Geekom IT13 Max (2026) review
With so many entry-level mini PCs on the market, Geekom has turned its attention to those looking for a bigger dose of power from their miniature desktop companion. Most mini PCs are explicitly aimed at the budget-friendly market, with most typically available for around the $500/£500 mark or under, thanks to the fact they often use components that are several generations older, alongside memory components with standards that are also somewhat out of date by today’s measure.
Enter the Geekom IT13 Max, a device that seeks to stand above the crowd with a (relatively) modern chipset and a healthy chunk of memory to help with your modern computing needs. In many ways it’s comparable to the outstanding Geekom A7 Max and, on paper, it boasts comparable performance levels to workstations like the HP ZBook Power G11, but at an aggressive price point of under $1,000. Could this be enough to tempt you away from some high-end alternatives?
Geekom IT13 Max (2026) review: Design
The Geekom IT13 Max resembles the Mini IT13, which follows the design language of a long series of machines that the manufacturer has made in the last few years. You have an array of ports on the front with an LED-lit power button, with grills on either side, and even more connectivity options available on its rear. Four rubber feet raise the IT13 Max slightly above your surface to aid with airflow. The black finish, meanwhile, gives it an air of corporate (albeit bland) sophistication that deviates from the playful and lighter silver finishes out there.
Its chassis, however, doesn’t give the premium aesthetic we think Geekom has been trying to exude thanks to a primarily plastic casing – and that’s despite a metal inner frame and metal bottom cover. That said, this also means it’s as light as you’d want, weighing just 380g – which is considerably lighter than many comparable machines. Among devices we’ve reviewed recently, only the Acemagic Vista Mini V1 is lighter at 245g.
Geekom also claims the IT13 Max can withstand pressure of up to 200kg with robust protections. It does, however, occupy a little more real estate on your desk, with dimensions of 136 x 132 x 54mm – certainly the largest among most mini PCs. Only the Lenovo ThinkCentre M70q is larger, with dimensions of 175 x 180 x 35mm.
Connectivity options on this device, meanwhile, are outstanding. Wireless options include the latest Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 standards, while you can enjoy a whole host of ports to suit all possible uses. There are six different USB-A slots, including four on the front alongside a 3.5mm audio jack. There are a further two USB-A slots on the rear as well as two USB-C slots, two HDMI ports and two Ethernet ports. On the left-hand side you’ll find an SD Card 4.0 slot, and there’s a Kensington Lock Slot on the right. Frankly, this is hard to beat if you’re looking at the latest crop of mini PCs.
Geekom IT13 Max (2026) review: Specs and performance
(Image credit: Future)
Most Intel-powered mini PCs are fitted with processors that predate the 2023 Meteor Lake CPUs that kicked off the new AI PC era – and you can tell based on their performance metrics. That said, it’s appropriate given most of these are deemed budget-friendly.
The Geekom IT13 Max, on the other hand, risks eating the mid-market’s lunch as it’s powered by a high-end Intel Core Ultra 9 185H (16 cores). This is two generations behind the latest Intel chips – so it only lets you tap into 11TOPS of AI power courtesy of the integrated NPU, but it matches up with plenty of workstations released in recent years. It’s also partnered with an Intel Arc Graphics chip.
The memory you get, meanwhile, is excellent, with a whopping 24GB DDR5 RAM and 512GB PCIe Gen 4 SSD. Most mini PCs only have DDR4 and PCI 3.0 data storage units – so you’ll get a slight bump in performance and bandwidth if undergoing more intensive media-intensive tasks. With prices surging, it also offers very good value.
Considering its approximate £750 price tag, if you find the right deal, it’s an incredibly compelling package. Beneath the bonnet, our test results show that performance levels provide more than exceptional value.
Testing with Geekbench 6 showed the Intel processor achieved 2,373 in single-threaded performance and 13,068 in multi-core performance, which is a set of results that comfortably outpace all other Windows mini PCs we’ve tested in recent years. Only the Mac Mini, which scored 3,496 and 14,505, has beaten it. In fact, this mini PC even beats the HP ZBook Power G11 mobile workstation (fitted with the same chip), which scored 2,397 and 11,906 respectively. It even outpaces the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Gen 10 Aura Edition, which featured last gen’s Intel Core Ultra 9 285H CPU, and registered 2,743 and 12,057.
The Intel Arc Graphics chip, meanwhile, registered 33,670. This is a simply outstanding result for an entry-level graphics card and the highest we’ve registered for this GPU in the machines that we’ve tested so far. It’s roughly on par with the AMD Radeon 880M Graphics chip or slightly weaker than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, by way of comparison. SSD speeds, meanwhile, hit strong reults of 5,290MB/s for reads and 3,229MB/s for writes, which is the highest among the mini PCs we’ve tested.
Performance was flawless when we tested the machine against a range of different workloads, although you should note that the fans are pretty much overactive nearly all the time. Geekom says it’s got an upgraded “silent” fan that combines with all-copper cooling modules and an independent copper plate for cooling CPU modules. While these technologies aim to keep temperatures under control, you can hear the fans whirring pretty much at all times – during light and heavy usage.
(Image credit: Future)
Geekom IT13 Max (2026) review: Is it worth it?
Geekom may have outdone itself with its latest high-end mini PC that’s aimed at business users who want more flexibility and capabilities in their portable computers. It’s comparable with the outstanding Geekom A9 Max, which probably remains the best Windows mini PC we’ve reviewed – but the IT13 Max comes in at a much more attractive price point, and its components are only slightly weaker in this device.
Coming in at a tier just below its A9 Max, the Geekom IT13 Max certainly threatens to eat the lunch of the mini PCs in the mid-range market. For only a few hundred pounds more, you get a device that’s got much newer components that outpace many of last generation’s most powerful Intel laptops, as well as connectivity standards (both wired and wireless) that are as new as you can get. If you can get past the noisy fans, this device is simply outstanding and offers tremendous value if you’re looking for a small but capable desktop companion.
Geekom Air12 2026 Edition specifications
|
Processor |
Intel Core Ultra 9 185H (16 cores) |
Row 0 – Cell 2 |
|
GPU |
Intel Arc Graphics |
Row 1 – Cell 2 |
|
RAM |
24GB DDR5 SDRAM |
Row 2 – Cell 2 |
|
Ports |
USB-A 3.2 Gen2 (x1), USB-A 2.0 (x1), USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 (x4) USB-C 4.0 (x2), 3.5mm audio jack (x1), RJ45 Ethernet (x2), HDMI 2.0 (x2), SD Card 4.0 (x1), Kensington Lock Slot (x1) |
Row 3 – Cell 2 |
|
Storage |
512GB PCIe Gen 4 |
Row 4 – Cell 2 |
|
Connectivity |
Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 |
Row 5 – Cell 2 |
|
Weight |
380g |
Row 6 – Cell 2 |
|
Dimensions |
117 x 112 x 34.2mm |
Row 7 – Cell 2 |
|
Operating System |
Windows 11 Pro |
Row 8 – Cell 2 |
