HP ProDesk G1i Jack Black

HP's ProDesk 4 G1i packs a 20-core Intel Core Ultra 7 with a dedicated NPU into a tiny, mountable chassis. It's built for business fleets with vPro manageability and 32GB of DDR5, but the integrated graphics mean gaming is a non-starter. Prices swing wildly from $1492 to $2070, so shop carefully. If you need a compact, AI-ready office PC that IT can manage remotely, this is a strong pick.

The Core Ultra 7 265T is the real story here. With 20 cores and a 1.5GHz base clock, it lands in the 79th percentile across our database. That puts it well above average for desktop CPUs, and in a mini PC this small, it's genuinely impressive. Day-to-day multitasking feels snappy, and the 32GB of DDR5 running at 5600 MHz gives you plenty of headroom for heavy browser tab collections, large spreadsheets, or running a local dev environment. The 512GB NVMe SSD is a PCIe 4.0 drive, so boot times and app launches are quick, though the storage capacity itself sits at a middling 40th percentile. You'll probably want to use that empty M.2 slot sooner rather than later.

The integrated Intel Graphics are, predictably, the weak link for anything beyond desktop compositing. At the 46th percentile, they're about average for integrated solutions, which means they'll handle 4K video playback and light photo editing without breaking a sweat. But don't expect to do any 3D rendering or even casual gaming beyond solitaire. The 13 TOPS NPU is the wildcard here. It's designed for AI-accelerated tasks like background blur in video calls, real-time transcription, or Windows Studio Effects. In practice, it offloads those workloads from the CPU and GPU, keeping the system responsive even when you're running AI features in the background.

The Dell Tower Plus EBT2250 and Lenovo Legion 34IAS10 are both listed as competitors, but they're very different machines. The Dell is a traditional tower with more expansion options and likely better cooling, but it takes up way more desk space. The Lenovo Legion is a gaming-focused system that'll run circles around the G1i in graphics but lacks vPro and the NPU. If you need a quiet, mountable office PC with remote management, the HP wins. If you need any kind of GPU horsepower, look elsewhere.

The ASUS Republic of Gamers GM700TZ and MSI EdgeXpert are even further from the G1i's target audience. Those are performance machines built for gaming and content creation, with discrete GPUs and flashy designs. They're not competing for the same buyer. The real comparison for the G1i is other business-class mini PCs like the Lenovo ThinkCentre M90q or Dell OptiPlex Micro. Against those, the HP's Core Ultra 7 and NPU give it a clear edge in AI-accelerated tasks, though Lenovo and Dell often offer better port configurations and Thunderbolt support at similar prices.

Pricing on the G1i is all over the place, with a $578 spread between the lowest and highest vendor listings. At the $1492 end, you're getting a lot of modern silicon for the money, especially considering the NPU and vPro support. That's competitive with something like a Dell OptiPlex Micro or Lenovo ThinkCentre Tiny with similar specs. At $2070, though, the value proposition crumbles. You're creeping into territory where you could build a small form factor PC with a discrete GPU, or pick up a Mac Mini M4 with far better single-core performance and a more mature AI ecosystem.

For IT buyers deploying dozens of these, the vPro manageability and HP's business support might justify the higher end of that range. But for a solo professional or small office, you absolutely need to shop around. The sweet spot is finding it closer to $1500, where the Core Ultra 7 and 32GB of RAM make it a compelling alternative to last-gen business minis that are still floating around at similar prices.

HP's ProDesk 4 G1i is a tiny desktop that's trying to do something pretty specific: cram serious business processing power into a chassis you can mount behind a monitor and forget about. The star of the show is Intel's Core Ultra 7 265T, a 20-core chip that includes a dedicated NPU for local AI tasks. That's a big deal for a mini PC in this price bracket, and it signals that HP is betting on AI-enhanced workflows becoming standard office fare sooner rather than later. You're getting 32GB of DDR5 RAM, a 512GB NVMe SSD, and Windows 11 Pro right out of the box.

This machine isn't for everyone. Our scoring puts it at 76.8 for compact setups and 74.4 for business use, but it absolutely faceplants in gaming at 14.6. That's fine, because nobody's buying this to play Cyberpunk. This is a productivity workhorse for spreadsheets, coding, video calls, and the kind of light local AI processing that's creeping into everything from meeting transcription to photo editing. The integrated Intel Graphics are perfectly adequate for driving a couple of 4K displays, which is exactly what most office users need.

What makes the G1i interesting is the balance it strikes. You're getting a current-gen Intel Core Ultra chip with vPro support, meaning IT departments can manage it remotely. The port selection is solid with DisplayPort, HDMI 2.1, USB-C, and five USB-A ports. At 1.2kg, it's light enough to move between desks or take home occasionally. The $1492 to $2070 price spread across vendors is wide, so shopping around matters more than usual here.

If you're a home user looking for a general-purpose family computer, this probably isn't your best bet. The G1i's price premium comes from enterprise features like vPro and the NPU that you'll likely never use. You'd be better off with something like a Mac Mini M4 if you're in the Apple ecosystem, or a Beelink or Minisforum mini PC that'll give you more storage and better integrated graphics for hundreds less. The money you save could go toward a nicer monitor or a proper backup drive.

Creative professionals should also look elsewhere. The integrated graphics simply can't handle GPU-accelerated rendering, video editing with heavy effects, or any kind of 3D work. A system with even an entry-level discrete GPU, like an RTX 3050 or Radeon RX 6600, will dramatically outperform the G1i in those tasks. HP's own Z series workstations or a custom small form factor build would be a much better fit.

For IT departments standardizing on a manageable, compact desktop that'll handle the next few years of AI-infused Windows updates, the ProDesk 4 G1i is an easy recommendation. The vPro support, NPU, and 32GB of RAM make it future-proof enough to justify the investment, especially if you can lock in pricing at the lower end of that $1492 to $2070 range. Mount it behind a monitor, plug in a single cable, and your users will never think about their computer again, which is exactly the point.

For anyone outside a managed business environment, the value gets murkier. A freelancer or home office user might be better served by a Mac Mini M4 or even a mid-range mini PC from Minisforum or Beelink, which can offer more storage and better graphics for less money. The G1i's strengths, vPro, the NPU, HP's enterprise support, are features you're paying for whether you need them or not. If you don't have an IT team to take advantage of remote management, you're leaving money on the table.