This tiny mini PC sports an AMD APU, 16 GB DDR4 RAM, and an affordable price tag

Alongside the LC7530, which we have covered in a separate article, the Japanese OEM Links has also introduced the new LC3501 mini PC. As the name suggests, this variant is powered by a rather old AMD Ryzen 5 3501U chip.

To be more specific, the Ryzen 5 3501U is a nearly 7-year-old 4-core, 8-thread CPU belonging to the Picasso family of chips based on the aging Zen+ architecture. A brand-new mini-PC with a 7-year-old chip is surely absurd, but given the current insanity surrounding DRAM and NAND prices, the decision seems fair enough.

Rather unsurprisingly, the Links LC3501 mini PC with the AMD Picasso APU comes equipped with up to 16 GB of DDR4-2666 RAM. The system's modest specifications allow it to be incredibly compact, measuring in at just 10 by 10 by 3.4 cm, or roughly 3.9 by 3.9 by 1.3 inches.

The 15-watt Ryzen 5 3501U chip manages to score barely 3,100 points in Geekbench 6 multicore. In other words, the low-end chip is only around 10% faster than the Intel N150 'Twin Lake' CPU found in many entry-level mini PCs. For lightweight office-based tasks and other casual workloads, however, the chip should mostly suffice.

The same goes for the Ryzen 5's RX Vega 8 iGPU, which is only good enough for the most lightweight of graphical tasks and modest low-end gaming. In fact, even a mid-range iGPU such as the Radeon 760M is over 240% faster than the nine-year-old RX Vega 8.

The I/O on offer has been detailed below:

• HDMI, DisplayPort 1.4
• Dual USB 2.0 Type-A
• Dual USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A
• Gigabit LAN
• 3.5 mm audio jack

The Links LC3501U mini PC is already on sale in Japan, priced at ¥58,800 (~$367) and ¥64,800 (~$404) for the 8 GB and 16 GB DDR4 variants, respectively. Both SKUs come equipped with a 256 GB SSD, which can be upgraded courtesy of its M.2 2280 housing.

Given Links' minimal footprint in the global market, an international rollout is unlikely for the LC3501U. Interested customers can utilize shipment forwarding programs to import the mini PC, or simply opt for a more readily available product such as the Minisforum X1 Lite, currently available for $309 on Amazon.