Minisforum UM790 Review

The Pocket-Sized Powerhouse: Minisforum UM790 Pro Review

For years, the promise of a “desktop in a box” has been more of a compromise than a reality. To get a truly compact PC, you had to sacrifice performance, connectivity, or thermal stability. The Minisforum UM790 Pro arrives on the scene not just to challenge that notion, but to shatter it entirely. Packing AMD’s flagship mobile silicon into a chassis that can hide behind a monitor, this mini PC redefines what we should expect from a small form factor machine. It’s a bold statement that claims you can have it all: blistering speed, next-gen features, and a footprint that barely registers on your desk. But does it deliver?

Design and Build: A Premium, Understated Box

From the moment you unbox it, the UM790 Pro impresses with its build quality. The chassis is crafted from a single piece of aluminum, giving it a solid, premium feel that belies its small size. The dark grey, anodized finish is professional and minimalist, allowing it to blend seamlessly into any workspace. All four sides feature ventilation grilles, hinting at the powerful hardware within. While the design is highly functional, it’s also a fingerprint magnet, so have a microfiber cloth handy. The top panel pops off without tools, providing surprisingly easy access to the SODIMM RAM slots and M.2 SSDs, making initial setup or future upgrades a straightforward affair. At just 130mm x 126mm x 52.3mm, it’s small enough to be VESA-mounted to the back of a display for the ultimate clean-desk setup.

Performance: The Ryzen 9 Juggernaut

This is where the UM790 Pro truly shines. At its heart beats the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS, an 8-core, 16-thread CPU that delivers performance on par with many full-sized desktop processors. In productivity tasks—from compiling code and running virtual machines to editing 4K video—this machine simply flies. It chews through multi-threaded workloads without breaking a sweat, making it an ideal workhorse for developers, content creators, and power users.

The real game-changer, however, is the integrated Radeon 780M graphics. Built on the RDNA 3 architecture, this iGPU is a marvel. It transforms the UM790 Pro from a simple productivity box into a legitimate 1080p gaming machine. Titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Baldur’s Gate 3 are perfectly playable at low-to-medium settings, something that was unthinkable for integrated graphics just a generation ago. While it won’t replace a dedicated gaming rig with a high-end GPU, it completely demolishes the expectations for a PC of this size and power envelope. Minisforum’s “Cold Wave 2.0” cooling system, featuring liquid metal and a smart fan, does an admirable job taming this beast, though the fan can certainly make itself heard when the system is pushed to its limits.

Features and Connectivity: Everything but the Kitchen Sink

Minisforum didn’t skimp on connectivity. The front panel offers two USB-A ports and a headphone jack, but the real magic is around back. There you’ll find two more USB-A ports, a 2.5Gb Ethernet jack, and dual HDMI 2.1 outputs. The star attractions, however, are the two USB4 ports. These versatile connections offer 40Gbps of bandwidth, DisplayPort-out functionality, and power delivery. This means you can drive multiple 4K displays and even connect an external GPU enclosure to transform the UM790 Pro into a high-end gaming or AI workstation. Topping it all off are Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, ensuring you have the latest in wireless connectivity.

The Verdict: A New Mini PC Benchmark

The Minisforum UM790 Pro is a triumph of engineering. It successfully packs an incredible amount of performance and a wealth of modern features into a compact, well-built chassis. It serves as an exceptional productivity machine, a capable light gaming system, and a fantastic core for a minimalist desk setup. While the fan can get loud under load and the external power brick is a bit chunky, these are minor trade-offs for the sheer power on tap.

This PC is perfect for the tech professional who needs a powerful yet portable workstation, the enthusiast who loves minimalist setups without compromising on speed, or anyone looking for a versatile home server or media center that can also handle a gaming session. It’s not for the hardcore gamer chasing maximum frame rates at 4K, but for almost everyone else, the UM790 Pro represents a new gold standard in the mini PC market.

Where to Buy:

Check it out on Amazon