HP Z2 Mini G9 workstation: a serious PC alternative to the Mac Studio
HP Z2 Mini G9 workstation. Picture: Noel Campion.
The HP Z2 Mini G9 is for those looking for a compact powerhouse and PC alternative to a Mac Studio. Of course, the latest Apple M1/2 silicon Macs are uber-efficient, but in terms of raw power, the G9 is no slouch.
The Z2 Mini G9 workstation has a compact form factor that packs a lot of hardware into its tiny black case. The power button is integrated into the grille with a lattice pattern on the front along with the Z logo sitting on the front of the same grille. The logo can rotate so whether you stand the case upright or flat, it will always be in the correct orientation. The bass has rubber strips but there’s none on the side.
The Z2 Mini G9 looks small sitting beside my desktop gaming PC measuring 21.1 x 21.8 x 6.9 cm (W x D x H). This makes it incredibly flexible — place it on your desk, concealed behind your monitor or on a shelf. Of course, you still have to deal with cables, but for those looking for a minimal desk setup, the form factor is ideal.
The case design is partly possible thanks to the use of a rather large external power supply. The lack of power inside the case also helps to reduce the amount of heat generated too.
The all-black design looks a little generic and not as stylish as the Z2 workstations I’ve reviewed previously. I’m not too sure how much this matters since you’ll probably hide the case anyway.
My review unit arrived with a 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700 (2.10 GHz), 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage inside. Despite the small footprint, the case is easy to open and get access to the internals with a simple latch — no tools necessary. The RAM is upgradeable to 64GB of DDR5 memory — and up to 4800MHz.
The storage uses M.2 slots for up to a total of 8TB and while you will have to remove certain components to get access to them, it can be done unlike systems like the Mac Studio.
For such a compact device, the Z2 Mini G9 has a good selection of ports, including four mini-DisplayPorts and two full-size DisplayPorts. Unfortunately, there’s no HDMI.
The other ports include Ethernet (1Gbps), a combo headphone/mic port, 4 USB 3.2 Gen 2 (3.1 Gen 2) type A and two USB-C ports. The latter two ports and one of the USB-A and headphone jack are on the side of the case while the others are located at the rear.
The omission of a microSD card slot is a little puzzling for those creative professionals who regularly use one. Of course, you can use an external adaptor or dongle but it would have been nice if this were included.
Other hardware features included the latest WiFi 6E standard for maximum speed and compatibility as well as Bluetooth 5.2.
The Z2 Mini G9 differs from many compact PCs in that it uses desktop-class components. Of course, this doesn’t mean you’ll be able to fit full-size GPUs inside.
My review unit had a 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700 with a base clock speed of 2.10GHz with a boost up to 3.20GHz. Performance is stellar, but you can’t expect the same performance that you’d get from a similarly specified desktop PC that can use more powerful graphics and has more space inside for cooler temps. Still, HP has done an incredible job of engineering the case to maximise the performance while minimising the thermals.
My unit came with a T1000 graphics card from Nvidia sporting 8GB of GDDR6 memory with support for up to four, 4K displays at 120Hz using the mini DisplayPorts on the back. This 50w card has 896 Cuda cores and up to 160GB/s memory bandwidth with full support for all the usual graphics APIs including DirectX 12 and Vulkan.
While it isn’t a gaming PC and I wouldn’t suggest getting it if gaming is your main area of interest, I was impressed by how well it was able to run the games I tested including Forza Horizon 5 and Borderlands 3. I was able to get playable frame rates up to 4k at the lowest graphic settings. Running games at a more manageable 1080p resulted in faster frame rates and improved visuals.
Benchmark results were also impressive too. Geekbench 5.4.5 gave me a single-core score of 1,776 and a multi-core score of 11,747. In Cinebench R23 the scores were equally impressive — single-core 1,830 and a multi-core score of 15,178. For reference, my base model MacBook Pro M1 16 achieved Cinebench R23 scores of 1,521 and 12,264 respectively. To be fair, the Mac was on battery power and during the test was only using around 13 watts while the Z2 G9 was using an average of 65 watts.
PCMark 10 Extended, which runs a series of real works tests and takes around 30 minutes to complete provides a good idea of how a PC will perform in everyday tasks. The overall score was 6,617 with average CPU temperatures around the 60C range with rare peaks above 80C and lows in the low 40s. The scores for essentials (9,766), productivity (9,931) and digital content creation (8,224) scored very high and the lower score of 6,498 for gaming is what brought the overall score down.
Using apps like Lightroom showed just how powerful this little PC is. Loading my large 61MP raw files was speedy and all of the sliders were able to work in real-time under the develop module. Exports to my external SSD were also fast, but the Z2 Mini G9 doesn’t have any Thunderbolt 3 ports for the fastest external drives. Also, my review unit was the base model which can be ordered with faster GPUs and CPUs if required.
The compact size, powerful graphics and CPU options make the Z2 Mini G9 a serious PC alternative to the Mac Studio. The performance is excellent and I love the ease of upgradability. I found the base review unit more than powerful enough for everything I threw at but you can configure it even higher for better performance if you need it.
HP Z2 Mini G9 from €1,504.98 www.hpshop.ie
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