Review on 💻 ASUS ProArt PA90 Mini PC Workstation: Intel Core i9-9900K, NVIDIA Quadro RTX4000, 512GB SSD, 1TB HDD, 32GB RAM, WiFi 6, BT 5.0, Thunderbolt 3 by Bill Dooley

I had really high hopes for this machine. I replaced an HP Z2 mini small form factor computer with a PA90 as it has a full size GPU (Quadro P4000). Luckily I kept HP as my HTPC as I ended up using it for 3 months. But let's start with the pros and cons. Pros: Build quality is good and aesthetically pleasing. I like small form factor cases that don't take up the entire desk, and this case has desktop components rather than mobile components like many small PCs, so it's quite powerful. The water-cooled processor is quiet, and when the lid works as intended, the temperature never rises above 85 degrees. The GPU has a little fan noise, but that's okay. Indeed, once you understand how to work with the body, there is a lot of room for expansion. Cons: This is a machine designed to be bought and used as is. Asus doesn't provide any details on how to open the case, swap out components, or add RAM. As an IT guy who started a computer repair company, I didn't let that stop me. I found a video from Asia showing how to access the case to change the RAM (behind the AIO cooler) and the 2.5 HD. You can easily do it by watching this video. Apparently there are additional slots for RAM, but I didn't delve into the matter. There's also a second M.2 slot, but I didn't add it. The second minus is the BIOS. This is the slimmest BIOS I've seen in 30 years. But more importantly, it has a downside. If you run "Optimized Defaults" in the BIOS, the lid no longer opens to the higher cooling position and the temperatures are in the mid to 90s range. The third downside is that there is only one repair center in the entire US that can deal with it... and they didn't understand how the lid was supposed to work. After 3 months (thank god I had my old HP) they finally sent me a new PA90, a top i9 at that. The lid of the new one works as expected (see picture). Although it is a very good and very powerful machine, I do not recommend it. If you rely on your computer for work, then giving it up for 3 months is unacceptable. If you buy it, I recommend purchasing an extended warranty so you're protected.