Mini PC for AI Comparison — Mac Mini M4 vs AMD AI Mini PCs (2026)
Compare mini PCs for local LLM inference: Mac Mini M4, Beelink GTR9 Pro, GMKtec EVO-X2, GEEKOM A8. Sort by RAM, bandwidth, tokens/sec, price, and power.
| Mini PC | RAM | Bandwidth | Max model (Q4) | 8B tok/s | 32B tok/s | 70B tok/s | TDP | Price | Deal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mac mini M4 Pro 64GB Featured Apple M4 Pro 12-core | 64 GB LPDDR5X unified | 273 GB/s | 32B | 20 tok/s | 12 tok/s | N/A | 30 W | $2199 | See price → |
| Beelink GTR9 Pro 128GB AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 (16-core Zen 5) | 128 GB LPDDR5X | 200 GB/s | 70B | 28 tok/s | 12 tok/s | 7 tok/s | 100 W | $2299 | See price → |
| GMKtec EVO-X2 128GB AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 (16-core Zen 5) | 128 GB LPDDR5X | 200 GB/s | 70B | 28 tok/s | 12 tok/s | 7 tok/s | 80 W | $1899 | See price → |
| GEEKOM A8 32GB AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS | 32 GB DDR5-5600 | 90 GB/s | 13B | 15 tok/s | N/A | N/A | 45 W | $599 | See price → |
| Minisforum AI X1 Pro 64GB AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 | 64 GB LPDDR5X | 160 GB/s | 32B | 22 tok/s | 10 tok/s | N/A | 65 W | $1299 | See price → |
| Intel NUC 13 Pro 64GB Intel Core i7-1360P | 64 GB DDR4 | 60 GB/s | 8B | 5 tok/s | N/A | N/A | 40 W | $850 | See price → |
Best for 70B models
Beelink GTR9 Pro or GMKtec EVO-X2 with 128 GB LPDDR5X. Both run Llama 3.1 70B Q4 at ~5–8 tok/s.
Best silent / efficient
Mac mini M4 Pro 64 GB. 273 GB/s unified memory, ~15–25 W under load, and fan noise under 20 dBA.
Best budget entry
GEEKOM A8 32 GB. Handles 7B–13B quantized models and has USB4 for a future eGPU.
Why mini PCs matter for local AI
A modern AI mini PC can run 7B–70B parameter models on your desk for the price of a few months of ChatGPT Plus. RAM capacity and memory bandwidth matter far more than NPU TOPS or CPU core count.
Mac Mini M4 vs AMD AI mini PCs
- Mac mini M4 Pro: Best efficiency and bandwidth, but capped at 64 GB. Ideal for 30B models and below.
- Beelink GTR9 Pro: 128 GB ceiling + dual 10GbE. Best for 70B models and homelab networking.
- GMKtec EVO-X2: Cheapest 128 GB config with OCuLink for a future NVIDIA eGPU.
What about NPU TOPS?
NPU ratings (50–86 TOPS) are marketing for image and video AI, not autoregressive LLM inference. Ollama, llama.cpp, and LM Studio do not route LLM workloads to the NPU.