MSI PRO DP21 PRODP2113M497 2023, Core i5-13400, 8GB, 500GB SSD, Black

A quiet little office worker with a solid CPU, but 8GB of RAM and integrated graphics make it a one-trick pony. Upgrade the RAM yourself and it's fine. Don't, and you'll be frustrated within a week.

The i5-13400 sits right around the middle of the pack for CPUs in our database, which sounds underwhelming until you remember this is a 3.13kg mini PC, not a full tower. It handles spreadsheets, video calls, and light multitasking without breaking a sweat. The real surprise is how quiet the thing runs. The 120W PSU keeps power draw low, and the cooling does its job without sounding like a jet engine. But the integrated UHD 730 graphics are a weak spot, landing in the bottom half of GPUs we've tested. Don't even think about gaming on this thing. Our gaming score of 8.6 out of 100 isn't a typo, it's a warning label.

Stacked against the Apple Mac mini M4 Pro, the DP21 gets absolutely smoked in graphics and efficiency, though it does cost less. The Lenovo Legion Tower 5a and HP OMEN GT16-0364 are in a completely different league for gaming, but they're also full-sized towers that drink way more power. The Dell Tower Plus EBT2250 is probably the closest real competitor, offering similar office-focused specs in a slightly larger chassis. If you want a tiny Windows box for work, the DP21 is a contender. If you want anything else, look elsewhere.

At $721 USD, this is a tough sell. You're paying for the small form factor and the i5 chip, but 8GB of RAM and integrated graphics at that price feels like MSI is charging a premium for the privilege of upgrading it yourself. If you need a tiny office PC and don't mind cracking it open to add RAM, it's fine. But out of the box, you're getting mid-tier performance at a price that should include more.

The MSI PRO DP21 is a compact desktop that punches above its weight for office work, but stumbles hard if you expect it to do anything graphically demanding. The i5-13400 is a genuinely capable 10-core chip, and pairing it with a 500GB NVMe drive makes this thing feel snappy for everyday tasks. But 8GB of RAM in 2024 is like showing up to a potluck with a single napkin. It works, barely, and you'll feel the squeeze the moment you open more than a handful of browser tabs.

If you're looking for a gaming PC, this isn't it. Go get a Lenovo Legion Tower 5a or an HP OMEN instead. If you need serious graphics performance for video editing or 3D work, the Apple Mac mini M4 Pro will run circles around this thing. And if you're not comfortable opening up a PC to add RAM, skip this and find something with 16GB out of the box.

The MSI PRO DP21 is a decent compact office PC that's hamstrung by a criminally low RAM allocation and graphics that belong in a museum. Buy it if you need a quiet, small Windows machine for basic productivity and you're willing to spend another $30 on a RAM stick. Otherwise, save your money or look at the Mac mini if you can stretch your budget.