Mini.
You can press its power button all you want,
but out of the box, it will do literally nothing
because it comes as a bare bones kit.
So you'll have to install the RAM and storage yourself,
which fortunately is quite easy.
Just remove the four screws in the back, pop the top,
and you'll have access to two DDR4 SODIMM slots
that allow you to smack up to 32 gigabytes of RAM in there.
Well, we're gonna stick to 16.
We're humble.
Next, remove two more screws near the front of the machine,
and you should be able to take out the whole inner assembly,
revealing the bottom of the board
and all its storage goodness.
We're talking three M.2 drive slots,
where we're gonna be adding a one terabyte 970 Pro,
plus an additional M.2 for Wi-Fi,
as well as two, two and a half inch bays
for additional solid or spinning storage.
Flipping the Desk Mini back over,
let's take a look at the hardware we actually care about.
This almost unassuming PCB and heat sink over here
is actually a full-blown GTX 1080.
Nice.
But the interesting thing is that
under this 65 watt rated Noctua cooler
is a 95 watt Intel Core i9-9900K.
Sounds kind of toasty,
so let's see how it fares starting with Blender.
I imagine that the majority of people
looking for either the Desk Mini or the Mac Mini
are planning on using them for creative power.
And initial results are looking very good for the Desk Mini,
with the i9 not only able to mince the i7
found in the Mac Mini,
it also maintained very respectable boost clocks
that allowed it to tangle with much larger PCs as well.
Now, it did get a bit sweaty.
They're around 85 degrees Celsius,
so definitely no overclocking.
But this is still damn impressive performance
from a system this small,
especially given it does so while remaining nice and quiet.
Where the Desk Mini absolutely humiliates the Mac
is in gaming.
Since number one, it just wins by default
since lots of games don't even run on macOS.
And number two, because the little GTX 1080 in here
puts in work, son.
And it sounds like it too.
Without the gentle Noctua touch,
the GPU is uncomfortably loud.
You'll definitely want some noise-canceling headphones
for gaming sessions.
And really, if you're gonna be gaming a whole bunch,
it's conceivable that you may want an RTX 2080 at some point.
So why is it that this only comes with a GTX 1080?
Well, the Desk Mini uses an MXM card,
a standard that NVIDIA might've killed off.
Or maybe not, if some rumors are to be believed.
But either way, at this point in time,
20 series MXM cards are not available.
And until officially confirmed, they might stay that way,
completely killing upgradability.
So if you plan on gaming,
then just get an MSI Trident X, right?
Maybe, if you like having obnoxious rainbow barf
on your desk.
But I, for one, actually love how,
despite its gaming-grade hardware,
the Desk Mini has an understated premium styling.
But ASRock did include an RGB port,
if you're into that sort of thing.
Compared to the Mac Mini, though,
it's definitely not as stealth.
But hey, this venting is here for a reason.
If you have wireless peripherals and never use USB drives,
the Mac Mini is a pretty good time.
But I do really appreciate that ASRock has kept USB A and C,
along with a headphone jack,
on the front of the machine for easy access.
As for I.O. in general,
the four Thunderbolt ports on the Mac
do offer amazing versatility if you've got the dongles.
But like, the first thing I wanted to do
is connect it to a display with a DisplayPort cable,
and that just wasn't an option without a dongle.
The Desk Mini, though, doesn't have any Thunderbolt 3 ports,
but other than that, the I.O. is pretty solid.
where the Mac mini really whoops the desk mini
is in networking.
Given that these systems are aimed
at creative professionals,
the option of 10 gig Ethernet on the Mac mini is massive
for anyone that's working on files that live on a server,
like in our office.
We actually bought a second Mac mini for this video
because the first one was already in use
at our video ingest station.
And it's working so well that we wanted to get another one.
So if your primary use case is dealing with AK footage,
the Mac mini is great.
But for everyone else,
it might just be freaking expensive.
With a semi-reasonably spec'd Mac mini
coming in at an eye-watering $2,200,
surely the desk mini must be...
It's a lot.
A what?
It's $2,500.
It's $2,500 with the i9.
Okay.
So yeah, for that same price,
you could have the MSI Trident X
with the considerably more powerful RTX 2080,
or you could get even more bang for your buck
by building your own PC altogether.
So this leaves the desk mini
in a bit of an awkward situation,
since it's a lot of money to be spending
for last-gen graphics
that sound like a TIE fighter storming your office,
which is why I don't think you should buy
the desk mini with the GTX 1080.
You should look into the desk mini with the GTX 1060.
That way you can get the small form factor,
more CPU performance,
plus discrete graphics,
all for about $400 less than the Mac mini,
which is what I would do.
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