I’ve been putting off writing this for months. I’ve never had an issue buying mini PCs or PCs online. I’ve purchased from Dell and Alienware (before it was acquired by Dell), but I’ve always been skeptical about buying from brands with no local presence. My recent experience confirmed that my skepticism was warranted.
Long story short: if the brand doesn’t have local support, don’t buy—unless it’s ridiculously cheap and you’re ready to write it off if things go south.
My Minisforum AtomMan G7 Ti Experience
I bought the Minisforum AtomMan G7 Ti last August with my own money, intending to review it. For transparency, I did request a review unit, but Minisforum declined. They did offer a US$30 discount, though. Things started rocky. The delivery was delayed—I ordered in August but it only started to ship in September and arriving on October 01. I can wait, though. That wasn’t the problem.
I didn’t set it up immediately. I did a couple of weeks later. The setting was a breeze. Installed the vertical stand. Set up the windows, and first thing after I did all that, I installed Steam and downloaded the much-hyped Black Myth: Wukong. I added more games—Tomb Raider (yes, the OG Lara Croft with the pointy chest), LEGO The Lord of the Rings, Dirt Rally 2.0, Assetto Corsa, Once Human, Forza Horizon 4, and F1 24. It was all cool… until it wasn’t.
This mini PC was my PS5 alternative (except it couldn’t play PlayStation exclusives, but hey, it can play Xbox games). I gamed maybe two or three times a week, for no more than five hours each session. That said, from day one, the fan noise was unbearable. So loud that my wife once asked if it was raining. Desktop or Game Mode (which this machine conveniently has a button to let you toggle) didn’t matter—it roared. The mode button is a nice touch, though.
The Sudden Death
By February 2025, it died. No warning. A few minutes into an F1 24 time trial, the screen went blank—as if someone yanked the plug. No boot, no response. The power brick was fine. I am no expert here, but I believe the fan failed and/or the CPU has, for some reason, fried. I reached out to support immediately.
Here’s where things really went off the rails.
Minisforum Support Is a Rollercoaster
Mini PCs have simple build which means they usually do not have issues that warrant warranty claim and therefore, there is no biggy even if they does not have local support. But the AtomMan G7 Ti isn’t your basic mini PC. It is not your regular old Mini PC; it is a bold new attempt by Minisforum to create a console-like PC fit for the living room. Unfortunately, it failed and I had to go-back-and-forth with the support.
Minisforum’s online support is spotty. I submitted a form and only got a reply days later—which is already unacceptable. Worse, the support emails came disjointed, sometimes from different people, and never in a single thread. And apparently, they don’t work weekends which is not cool for support. Oh, also TrustPilot helped a little; I left a negative review and got a response. I hate to do that but they leave me with choice. I need a reasonable response, and fast.
Then came the kicker: I had to ship it back to Hong Kong—on my dime. On top of that, they tried to charge me an “Annual Depreciation Cost.” Based on their math (which is the cost of the machine x (100%-5%)/7), I’d owe 188 USD, plus over 100 USD in shipping to be paid to the shipper on my end. I was speechless. And don’t get me started on the language barrier—it led to repeated misunderstandings.
Eventually, they waived the depreciation fee. I just had to cover shipping. But then I asked about data backup. They told me to back it up myself. I told them it was dead, and you cannot back up a dead machine. The support replied with a solution: “Remove the hard drive.” So, great. Now, I have to double as a Minisforum technician.
With all that hassle, I’ve demoted it to an oversized paperweight.
Aesthetics ≠ Reliability
Yes, the AtomMan G7 Ti looks good. The build quality is good. The performance is pretty decent, but let’s be real. It runs a laptop RTX 4070, which isn’t in the same league as a desktop GPU. Black Myth: Wukong couldn’t run ray tracing. It handled 1080p okay, with some graphics tweaking. Try to push it further, expect the graphics to tear mid-game, and experience the most un-smooth graphics you will ever see since Budsy 3D. But to be fair, I was using a basic Mini LED TV, which did not harness the full potential as far as graphics go.
Even if it had worked flawlessly, I still wouldn’t recommend it. No local support means you’re gambling with your money.
Final Thoughts
My machine is now sitting in my cousin’s lab. He runs a software business and used to build custom PCs for a living. He’ll crack it open and let me know what went wrong. Not that it matters now.
So yeah, consider yourself warned.
What Minisforum Could Have Done
Just some thoughts regarding the pricing. Minisforum should have tied down with logistic companies for a package that could cover their shipping and return costs. Moreover, the pricing of the machine should already factor in the possibility of total machine failure that could result in returns.
Consumers should not bear the so-called “Annual Depreciation Cost”. I mean, seriously, what the hell is that? It is not that I am returning it. I want it back in working condition. Geez.
Images: Mike for Mikeshouts.com.
