AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS performance debut: Beelink GTR7 mini PC review

The Beelink GTR and GTI series are upper-end mini PCs when compared to the smaller and less expensive SER and SEI series. Thus, the GTR is more intricately designed with metal materials that are comparable to what you would find on an Intel NUC. All six sides are rigid metal including the top mesh which was a softer fabric on the older GTR6 design. We especially appreciate the lack of any glossy plastic surfaces which have a tendency to attract scratches and fingerprints very easily.

Four color options are available: Green, Gray, Orange, and Blue. These are notable because such options are uncommon on mini PCs where black is by far the only color.

While the ports on front haven't changed from last year's SER6, the ports along the rear are now different. The AC adapter port has been redesigned to be magnetic while two of the four HDMI ports have been dropped in favor of full-size DisplayPort.

The two rear USB-C ports support USB4 and eGPUs according to the manufacturer similar to last year's GTR6. However, note that the front USB-C port lacks DisplayPort support and so external monitors are only compatible with the rear USB-C ports.

We would have preferred a universal USB-C AC adapter similar to most Ultrabooks these days instead of a proprietary magnetic one. Attempting to power the unit with our 130 W USB-C AC adapter from Dell would result in an automatic shutdown a few seconds later.

This is also one of the very few consumer mini PCs with two 2.5 Gbps RJ-45 ports and two 3.5 mm headset ports. Most users likely won't need so many of each, but the option is there nonetheless.

The retail box includes a wall-mounted VESA bracket, manual, HDMI cable, and AC power adapter depending on the region. The top cover is not removable unlike on older models from Beelink.

A standard one-year limited manufacturer warranty applies if purchased in the US.

We set our unit to Performance mode via Windows prior to running the benchmarks below. There are no specialized "Command Center" applications or other pre-installed bloatware included with the mini PC. AMD Precision Boost Overdrive settings are available through BIOS, but these are set to Auto by default.

Attempting to install AMD drivers via the official AMD auto-installer would result in error messages each time.

We have our hopes high for the Zen 4 Ryzen 7 7840HS after the disappointing Zen 3 Ryzen 7 7735HS last month. Thankfully, the processor pulls through with excellent results that are comparable to both the Core i7-12700H and Core i7-13700H. It's nowhere near as fast as the demanding Ryzen 9 7945HX or Core i9-13900HX, of course, but it's still appreciably faster than most other mini PCs including the newest Intel NUC 13 Pro.

Performance stability is excellent as well with no dips even when stressed over long periods. Upgrading from the barely one year-old Zen 3+ Ryzen 9 6900HX can boost multi-thread performance by about 35 percent.