Aoostar Maco 6850H mini PC review

TechRadar Verdict It might not have the latest Zen 5-class processor, but there is plenty of life left in this system for those who want a NUC with grunt. It combines affordability and performance in equal measure, and also has AI potential with an OCuLink port. Pros +Radeon 7 6850H +Easy internal access +Three Gen4 x4 slots +OCuLink and USB4 +Fingerprint unlock Cons -No memory upgrades -Can't be VESA mounted Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you're buying the best. Find out more about how we test. Jump To: 30-second review Price and availability Specs Design Features Performance Final verdict Should you buy it? AOOSTAR MACO 6850H: 30-second reviewAlthough it now has a much longer name, this mini PC was originally called just the Maco, but it spawned a line of products so for the purpose of this review I’ll refer to it as the Maco 6850H.This NUC packs a proper eight core workstation grade chip into a palm sized box, and backs it with three full speed NVMe slots, dual 2.5 gigabit networking, and a pair of USB4 ports. That is a striking amount of connectivity for a machine this size, and substantially more than many modern designs offer.The catch is the platform underneath. The Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H dates back to 2022, and while it still holds up well for general desktop work, buyers comparing it against newer Zen 4-based rivals should know exactly what generation they are getting. Memory is also soldered at a fixed 24GB, so there is no room to grow later.Latest Videos FromTechRadarBut don’t let any of this convince you that this isn’t an excellent small machine. The memory is 6400 MT/s LPDDR5 organised into four 6GB banks for maximum bandwidth, which boosts both processor throughput and GPU performance. This enables it to outperform more modern platforms, like the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS. And the cherry on top is the connectivity it supports, with both an OcuLink and two USB4 ports.Overall, it’s easy to look at the MACO 6850H and consider the technology in it as being dated. But the benchmarks don’t lie, and this highly affordable machine punches significantly above its weight. Is it one of the best Mini PCs around? Based purely on value, there is a strong argument to be made that it is. (Image credit: Mark Pickavance)AOOSTAR MACO 6850H: Price and availabilityHow much does it cost? From $459When is it out? Available nowWhere can you get it? You can get it directly from Aoostar or via an online retailerThere are two SKUs listed for the MACO 6850H: the review hardware with 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, and another model with no storage.For whatever reason, the no-storage option isn’t currently available, but if it is released, it might offer an even better deal for those with a spare NVMe drive handy. According to the Aoostar webpage, the model without storage comes with a free Windows 11 Pro key, which could be a significant deal-maker for some.Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletterSign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed!Direct from AOOSTAR, the review hardware costs $459 for those in the USA, and it is shipped from a US warehouse. It’s the same price in Germany, and comes from a warehouse in that region, but oddly, for those in the UK it only ships from China and costs $519, or an extra $60. Why the UK customers aren’t supplied from Germany is a mystery.However, you can buy it elsewhere; I found it on Amazon.com, where it's $479, although it isn’t offered with next-day delivery. In the UK, on Amazon.co.uk it's £395, or the equivalent of $529.For those looking for a bargain, AliExpress doesn’t have better prices, although they do have the barebones model with 16GB of RAM that sells for only £369.99. Unless you definitely want that option, it's probably cheaper to get it from the maker's website.Looking back at machines I’ve previously reviewed with this processor, the only candidate was the GMKtec NucBox M7. But that was discontinued in favour of the M7 Ultra, which uses the 6859U CPU.You can buy that machine from GMKtec in the UK for only £ 299.99 with no RAM or storage, or £599.99 with 32GB and 1TB, respectively. Since I also tested that, I can say the DDR5 memory it uses slows the machine down considerably compared to the LPDDR5 in the Aoostar.For the hardware and specifications it has, the Aoostar looks like a bargain.Value: 4.5 / 5 (Image credit: Mark Pickavance) Swipe to scroll horizontally AOOSTAR MACO 6850H Specifications Component Specification CPU AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H, 8 cores, 16 threads, Zen 3+, 3.2GHz base, 4.7GHz boost, 45W TDP, 16MB L3 cache Graphics AMD Radeon 680M, RDNA2, 12 compute units, up to 2.2GHz Memory 24GB LPDDR5 6400MHz, soldered to the board, single channel, not upgradeable Storage 3 x M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 slots, up to 24TB combined. Review configuration ships with 1TB Networking WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, dual 2.5GbE ports using Intel I226V controllers Ports 2 x USB4, 1 x OCuLink (no hot swap), 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type A, 2x USB 2.0, 1 x DisplayPort 1.4, 1 x HDMI 2.1, 3.5mm audio jack Power External 120W adapter, 19V at 6.32A Operating system Windows 11 Pro Chassis Recycled aluminium body with a plastic base panel, fingerprint power button Dimensions and weight 150 x 132 x 57mm VESA Mountable No AOOSTAR MACO 6850H: DesignA larger NUCEasy accessExcellent NVMe optionsLacks USB labelsAoostar has kept the Maco in a genuinely pocketable footprint, built from what the company calls 100% recycled aluminium, with only the base panel made of plastic. That is a sensible way to keep the exterior feeling solid while controlling cost and weight.A fingerprint reader sits in the power button, letting Windows Hello unlock the machine without a password. It is a feature more commonly seen on business laptops than mini PCs, and it fits the company's positioning of this being a small workstation rather than a toy.In the gamut of NUC designs, this one is on the large side, but the 150 x 132 x 57mm enclosure isn’t massive by any standards.One slight disappointment is that it lacks a VESA plate to mount it on a monitor, which feels odd.Access to the inside is easy, with just four screws on the base to remove before you have free rein inside. While this system doesn’t have socketed memory, it has four M.2 slots, two of which are used for the supplied drive and the Wi-Fi module. That leaves two unused, and all the 2280-sized slots are Gen4 x 4 specification.That’s excellent for turning this machine into a high-performance mini server, and the external IO supports that pathway with dual 2.5GbE LAN ports and USB 4.0. (Image credit: Mark Pickavance)The port layout has an audio jack, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports and a USB4 on the front; the OCuLink port on the left side; and another USB4 on the back, with HDMI, DisplayPort, and the LAN ports.According to the Aoostar web page, the two USB ports on the back right are USB 3.2 Gen 1 and USB 2.0, but neither is blue, and in my tests both proved to be USB 2.0.One minor detail I wish was different is that none of the front ports is labelled, and both rear USB ports are merely labelled “USB” rather than anything more helpful.Some might also miss an SD card slot, but the ports on this NUC do align well with using a docking station that often includes that feature.Design: 4.5 / 5AOOSTAR MACO 6850H: FeaturesAMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850HLPDDR5 6400 MT/sUSB 4.0 and OCuLinkThe heart of the Maco 6850H is the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H, a chip that first appeared in business laptops back in 2022 under the Rembrandt codename. It pairs eight Zen 3+ cores with sixteen threads, running from a 3.2GHz base up to a 4.7GHz boost, all inside a 45W thermal envelope. The PRO suffix adds Microsoft Pluton security and remote management features aimed at business buyers, on top of the same silicon found in the consumer Ryzen 7 6800H.Zen 3+ is a modest refinement of the Zen 3 architecture rather than a clean-sheet redesign, built on a 6 nanometre TSMC process. Anyone expecting Zen 4 or newer should adjust expectations accordingly. That said, eight cores and sixteen threads remain a genuinely useful amount of compute for a small form factor desktop, and the chip still competes well against many newer six-core parts in multi-threaded work.Graphics duties fall to the Radeon 680M, built on RDNA2 with twelve compute units clocked up to 2.2GHz. When this chip launched, the 680M was widely regarded as the fastest integrated GPU AMD had shipped. It’s since been overtaken by the 780M, 880M and the new 8060S, but it remains capable of light gaming and everyday creative work, particularly when paired with fast memory. (Image credit: Mark Pickavance)That memory pairing matters more than you might think. Integrated graphics performance leans heavily on system memory bandwidth, since there is no dedicated video memory to draw on.Aoostar has fitted 24GB of LPDDR5 running at 6400MHz, which should let the 680M stretch its legs more than it could on slower 4800 MT/s DDR5 and DDR4-based systems. The tradeoff is that this memory is soldered directly to the board, fixed at 24GB with no slots to expand it later.Storage is where the Maco 6850H distinguishes itself from cheaper rivals. Three M.2 2280 slots are wired for full PCIe 4.0 x4 bandwidth, supporting up to 24TB combined. That is a genuinely generous allowance for a machine this size, and positions the MACO as a plausible small NAS or media server as well as a desktop replacement.Networking follows the same business-minded theme, with dual 2.5 gigabit Ethernet ports built around Intel I226V controllers, alongside Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. Two USB4 ports and an OCuLink connector round out the external expansion options, the latter aimed at anyone wanting to attach an external GPU with less signal loss than a USB4 connection would introduce.I plan to test these scenarios and maybe write a feature based on what it reveals for those wanting discrete graphics performance or a cheap AI platform.Features: 4 / 5AOOSTAR MACO 6850H: Performance (Image credit: Mark Pickavance) Swipe to scroll horizontally Mini PC Row 0 - Cell 1 Aoostar Maco 6850H GMKtec NucBox M7 Pro CPU Row 1 - Cell 1 AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 6950H Cores/Threads Row 2 - Cell 1 8C 16T 8C 16T RAM Row 3 - Cell 1 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) 32GB DDR5 (2x16GB) SSD Row 4 - Cell 1 1TB Apacer AS2280Q4 1TB Graphics Row 5 - Cell 1 Radeon 680M Radeon 680M 3DMark WildLife 17098 15703 Row 7 - Cell 0 FireStrike 6792 7036 Row 8 - Cell 0 TimeSpy 2872 2811 Row 9 - Cell 0 S.Nomad 2502 2497 Cine24 Single 84 94 Row 11 - Cell 0 Multi 708 772 Row 12 - Cell 0 Ratio 8.39 8.23 GeekBench 6 Single 1996 2167 Row 14 - Cell 0 Multi 9601 10454 Row 15 - Cell 0 OpenCL 29110 29730 Row 16 - Cell 0 Vulkan 33652 30797 CrystalDisk Read MB/s 7070 3544 Row 18 - Cell 0 Write MB/s 6680 2145 PCMark 10 Office 7100 7064 WEI Score 8.2 8.2 Considering the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H is a four-year-old CPU, it's looking reasonably agile in this quick comparison with an AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 6950H that the GMKtec NucBox M7 Pro used. Both these chips are from the same generation, and these results show just how similar they are.It all comes down to the memory on the Maco 6850H, and that 6400 MT/s LPDDR5 gives the older machine significant pause for thought.If I were to compare it to an Intel platform, it would be the Intel Core i7-11800H, although I’ve never tested a system with that specific CPU. I tested one with the Intel Core i7-13700H, the MinisForum NBP7, and it struggled to beat the Maco 6850H.Later Intel mobile processors that have Arc Graphics are faster, but they’re also generally more expensive.One choice by Aoostar that helped the Maco 6850H in these tests was including a decent Gen4 x4 NVMe drive, since reading at more than 7000MB/s and writing at 3500MB/s helps massively with tests like PCMark.AMD and Intel are both making faster mobile chips, and they are available in SFF systems, but given the price increases we’ve seen this year, the Aoostar Maco 6950H seems like a good choice if you want better-than-entry-level performance while staying within a modest budget.Performance: 4 / 5AOOSTAR MACO 6850H: Final verdict (Image credit: Mark Pickavance)Given the turmoil in the PC industry caused by massive leaps in memory and storage prices, the antidote is to take a second look at older technology that delivers enough performance to run Windows 11 and a decent range of demanding applications.That’s where the Aoostar Maco 6850H provides a good justification for not plunging into the latest technology with both feet. Unless you want to play games or something equally demanding, this machine has plenty of performance to spare.And, should you need more power for graphics or AI tasks, it is possible to add a discrete video card using OCuLink, without resorting to a desktop system.When you factor in the performance and the price, this machine looks like a solid choice for a wide range of interactive tasks.Should you buy a AOOSTAR MACO 6850H? Swipe to scroll horizontally Value You need to spend twice this amount for a bump in performance 4.5 / 5 Design Simple but effective enclosure, but no VESA mount 4 / 5 Features Punchy CPU, LPDDR5 memory, USB and OCuLink 4 / 5 Performance Good performance for older silicon 4 / 5 Overall Great combination of performance, build quality and price is almost unbeatable value. 4.5 / 5 Buy it if...You need plenty of fast storageThis machine is perfect if you want a compact machine with serious NVMe expansion, since it has three 2280 Gen4 x4 slots, with two unused at delivery. Using 8TB drives, this system could have 24TB of storage in a very small computer.You've made connectivity a priorityWith two USB 4.0 ports and an OCuLink connection, this machine provides a means to connect ultra-fast storage and even external GPUs. It would also work nicely with a USB4 docking station if you want more than the dual video outputs and LAN ports. Don't buy it if...You want the newest AMD silicon availableThe Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H dates to 2022, so it’s hardly a spring chicken in processor terms. AMD now has Zen4 and Zen5 series chips that go beyond this Zen3+ design in terms of the memory supported, integrated NPUs and enhanced instructions. But don’t expect to get a system using those at this price.You need more than 24GB of RAMBecause this system doesn’t have SODIMM modules, the 24GB it comes with is soldered to the mainboard and cannot be expanded. Soldered memory is the trend, and therefore machines that can be manually expanded beyond 64GB are becoming rare and expensive. Also ConsiderGMKtec NucBox K16Another AMD NUC built around the Zen 3+ Ryzen 7 7735HS, offering an alternative to the 6850H, in a similarly compact and upgrade-friendly case. It costs more, but comes with 32GB of RAM and 512GB or 1TB of storage.Check out our GMKtec NucBox K16 reviewGMKtec NucBox K8 Plus A follow-up to the successful K8, the K8 Plus uses the AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS processor with 8 cores, 16 threads and boost speeds of up to 5.1 GHz. And in its standard configuration it has 32GB of RAM (expandable to 48GB), and 1TB of storage.The downside to this design is that it only has two M.2 2280 slots, but it still includes USB4 and OCuLink for a machine that costs even less than the MACO 6850H.Check out our GMKtec NucBox K8 Plus reviewFor more professional hardware, we've reviewed the best business computers. Mark is an expert on 3D printers, drones and phones. He also covers storage, including SSDs, NAS drives and portable hard drives. He started writing in 1986 and has contributed to MicroMart, PC Format, 3D World, among others. 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