Octa-core Intel Core i5, 16 GB RAM, and 1TB SSD. This quiet mini PC is now at Alza for a great price

Mini PCs are a quiet revolution of recent years – they fit behind a monitor, consume a fraction of the energy of a classic desktop tower, and are more than sufficient for office work. Acemagic S3A is now available to AlzaPlus+ members for 13,592 CZK instead of 16,990 CZK, and that’s in an interesting configuration: octa-core Intel, 16 GB of memory, a terabyte SSD, and Windows 11 Pro already included.

👍 Get it if you need a quiet computer for the office, home work, or as a media center for your TV and don’t want to deal with a large case.
🤔 Hesitate if you plan to game – the integrated Intel graphics can handle older and undemanding titles, nothing more.
💰 Price: 13,592 CZK with a Windows 11 Pro license, which alone would cost you several thousand.

Laptop performance without the laptop

Inside works the Intel Core i5-13420H – an octa-core Raptor Lake mobile processor with a boost up to 4.6 GHz, meaning the same chip you’d find in well-equipped laptops costing twenty thousand. It will be sufficient for Excel, twenty browser tabs, video calls, and even editing family videos. Add 16 GB of memory and a 1TB SSD, and you have a computer that won’t be caught off guard by anything.

But the best part is the connectivity, which even a larger case might envy: six USB 3.2 ports, one USB-C, HDMI 2.0, and DisplayPort 2.0 for two monitors simultaneously, plus 2.5Gb ethernet and Wi-Fi 6. Anyone working with large files on a network drive will truly notice the faster LAN. And because the entire body is the size of a thick book, you can hang it behind your monitor or tuck it under your TV, and no one will even notice it.

What to expect from Chinese mini PCs

Acemagic is a brand consistently reviewed by foreign reviewers: good price-to-performance ratio, but a plastic body that doesn’t match the aluminum Minisforum or Geekom, and fewer BIOS settings options. Notebookcheck praised the quiet operation and stable temperatures of a related model, so cooling is usually fine with this series – the S3A also has three fan modes, including a silent one.

The main limitation is the graphics. Integrated Intel Graphics can handle 4K video, office tasks, and undemanding games, but you’ll immediately hit a wall with modern titles – this computer is simply not for gaming. However, if you’re looking for a quiet, energy-efficient, and well-equipped machine for work that takes up less space than a shoebox, it’s a reasonable purchase for 13,592 CZK. On Alza, it currently has a rating of 4.4 out of 5 from six customers, so the sample size is still small.

Would you swap a classic desktop tower for a mini PC, or do you need space for upgrades?