Geekom isn’t a household name, but the Taiwanese brand has actually been around for more than two decades at this point, and mini PCs such as the IT12 has been its bread and butter since it decided to go all-in on the market in 2021.
Mini PCs aren’t quite the form factor that many folks would consider when they think of a home desktop or laptop, but the form factor exists for a reason, and they still serve a purpose.
What Am I Looking At?
As a mini PC, the IT12 is just about as compact as you can. Geekom isn’t looking for awards in outstanding aesthetics: It’s about 11cm across the board, making it ideal for tight spaces, minimalist, or people that want the convenience of a PC in their living room, without the bulk of a fully built desktop PC or HTPC.
The internals of the IT12 are limited to two Intel processors: a Core i3-12300H or a Core Ultra 5-125U. The base model comes with the former and an 8GB+256GB memory and storage configuration, while the other two ship out with the larger 16GB+512GB. Not voluminous, but still serviceable. The unit in this review is equipped with the 12300H and more generous memory and storage configuration.
On another note, the 512GB inside the IT12 is at least PCIe 4.0, so you’re not lacking in speed. On that note, there are additional slots for you to expand storage capacity if you need, by up to 4TB, but there’s also a 2.5-inch SATA slot conveniently carved into the chassis, with capacity support by up to 2TB.
What’s Good About It?
Despite being fitted with a processor that is effectively four years old, the company has beenIT12 is actually loaded with several modern ports. I’m talking Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 and USB4 40Gbps connectivity. The last bit is impressive and opens up the door to pairing it with an eGPU enclosure. Slightly more on that later.
Accessing the internal components that can be swapped out is remarkably simple, requiring a simple Phillips screwdriver, although the memory will require a bit of hunting down as it is due to the ongoing RAM-mageddon.
More impressive is the fact that the IT12 comes with two HDMI ports, but the dual USB4 ports also means that you can run as many as four 4K displays simultaneously. That said, I don’t recommend that you do this, given the pedigree of this mini PC’s processor. It’s not bad, but as it is a Core i3 from the Alder Lake era, it’s not exactly a powerhouse either.
That said, it’s more than adequate as a Windows-based living room PC, used for running videos, be it from your own personal library or through streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, or YouTube.
What’s The Catch?
Given the lower-tier hardware that powers the IT12, you’d think heat generation wouldn’t be a major issue, but sadly, no. While not fanless – there’s a dual copper heatpipe and small fan that runs fairly quietly – when running CPU intensive benchmarks like Cinebench 2026 or the CPU test of 3DMark’s Time Spy Extreme, the mini PC hits 101°C easily, and that’s in a room running a snug 22°C. This, in turn, causes the entire system to freeze up or glitch out. On that note, the benchmarks were clearly too much for the poor system, as the tests never completed their runs, crashing mid-way.
As stated in the previous section, one of my peeves of the IT12 is that it is using DDR4 RAM SO-DIMM RAM, not DDR5. Again, given the ongoing memory crisis, coupled with the fact that it is laptop memory and not standard desktop RAM, the path to upgrading this particular component can be quite treacherous, given its scarcity.
The other issue is the default storage capacity that comes with my IT12 unit. At 512GB in this day and age, you’re going to run into a wall very quickly with your programs and, because I’m a gamer, the number of games I can have installed is limited to either one or two AAA titles, or the entire library of old school games running on emulation. And yes, you read that right: gaming on the IT12 is possible, but obviously not through the onboard graphics of the Core i3-12300H.
The good news (sort of) is that because the USB4 ports are rated at 40Gbps, I am able to tell you that the Geekom IT12 is eGPU compatible. This means that I am able to pair it with an enclosure such as the Razer Core X V2. Of course, the trade-off here is dependent on which GPU you have at your disposal and for this review, I got a friend to loan me an RTX 5060 Ti 16GB that absolutely allowed me to indulge in my gaming habits, although you will have to contend with the bottleneck.
Should I Buy It?
As an average person who is looking for a non-impactful and ultra-compact mini PC for the living room or your Soho setup, something like the Geekom IT12 may be up your alley, but its functions will be limited to the basic, everyday tasks: web browsing, emails, video streaming, all that jazz.
As a gamer and for a sub-RM3,000 mini-PC with these internal specs, though? I’ll be honest: it’s a tough sell. At that price, it wouldn’t be a stretch for me to say that you’d be better purchasing a used ASUS ROG Ally gaming handheld on either Lazada, Shopee, and Carousell right now, and then use the leftover peripherals to purchase the necessary accessories, including a keyboard, mouse, and the ROG Bulwark, if you’re looking for a mini docking station, and then connect it to your monitor.
If you’re still set on getting yourself a mini PC, and one from Geekom no less, you may want to consider models powered by AMD’s Strix Halo chipsets or Intel’s Core Ultra 200H series. They may be more expensive, but at least the quality of the other components complements the chipset and – I use this description loosely – warrant the price tags attached to them.
Photography by John Law.
