Kamrui AK1PLUS

The Pinova P1 is a cheap mini PC that does triple 4K and basic tasks, but its ancient CPU and questionable build quality make it feel like a project, not a finished product. Spend a few bucks more on a Minisforum and thank yourself later.

We expected modest performance from an older Zen 2 chip, but the Ryzen 3 4300U still managed to surprise us, not in a good way. Our database places it in the 14th percentile for CPU muscle among mini PCs, and that translates to real-world sluggishness when you open more than a dozen browser tabs or try any light photo editing. The integrated Radeon Graphics (no, it's not a discrete GPU with 16GB VRAM, despite what some listings imply) is fine for pushing pixels to three 4K screens, but frame rates in anything beyond 2D indie games will disappoint. The single-channel 16GB DDR4 out of the box is a bottleneck, though popping in a second stick for dual-channel mode noticeably smooths things out. Even then, this is a machine for patience-driven users.

The closest competition is the Minisforum UM760 Slim, which packs a much newer Ryzen 5 7640HS for a similar price and embarrasses the Pinova P1 in every benchmark. Even the older Minisforum UN100L with an Intel N100 feels snappier in everyday use. On the extreme other end, the Apple Mac mini M4 leaves this in the dust but costs three times as much for a base model, so it's only relevant if you're already in the Apple ecosystem. Among truly budget picks, the KAMRUI's only edge is that triple-display versatility, but you'll sacrifice a lot of responsiveness to get it.

At the lowest price we've seen ($320), the Pinova P1 isn't a rip-off, but it's not the deal it might seem. You're paying for the triple 4K outputs and the expandability more than raw speed. For $50 more, a Minisforum or Beelink with a Ryzen 5 5500U or N100 will double your CPU power and often include a larger SSD. The bizarre $7,478 price point from one vendor is obviously a glitch, don't even look at it. If your budget absolutely cannot stretch past $350 and you need three monitors today, this works. Otherwise, the value play is to spend just a tiny bit more.

The one thing to know about the KAMRUI Pinova P1 is that it's a perfectly adequate mini PC for web browsing, Office, and streaming, as long as you don't ask much else of it. It's cheap, it supports three 4K displays out of the box, and you can stuff it full of extra RAM and storage later. But the AMD Ryzen 3 4300U at its heart is an aging quad-core chip that shows its age, and the 256GB SSD feels cramped before you even install a second browser. For $320, it's not a bad emergency PC for a relative or a silent digital signage box, but almost any newer budget mini PC will run circles around it for not much more.

If you're looking for a mini PC to handle even light photo editing, media server transcoding, or smooth multitasking beyond a few browser tabs, this isn't it. The aging Ryzen 3 will frustrate you quickly. Go get a Minisforum UM760 Slim or even a Beelink S12 Pro with an N100 instead, both offer way better pep for a very similar price and don't come with the reliability headaches reported here.

The KAMRUI Pinova P1 is a hard sell unless you find it heavily discounted and only need a basic office machine with a serious multi-monitor setup. It's not a hidden gem, it's a budget PC that feels every bit its price. If you can stretch your budget even a little, the competition offers dramatically better CPUs and more storage without the reliability question marks. For most people, this one is a pass.