ASUS PN50, Ryzen 5 4500U, 32GB, 2TB SSD, Black

The ASUS PN50 is a compact mini PC with a standout 2TB NVMe drive and 32GB of RAM. CPU and GPU performance are below average for the category, so it's strictly an office and streaming machine. If portability and storage matter more than raw power, it's worth a look.

The Ryzen 5 4500U is a solid little chip for what it is. Six cores and a 4.0GHz boost clock handle browser tabs, Office apps, and video calls without breaking a sweat. The 32GB of DDR4 is overkill for most mini PC buyers, but it means you can run a pile of Chrome tabs and a VM or two without hitting swap. Storage is the real standout here. That 2TB NVMe drive lands in the 92nd percentile for this category, which is genuinely impressive for a box this size. The weak link is graphics. The Vega 6 iGPU sits in the 30th percentile, so don't expect much beyond 720p gaming or basic video editing. CPU performance is also middle-of-the-road at the 28th percentile, which is fine for office work but nothing to write home about.

Stacked against the competition, the PN50 is playing a different game. The HP OMEN GT22-3080 and Lenovo Legion Tower 7i Gen 10 are full-size gaming desktops with discrete GPUs that will absolutely destroy this thing in any graphics workload. The Apple Mac Studio M5 Max is in another universe entirely for creative work. But none of those fit in a carry-on. The PN50's real competition is other mini PCs, and against those it holds up well on storage and RAM, even if the CPU and GPU are nothing special. If you're cross-shopping a Dell Tower Plus EBT2250, you're getting more raw performance but losing the portability angle completely.

Pricing is a bit of a mystery here. The only listing we found is CAD 1,360 in Canada, but that's a single data point and not directly comparable to US pricing. For that kind of money, you're paying a premium for the tiny form factor and the pre-installed 2TB drive. If you need a compact machine with serious storage and don't care about graphics, it's reasonable. But if you can live with a larger tower, you'll get way more CPU and GPU horsepower for the same cash.

The ASUS PN50 is a tiny desktop that punches above its weight class for everyday tasks. You get a Ryzen 5 4500U, 32GB of RAM, and a 2TB NVMe drive in a box that weighs less than a bag of coffee beans. It's a customized build, so someone already did the upgrade work for you.

But this isn't a gaming rig or a workstation. The Vega 6 graphics and 6-core CPU are fine for spreadsheets, streaming, and light photo work, but they'll choke on anything demanding. Think of it as a very capable office machine that happens to fit in a backpack.

Skip this if you need any real graphics performance. Gamers, video editors, 3D modelers, and anyone running local AI models should look elsewhere. The Vega 6 iGPU and 6-core Ryzen will leave you frustrated. Also skip it if you're on a tight budget and don't need the tiny form factor, a mid-size tower will give you way more bang for your buck.

Buy this if you want a tiny, quiet desktop for home office work, streaming, and light productivity. The 2TB drive and 32GB of RAM make it a great little machine for someone who lives in a browser and needs lots of local storage. Just don't expect it to edit 4K video or run modern games at anything above potato settings.