At just $569 (around £430/AU$730), the Minisforum TH50 is the cheapest computer we know of that can drive an 8K display.
That’s made possible thanks to the Iris XE GPU and the Thunderbolt 4 connector that comes with it. Given that it also comes with Windows 10 Pro (and upgradable to Windows 11 Pro), the TH50 would certainly make a rather enticing mini workstation, probably less capable as a video editing PC, but definitely worth it as a photo editing machine.
At the heart of the computer is a 2021 released Core i5-11320H which is a 4-core/8-thread processor with a turbo frequency of up to 4.5GHz and a TDP of 35W. Despite its low core count, it should perform very well thanks to its high clock speed. We’re less keen on its 16GB LPDDR4 memory, one which is soldered and likely to be of the single-channel type. You won’t be able to change/upgrade it as well.
Cheapest 8K PC
You can buy the TH50 as a barebone PC with memory only or with either 256GB or 512GB PCIe 3.0 SSD. There’s two additional 2.5-inch slots which you can populate with compatible SSD or HDD SATA drives. Despite its diminutive size, Minisforum has managed to shove in an incredible 13 ports (14 if you include the power input).
There’s six USB Type-A ports (two of which are USB 2.0), two LAN ports, both of them 2.5GbE, one DisplayPort, one HDMI, two separate audio connectors and that Thunderbolt 4 connector. Just remember that the TH50 is currently on pre-sale and won’t be delivered till the end of February 2022.
Minisforum is a known quantity though as we’ve reviewed quite a few of their devices: the HM90, the U850, the H31G and the S41.
How to connect to an 8K display?
At the time of writing, there’s only one 8K monitor on the market, the Dell UP3218K, a rather expensive display. 2022 should see more 8K monitors being introduced as more devices support this resolution out of the box.
The other trick you may want to consider is using something like a Cable Matters 48Gbps adaptor and plug it into an 8K TV that has a free HDMI 2.1 connector. And that could change the way we work in 2022.
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