The Acemagic Matrix Mini M1 is stylish and versatile – and it's surprisingly affordable

Acemagic is an emerging name in the mini PC space, and the Chinese brand has delivered a handful of diminutive computers to spruce up your home office setup. We enjoyed using the Acemagic Vista Mini V1 earlier this year, for example, despite a couple of niggles.

The Acemagic Matrix Mini M1 is the brand's newest and most powerful device, featuring an Intel Core i9-13900HK processor and plenty of RAM for a reasonable price. Inside the box, you'll get a power cable, an HDMI cable, as well as a VESA mounting bracket, as well as screws if you wish to fix it to your monitor.

Although it's available for $799 in the US (reduced at the time of writing to $459), it's priced at just £399 in the UK and comes with similar specs to the excellent Geekom Mini IT13 – which is considerably more expensive at an RRP of £849 (although it's likely you can nab all mini PCs for cheaper on various deals). One of the key differences is that you get double the RAM in the Acemagic, meaning it's a mouth-watering prospect if you're looking for a compact mini PC on a tighter budget.

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Acemagic Matrix Mini M1: Design

The Acemagic Matrix Mini M1 design shares plenty in common with its more slender cousin, the Vista Mini V1. Unlike plenty of mini PC designs out there, its rounded corners and minimalist overall design feel like a nod to the gorgeous Mac Mini, which is one of the best-looking mini PCs ever made. This softens the look when you compare it to more rigid design choices, like in the Lenovo ThinkCentre M70q and even the Geekom Mini IT13 – which (to varying degrees) have much harder edges.

You can pick up the device in either a graphite or a silver finish, with both looking the part. If there's any downside, it's that its shell has a plasticy feel to it, which is also visibly noticeable whenever you glance towards it on your desk. While this isn't a major issue, it does cheapen the device somewhat – although any complaints immediately soften when you remember it's very reasonably priced.

This also shaves its weight to 520g – meaning it's much easier than many to carry around with you should you ever need to. It's nowhere near as light as the 245g Vista Mini V1, but it is easily much lighter than most – especially the 2.85kg Lenovo device. On the flipside, however, the device is chunkier than many at 128 x 128 x 41mm – a little more compact than the Mac Mini (127 x 127 x 50mm) but a little larger than many comparable devices. The aforementioned Geekom Mini IT13, for example, measures 117 x 112 x 49mm. These are slight margins, ultimately, but worth considering if your desk space is limited.

As for connectivity options, there are plenty. The machine supports Wi-Fi6E and Bluetooth 5.2 (many now support 5.3) in terms of its wireless options, although you are stacked with plenty of excellent I/Os – including four USB-C 4.0 ports, six USB-A ports (two USBA 3.2 Gen2 x 2 and four USB 3.2 Gen 1), as well as HDMI 2.0, DP1.4, and an 2.5GbE ethernet port. There's also a power cable input and a 3.5mm headphone jack. They're arranged excellently, with one USB-C port on the front and rear, alongside two USB-A ports on the front and four on the rear. The audio jack is also situated on the front, next to the power button. It's a smart layout that makes sure you can plug in from any angle. The one downside is a lack of an SD Card reader, but you could always invest in a converter if you find that you really need to use one.

Acemagic Matrix Mini M1: Specs and performance

Our review unit came fitted with the Intel Core i9-13900HK with 14 cores and 20 threads, although you could also pick up a version with the Intel Core i9-11900H processor or AMD's Ryzen 7 6800H chip. All our 45W processors, but the i9-13900HK has the highest core and thread count – and can reach a maximum turbo speed of up to 5.4GHz. This is complete with an Intel Iris Xe graphics card, 32GB DDR4 RAM, and a 1TB M.2 SSD.

The Intel processor is designed for professional use cases – including content creation (such as 4K video and photo editing), software development, as well as multitasking. Although it's nearing three years old, it holds its own in testing across the board versus the newer Skylake and Lunar Lake CPUs, only offering a little less power on average. But in the Acemagic, the CPU slightly underperformed against expectations.

On one hand, the processor scored 2,806 on single-threaded testing via Geekbench 6 – a highly respectable result. However, it scored only 8,912 on multi-core testing. This is less than the Geekom Mini IT13, which scored 10,286 – and a scan of public records suggests that the CPU can generally hit at least 10,000 in the test. This is disappointing – but not critical. It's worth saying, though, that the M4 in the Mac Mini trounces it, having scored 3,496 and 14,505, respectively.

The graphics card, on the other hand, pulled in a decent score of 13,514 in the OpenCL test, which is in line with the 13,854 that the outstanding Geekom A5 scored with its AMD Radeon Vega 7 chip in the same test. We should stress, however, that modern GPUs from the likes of Nvidia, AMD, and now even Intel can easily surpass 20,000. While this mini PC does pack a bit of a punch, it certainly doesn't come close to competing with the most premium hardware. That said, it's certainly a decent return for its price.

The SSD performed well enough, with reads and writes of 3,478MB/s and 3,370MB/s respectively – it's a little above average, so not a huge complaint, and does eclipse the speeds of the Geekom A5 as well as Geekom Mini IT3.

Acemagic Matrix Mini M1: Is it worth it?

For the current price of £399, the Acemagic Matrix Mini M1 is an excellent proposition. Although it's a little underpowered against what we expected, this is only marginally so, and you still get far more bang for your buck with it than you might with some of its key rivals.

The device is a little larger than most (marginally) but more than makes up for it with its minimalist and stylish design that won't look out of place on a neat and tidy desk – whether you pick it up in silver or graphite. Its connectivity options are also fantastic, with access to speeds of up to 40Gbps with USB 4.0 support in both its USB-C ports.

Acemagic Matrix Mini M1 specifications