Minisforum M1-1390 Review: Is This Barebone Behemoth the Ultimate UK Workstation?

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When it comes to mini PCs, the market is flooded with low-power chips masquerading as desktop replacements. But every now and then, a manufacturer does something unhinged. Enter the Minisforum M1-1390. By shoehorning an Intel Core i9-13900HX (a 24-core colossus usually reserved for £2,000+ gaming laptops) into a chassis the size of a hardback book, Minisforum is promising flagship business mastery for a fraction of the cost. But with aggressive compromises to keep the price down, does this barebone kit deliver on its lofty promises, or is it simply too hot to handle? We’ve put the spec sheet under the microscope to find out.

The Quick Verdict: 3.8/5 | The Minisforum M1-1390 is an astonishingly powerful, budget-friendly barebone foundation for UK home-server enthusiasts, programmers, and heavy-duty office workers. However, its reliance on DDR4 memory and lack of Thunderbolt 4 holds the processor back from its true potential.

• Top Pro: Incredible multi-core CPU performance for the price.
• Top Con: Integrated UHD graphics and no Thunderbolt make it useless for serious gamers or video editors needing eGPUs.

Minisforum M1-1390 Overview

This is a “barebone” mini PC, meaning you are purchasing the chassis, motherboard, processor, and cooling system. You will need to supply your own RAM, NVMe SSD, and Windows operating system. At its heart is the spectacular Intel Core i9-13900HX, boasting 24 cores and 32 threads with turbo speeds up to 5.4GHz. Clad in an “Apple White” and silver casing that takes up just 7% of a traditional desktop footprint, it’s designed to be a discreet productivity powerhouse. On paper, it aims to obliterate heavy spreadsheets, compile code in seconds, and run complex virtual machines—all while blending seamlessly into a modern home office.

Core Feature Analysis

Design and Build Quality

• The Claim: Minisforum boasts an “exquisite appearance and compact size” with an Apple White and silver dual-colour inlay, claiming it’s ideal for sleek office environments.
• The Reality: The aesthetic is genuinely pleasing—a stark departure from the aggressive, RGB-laden gamer boxes that usually house i9 chips. At just a fraction of the size of a standard PC tower, it easily hides behind a monitor or sits unobtrusively on a desk. The inclusion of a Kensington lock slot is a smart nod to enterprise environments.
• The Verdict: Delivers. It looks professional, clean, and won’t clutter up your workspace.

Performance & Thermals: The i9 Paradox

• The Claim: “Powerful Business-Ready Flagship Performance” driven by the i9-13900HX, kept cool by a “Dual-Channel Ice-Cool” system featuring three copper heat pipes and a liquid-metal phase-change material.
• The Reality: The i9-13900HX is a notoriously power-hungry, hot-running chip. While Minisforum’s triple heat-pipe and upgraded turbo fan (claiming 25% increased airflow) look robust, physics dictates that running 24 cores at full tilt in a tiny box will result in thermal throttling. Furthermore, this system uses DDR4 3200MHz memory (up to 96GB). While this keeps your build costs down, it creates a bottleneck. An i9-13900HX craves the bandwidth of DDR5 to truly stretch its legs.
• The Verdict: A mixed bag. It will still benchmark incredibly well for the price, but you aren’t getting 100% of the desktop i9 experience. Expect audible fan noise under heavy multi-core loads.

Graphics & Display: Strictly Business

• The Claim: Minisforum advertises “Online Gaming – Lower Latency” and “smooth multitasking” via Intel UHD Graphics, alongside a “Triple 4K Display” setup.
• The Reality: Let’s be unequivocally clear: Intel UHD Graphics are not for modern gaming. The reality is that UHD graphics will struggle with anything beyond low-settings e-sports titles (like League of Legends or CS2). However, for productivity, the triple 4K output (via HDMI 2.1, DP 1.4, and USB-C) is brilliant for day traders, coders, and massive Excel models.
• The Verdict: Fails on the gaming claim, but comprehensively delivers for multi-monitor productivity.

Connectivity & Expansion

• The Claim: “All-Scenario High-Speed Network” with Wi-Fi 6E, BT 5.2, 2.5GbE LAN, and dual M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD slots supporting up to 8TB.
• The Reality: The networking suite is flawless. A 2.5GbE LAN port is exactly what you want for a home NAS or fast intranet file transfers. The ability to drop in two 4TB PCIe 4.0 SSDs is phenomenal for local storage. However, there is a glaring omission: No USB4 or Thunderbolt. The sole USB-C port is capped at 10Gbps. This means you cannot connect an external GPU (eGPU) to fix the weak integrated graphics.
• The Verdict: Excellent internal storage and networking, but the lack of Thunderbolt severely hamstrings its future-proofing.

British Contextualisation

With UK energy prices remaining a persistent headache, swapping a hulking 800W desktop tower for a highly efficient mini PC like the M1-1390 could genuinely save you a noticeable amount on your energy bill over a year of remote working. It significantly undercuts the pre-built desktop towers you’d find lingering on the shelves of your local Currys. Just remember to factor in the cost of a Windows licence, some DDR4 SODIMM RAM, and an NVMe drive from retailers like Scan or Overclockers UK to complete the build.

The Minisforum M1-1390 vs. The Competition

The Winner by Use Case: If your daily grind involves heavily multi-threaded workloads—think compiling massive codebases, running multiple virtual machines, or crunching colossal databases—the M1-1390 gives you unmatched raw CPU cores for the price. However, if you want to dabble in 1080p gaming or need Thunderbolt for external docks, the Minisforum UM780 XTX with its superior AMD graphics and DDR5 memory is a much more balanced machine.

Our Verdict

The Minisforum M1-1390 is a highly specific tool for a highly specific user. It’ is categorically ‘s not for gamers or video editors, thanks to the weak UHD graphics and baffling lack of Thunderbolt connectivity. However, if you’re a UK professional, a programmer, or a home-lab enthusiast looking to build an ultra-compact server, the sheer processing violence of the 24-core i9-13900HX is almost impossible to ignore. It’s a slightly flawed, incredibly fast, and delightfully affordable productivity workhorse.

Minisforum M1-1390 Pros and Cons

Pros:

Cons:

Final Rating

3.8/5

Additional Information

• Manufacturer: MINISFORUM
• Model: M1-1390 (Barebone)
• Processor: Intel Core i9-13900HX (up to 5.4GHz)
• Connectivity: 2.5G LAN, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2
• Display Output: HDMI 2.1, DP 1.4, USB-C (Alt DP)
• ASIN: B0HBB7G6SM