I love mini PCs, and Beelink is at the top of the category. At this point, I've reviewed a couple of Beelink mini PCs (e.g., my recent Beelink SER9 and EQR6 reviews), and the GTi13 Ultra is the first I've reviewed that was designed around the concept of attaching a dedicated GPU to it.
With support for Beelink's dedicated GPU dock, you can attach almost any graphics card you want to it.
It's the first mini PC I've experienced that isn't limited to integrated graphics, and that opens a whole world of gaming and creative experiences I've not previously considered viable on a mini PC form factor like this.
I've been using the Beelink GTi13 Ultra for about three weeks now, and here is my full review.
Beelink GTi13 Ultra: Pricing & Availability
Price: $599 from Beelink
CPU: Intel Core i9-13900HK
GPU: Intel Iris Xe Graphics
RAM: 32GB DDR5 5200MHz
Storage: M.2 1TB SSD
Wireless: Wi-Fi 6 / Bluetooth 5.2
Dimensions: 158 x 158 x 56 mm
The Beelink GTi13 Ultra is configurable with different RAM and storage options. The base configuration includes 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD storage and usually retails for around $759 (though right now it's $599 if you buy direct from Beelink).
You can also upgrade the storage to 2TB and the RAM to 64 GB. An even higher-end configuration with 96GB RAM normally costs $1,039 (but is just $839 from Beelink right now!).
We've reviewed the entry-level model with 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD, which I think will be fine for most people buying this PC.
All configurations come with an Intel Core i9-13900HK and can be configured in either "Frost Silver" or "Space Grey" colorways. Our review unit is of the Space Grey model. In our Core i9-13900HK review, we gave it high praise for gaming. While it's older than the 14900HK, it helps reduce the cost of this mini PC, which I'm OK with. You can see the how the 13900HK compares to the 14900HK for more details.
Of course, Beelink also sells the dedicated graphics card docking station separately, which costs an additional $159. This docking station includes one PCIe 8x slot, a USB port, Wi-Fi antenna extenders, and an additional M.2 SSD slot or Wi-Fi card module upgrade slot.
Beelink GTi13 Ultra: Design & Ports
Kicking things off with design, the Beelink GTi13 Ultra looks clean and minimalist on any desk. It's quite a bit larger than some of Beelink's other mini PCs, and it's definitely on the more premium side, with a metal chassis that surrounds all four sides and the top of the PC.
Its size is larger than the Beelink SER9, the company's other flagship mini PC with an AMD Ryzen AI 9 SoC. That device measures just 135 x 135 x 44 mm, compared to the GTi 13 Ultra, which measures 158 x 158 x 56 mm.
That makes it larger in all dimensions, likely to make room for the PCIe x8 slot on the underside of the PC.
The device is available in two colors, frost silver and space gray. My unit is the space gray one, which pairs very nicely with the Beelink dGPU dock, which we'll discuss later in the review.
There are also plenty of ports on the GTi13 Ultra, including a USB-A and USB-C port on the front, a full-sized SD card reader, and a 3.5mm audio jack. Around the back, we have four USB-A ports, a USB-C port, DisplayPort 1.4, and HDMI 2.1 out. We also have two 2.5G ethernet ports.
The front also includes a power button with a built-in fingerprint reader and a microphone array housed in four small holes along the top front of the device.
Beelink GTi13 Ultra: Dock & Features
The Beelink GTi13 Ultra's big selling point is its neatly tucked-away PCIe 8x lane underneath the PC.
This PCIe lane is designed for dedicated GPUs, and Beelink has even built a special dock for this mini PC that lets you hook up pretty much any graphics card of your choice. The dock supports a maximum of 600W of power, meaning it should support the NVIDIA RTX 4090.
The dock is plastic and features a single PCIe lane that carries data from the graphics card to the mini PC.
When connected to the dock, the mini PC sits upright on its side, still giving you access to the fingerprint reader while leaving enough space for the graphics card and mini PC to get good airflow and remain optimally cool.
Setting up the dock is pretty straightforward. It comes with a universal bracket for the graphics card to hold it in place, as well as a smaller bracket for the mini PC that secures it in place when connected to the dock. The mini PC simply slides onto the area where the dock lines up with the mini PC's PCIe slot.
The dock is also more than just a graphics card device. It includes an additional USB-A port for peripherals or external storage and can even be opened up to install an additional M.2 SSD.
If you don't need additional storage, you can use that same M.2 slot for a Wi-Fi card, which can increase wireless internet performance with a better antenna.
The dock is an ingenious idea, and I really love how it looks when the setup is complete. I hooked it up to my AMD Radeon 7600, and the package looked tidy.
It still takes up less room than a traditional desktop PC while maintaining similar performance. And, of course, you don't always have to use the dock if you don't intend to use a dGPU often.
I do have one minor gripe with the dock, however. The dock has a separate power supply, which makes sense as it will need the extra juice for hungry graphics cards. But what's annoying is the dock has its own separate power button that you must remember to press before turning on the mini-PC.
This means you need to hit two power buttons to turn the mini PC on when using the dock, which is a bit of a pain.
I wish the mini PC could automatically wake and sleep the dock when you hit the power button on the PC itself only, but that, unfortunately, isn't the case here.
Additionally, if you do forget to turn the dock on when you turn the PC on, you won't see a picture on your monitor, and the only way to fix it is to shut off the mini PC, turn on the dock, and then turn the mini PC back on.
One solution to this problem would be to simply never turn the dock off. The graphics card will power down when you power off the mini PC, but the dock will remain "on" until you manually press the power button.
I'm not sure if leaving it on will cause any damage in the long term, but I'm one of those people who likes to turn things off when I'm done with them at the end of a workday.
Additionally, the graphics card you choose to connect will influence how quiet the overall PC is. The mini PC is super quiet on its own, even under heavy load. But with a dedicated GPU connected, the graphics card's fans will be more audible, and that can be a bit frustrating if you're sensitive to that kind of thing.
This is enhanced because the graphics card isn't enclosed in a PC case like it normally would be in a tower PC, so it's right by your workspace and audible.
The Mini PC also includes other features, including a fingerprint reader neatly built right into the power button on the front of the PC. This fingerprint reader is excellent; it's nice and large and easy to hit, and it is superfast at recognizing your fingerprint, too. I love using this for Windows Hello login.
The PC also features upgradable RAM and storage, which you can access by popping off the bottom plastic cover to access the insides. The plastic cover is held in with four screws that are easily removable, and from there you pull the bottom cover off to gain access to the RAM and storage slots.
There are two M.2 SSD slots, one of which will already be occupied.
Beelink GTi13 Ultra: Performance
Unsurprisingly, the Beelink GTi13 Ultra's performance is nothing short of impressive. The Intel Core i9-13900HK, powering things under the hood, is a beast of a PC chip, capable of tackling pretty much any task you'll likely want to throw at a mini PC, including gaming, photo editing, video editing, and data crunching.
In our Cinebench 2024 testing, the CPU earned a single-core score of 122 and a multicore score of 906, placing it amongst other high-end creative PCs, such as the Lenovo Yoga AiO 9i and Geekom GT1 Mega.
In our Geekbench 6 testing, the Beelink GTi13 Ultra was a slight letdown. Its single-core score of 2,787 was good, but its multicore score was slightly lower than we were expecting, around 12,573, placing it below the Geekom A7 and GT1 Mega.
However, in daily usage and heavy workflows, the performance of the Intel Core i9 inside the GTi13 Ultra is nothing short of excellent.
It's a powerful chip that can handle most tasks. SSD performance is also excellent, with CrystalDiskMark achieving 5195MB/s read and 4742MB/s write speeds.
The same can't be said for the integrated graphics, which are mediocre and disappointing. You won't want to use the Intel UHD Graphics for anything intensive, but if you're buying this mini PC, you're likely interested in utilizing that PCIe lane for a dedicated GPU card, which will boost graphics performance significantly.
For this review, I paired the Beelink GTI13 Ultra with an AMD Radeon 7600, allowing me to treat the mini PC as a gaming one.
With the card connected, I could run all my favorite games at a smooth frame rate at a 2K resolution, with most games set to medium or high graphics.
For example, in our 3DMark Time Spy test, the GTi13 Ultra achieved a low score of 2,121 when using the integrated Iris Xe graphics.
But when a GPU was connected to the dock, the score skyrocketed to 11,015, placing it up there with full-sized desktop PCs with RTX 4070 and 3080 cards.
For the Beelink GTi13 Ultra, you can hook up any dedicated graphics card you like, as long as it's compatible with a PCIe x8 lane.
That includes the new high-end NVIDIA RTX graphics cards. So, if you wanted to increase that performance score, you could very easily do so with a GPU upgrade later.
Beelink GTi13 Ultra: Should you buy it?
You should buy this if ...
✅ You're looking for a mini PC that doubles as a powerful workhorse.
✅ You need a mini PC that's both powerful yet quiet.
✅ You want a mini PC that can competently game with your own dGPU.
You should not buy this if ...
❌ You don't foresee ever needing a dGPU.
❌ You have limited space on your desk.
❌ You want a PC that is more energy efficient.
The Beelink GTi13 Ultra is a workhorse mini PC. It's designed to get work done, purchased for a specific purpose that you already know you need it for.
In this case, any task that requires graphics performance. While you can buy the Beelink GTi13 Ultra without the dock to use as a standalone mini PC, I don't know why you would, as Beelink has better options out there, including the SER9.
The GTi13 Ultra's big selling point is that PCIe lane, which pairs with the dock and allows you to hook up any dedicated graphics card you choose.
The integration between the mini PC and dock could be better. I don't like having to manually power on both the dock and mini PC when turning on the PC, but this is a small gripe that most people will get over.
If you're in the market for a small PC that can take any PCIe 8x graphics card, the Beelink GTi13 Ultra is a great choice. The Dock itself isn't that expensive either, at just $159. It also doubles as an expandable storage bay for an additional M.2 drive.
