A recipe for disaster? New mini PC with Linux-compatible open GPU slot design looks great on paper, but could be a costly mistake for adventurous feline owners
My custom desktop is large, but the Corsair H100 RGB AIO liquid CPU cooler doesn’t really fit comfortably inside, so it sits on top of the case. It looks nice up there, and the pump and dual 120mm fans keep my system cool. Unfortunately, for some unknown reason, my cats occasionally compete with each other to see who can sit in the dumbest spot. As I type this, one is perched on the back of my desk chair, and another is comfortably curled up behind one of my monitors.
It’s not unheard of for them to squeeze into the space on top of my PC case, pressing their furry bodies against the fans. They also find the spinning of the blades entertaining, which isn’t great either.
Beelink, which makes a range of fantastic mini PCs, has a new model, the GTi14, which comes with a PCIe 8x slot on the bottom of the computer, allowing the addition of a dedicated external GPU for significantly improved graphics performance. That inevitably sounds like a bad idea to me.
Ports in abundance
The GTi14 measures 158 x 158 x 56mm and supports up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor with Intel Arc Graphics, up to 96GB of DDR5-5600 RAM, and two NVMe PCIe 4.0×4 SSD slots.
For connectivity, the GTi14 supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. Available ports include one Thunderbolt 4 port at 40Gbps, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port at 10Gbps, five USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports also at 10Gbps, an HDMI 2.1 port, a DisplayPort 1.4a, two 3.5mm audio jacks, two 2.5GbE Ethernet ports, and an SD card reader.
The system is ready to run Windows 11 Pro and is also compatible with Linux, offering versatility for different user preferences. The device comes with built-in speakers, four microphones, an integrated 145W power supply and a fingerprint reader.
There is currently no global pricing information available, but in China it will start at $672.
