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Summary
There are many good reasons for wanting to own a compact PC.
The most obvious, of course, is the space savings.
In fact, compact PCs are often mountable to the back of a monitor for zero desktop footprint.
Joe Robinson / How-To Geek
Performance-wise, many of these compact PCs can more than hold their own for everyday computing tasks.
TheMSI Cube 5 12M mini PCis a mid-tier compact computer offering solid specifications and a well-thought-out form factor.
Does the MSI Cube 5 12M’s combination of size and performance make for a worthy purchase?
The MSI Cube 5 12M mini PC can handle everyday computing tasks and takes up minimal desk space.
Let’s find out.
The MSI Cube 5 12M mini PC can handle everyday computing tasks and takes up minimal desk space.
The included 65W AC adapter is about a quarter of the size of the PC.
Joe Robinson / How-To Geek
The computer is all black save for a white MSI letter logo on the top of the case.
Air vents are located on all sides of the machine, save for the front.
On the right side of the unit is a Kensington Lock slot for a standard security cable lock.
Joe Robinson / How-To Geek
While there are four USB-A ports, it would have been nice to have more than one USB-C port.
Windows scale was set to 150% so that text would be more readable on the 15.6-inch display.
Touchscreen features were also automatically enabled.
Joe Robinson / How-To Geek
BesidesMSI CenterandNorton 360, no other apps were includedbeyond what comes stock with Windows 11 Pro.
Norton 360 is the usual 60-day trial and includes machine security, cloud backup, and secure VPN.
Gaming-wise, this system is really only good for 2D, or older, less 3D-intensive games.
Joe Robinson / How-To Geek
Subjectively, the MSI Cube 5 12M did a great job with common computing tasks.
These performance tests were performed with default, out-of-the-box tweaks and the latest drivers installed.
Geekbench6.1.0 for Windows AVX2 measures CPU performance for everyday tasks using tests that model real-world applications.
It does the same for GPU performance.
PC UserBenchmarktests across a variety of performance results, determining actual performance versus expectations.
Overall, PC performance ranked in the 56th percentile.
Should You Buy the MSI Cube 5 12M mini PC?
You’ll also take up less desk space and generally do better with fan noise over a similarly-spec laptop.
Overall performance of the MSI Cube 5 12M is solid, but there are some bottlenecks.
The processor and RAM are performance-oriented, but the SSD is on the slower side.
