Sure thing! Here goes nothing — let’s see if we can shake things up a bit.
—
So, you ever find yourself sucked into the world of computer hardware a little too deeply? Like, I swear, every time I sit down to write about MSI, I end up knee-deep in specs, ports, and that infamously addictive “click” of a well-built case. MSI, known ’round the PC world as a bit of a champion in the hardware arena, seems to be stretching its long arms even further. I’m talking stuff beyond the motherboards and graphics cards that my friends and I have jammed into our custom rigs more times than I can count.
Anyway, MSI’s been dabbling in gaming laptops that apparently fly off the shelves during every major sale — I’m talking Amazon Prime Day, Black Friday, you name it. But, as fate would have it, I kinda blinked and missed their grand foray into the teeny-weeny mini PC scene. Till, of course, they dropped some new Cubi models at CES 2025 and then rang me up to visit their London digs. Suddenly, boom, there I am, nosing around their two new AI-heavy mini PCs — Windows 11 raring to go, mind you — with a little test run unit in my paws.
Now, the highlight of my trip? Probably chewing the fat with Gökhan Bodur — the big cheese of MSI UK marketing — who’s just the kind of guy to spin off into a talk about how these Cubis are all the rage with those AI NUCs they’re rolling out. Apparently, there’s the MSI Cubi NUC A1 1UM and the AI+ 2MG. These aren’t your regular boxes, mind you. They’re teeny, yet they pack a punch. I couldn’t resist flicking a couple of switches on a sample model, and truth be told, I got that little spark of giddiness — like finding a twenty in an old jean pocket.
Remember back in 2013 when Intel decided we all needed a mini PC called NUC — short for Next Unit of Computing? Those things took low-power mobile processors and tried to make us believe we needed one on every desk. Fast forward, skip a few beats, and now MSI’s doing its thing with their updated Cubis that toss tradition out the window — almost. They’re not ditching Intel, but kinda riffing on it, trying to be the Picasso of mini PCs, you know?
So why does this even matter? Well, it’s the sorta tech dance that keeps us tech geeks on our toes. MSI keeps it real with traditional NUC designs but tosses some lunar, meteoric twists in there with fancy chips. Life wasn’t meant to be lived in boring rectangles, so maybe that’s why these neat little cubes caught my eye. They look like a chubby Rubik’s Cube that decided it was time to fit USB-Cs and Thunderbolt 4s into its busy social schedule.
Here’s a little kicker, though — they’re not just cubes floating aimlessly in the market. MSI gave them a fancy little gimmick: Sustainability. Yep, these bad boys are made from recycled stuff — Mother Earth will probably give ’em two thumbs up. They’re even figuring out how not to wrap these machines in mountains of plastic. Progress — slow and steady, like grandma learning to text, but yay for MSI for thinking green.
The basics? They’re tiny — like too-small-for-your-office-desk tiny — yet somehow manage to offer options you’d expect from the big guns: multiple monitors, cool little power button tricks, and even stuff like dual 2.5G Ethernet ports. They’re scrappy, they’re ready, and they’ll let you mount ’em behind your ultra-wide monitor like secret agents when you need space.
And if you’re thinking these mini wonders are only for cramming into corporate office spaces — sit tight. MSI’s poking its nose into enterprise markets first, but heck, there’s nothing stopping you or me from strutting into Best Buy and grabbing one if the wallet’s feeling heavy. That said, they’re not dirt-cheap either, more like a suited tech talk show host — sharp, but likely sporting a hefty price tag under that suit.
So there you have it, the tactile scrapbook of my MSI mini PC encounter. A little tangled, a bit of a whimsical spill, but scratches the itch for those of us who believe smaller tech doesn’t mean lesser tech. It’s a bit like drinking espresso when you’ve been living on drip coffee — jolting, a bit much, but undeniably exciting.
Whether these mini cubes will replace your sprawling, cable-ridden desktop setup — well, who’s to say? But they sure are piquing my curiosity — that heart-in-the-mouth moment of opening a new tech box that isn’t just another laptop.
End of day take? The Cubi NUC AI+ 2MG probably gets the crown, but let’s see if the market feels the same way. Time to play the waiting game with fingers crossed.
