M1-1295: Minisforum updates powerful mini-PC with new cheaper model

Minisforum has updated its M1-1295 mini-PC with a new configuration, less than a month after its initial release. To recap, the company introduced the M1-1295 on October 3 with the Core i9-12950HX from Intel's Alder Lake-HX family. According to our benchmarks, the Core i9-12950HX trails AMD's Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 by a marginal amount in CPU-heavy tasks but drops way behind in GPU-heavy work like gaming.

While that still remains true today, one no longer needs to purchase the mini-PC with 32 GB of RAM and 1 TB of pre-configured storage, as was the case previously. Instead, one can now pick up the M1-1295 as a barebones unit without any RAM or storage pre-installed. For reference, the mini-PC supports up to 96 GB of DDR4-3200 RAM, as well as 8 TB of PCIe 4.0 storage split across a pair of M.2 2280 slots.

Additionally, the M1-1295 supports Bluetooth 5.2 and Wi-Fi 6E connectivity via a MediaTek MT7902 M.2 2230 modem, as well as 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet using Realtek's RTL8125 controller. The mini-PC also boasts a whole host of other ports on its rear side, including three video outputs, as the image below shows. Currently pre-populated units are slightly cheaper on Amazon than on Minisforum's website. By contrast, Minisforum sells barebones units for $329 directly on its website. In other words, barebones units run to around 30% less than their pre-configured counterparts.