MSI Pro DP21 Review | PCMag

Mid-tower PC cases dominate low-end desktop shopping, so why not go smaller? Starting at $329 ($471 when tested), the MSI Pro DP21 takes about 1/10th the space Mini PC with equivalent features. It’s compact enough to be VESA-mounted behind a monitor or under a desk, yet packs plenty of ports, Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth wireless connectivity, and a spirited Intel Core i3 processor. The ECS Liva Z3 and Intel NUC 12 Pro are even smaller, but don’t strike the same price/performance balance as the Pro DP21. As such, this mini MSI easily earns our Editors’ Choice award among affordable mini PCs.

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Outside: function over form

MSI’s Pro DP21 is aimed at home and business users with everyday needs such as office productivity, web surfing and video streaming, and POS operations. Our entry-level review unit has a quad-core Intel Core i3-12100 processor, 8GB of memory, a 256GB Solid State Drive (SSD), and Windows 11 Home. The PC is ready to use right out of the box and includes a basic USB keyboard and mouse. All you need to add is a monitor.

This PC’s practical case measures 2.2 x 8 x 8.2 inches (HWD) and has a volume of just 2.3 liters. Considering a typical mid-tower is around 30 liters, that’s pretty much nothing.

(Credit: Kyle Cobian)

As mentioned, the Pro DP21 supports VESA mounting, so you can mount it behind your monitor, on the wall, or even under your desk. If you don’t want to mount it, that’s fine. It can be placed horizontally or vertically using the included stand.

(Credit: Kyle Cobian)

Design-wise, the Pro DP21 doesn’t stand out at first glance, but the front panel tries to stand out with defining plastic ridges and a silver MSI logo. Front ports include 3.5mm headphone and mic jacks and four retro USB 2.0 ports. The power button glows white when the system is powered on.

(Credit: Kyle Cobian)

On the back are HDMI 2.0b and DisplayPort video outputs, each supporting 4K at 60Hz for modern dual monitor setups. In addition to these, Gigabit Ethernet, serial, 3x USB Type-A (2 versions of 3.2 Gen 1 and 1 3.2 Gen 2), 1x USB Type-C (3.2 Gen 2), and mic-in and line-out has an audio jack. The final connector accommodates a laptop-style 120 watt AC adapter. Because this desktop is too small for an internal power supply.

(Credit: Kyle Cobian)

This tiny desktop allows admirable serviceability. Remove the two Phillips screws and you can slide the top plate back. The 6.5-inch square motherboard has an M.2 2280 slot for SSD, an M.2 2230 wireless card slot, and two DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM slots for up to 64 GB of RAM (two 32GB modules). The included Intel AX201 wireless card supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. Its antenna is built into the chassis.

(Credit: Kyle Cobian)

Two 2.5 inch storage drives can be installed in the metal cage above the memory slots. The Pro DP21’s processor can also be upgraded. The motherboard supports a socketed FCLGA1700 Intel “Alder Lake” CPU with a base power rating of 65 watts. This is a pleasant surprise, as mini PCs often use non-upgradable mobile chips.

Cooling needs are minimal for this small PC. The fan above the CPU heatsink is the only thing on this unit. Quiet even in heavy use.

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MSI Pro DP21 Test: Daily Performance, Check

In summary, the $471 MSI Pro DP21 (model 12M-407US) features an Intel Core i3-12100 CPU (4 3.3GHz performance cores, no efficient cores, 8 threads), Intel UHD 730 integrated graphics, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. , and Windows 11 Home. The warranty is one year, and the included stand comes with a USB wired keyboard and mouse. I briefly saw this system on Amazon for $429.

(Credit: Kyle Cobian)

MSI’s low prices and desktop CPUs are a rare combination in the mini PC segment. When it comes to performance, it competes with small form factor PCs like the Acer Aspire TC-1760-UA92 ($559 when tested with Core i5-12400). Nearby mini PCs include his palm-sized ECS Liva Z3. It’s cheap ($250), but is held back by a weak Intel Pentium Silver CPU. There’s also the Geekom IT8 Mini PC ($549), which uses an older but capable laptop-grade Core i5-8265U chip. Neither are as easy to upgrade as the Pro DP21.

In addition to those PCs, we’ve also included benchmark results for the $1,064 Intel NUC 12 Pro with laptop-grade Core i7-1260P. You can see the basic specs of our competitors in the table below.

Productivity and content creation testing

Our first test is UL’s PCMark 10. It simulates a variety of real-world productivity and office workflows to measure the overall performance of everyday applications, from word processing and spreadsheet work to video conferencing. It also includes a primary drive storage his subtest.

The other three benchmarks focus on the CPU using all available cores and threads to assess a PC’s suitability for processor-intensive workloads. Maxon’s Cinebench R23 uses the company’s Cinema 4D engine to render complex scenes, and Primate Labs’ Geekbench 5.4 Pro simulates popular apps ranging from PDF rendering and speech recognition to machine learning. Finally, I use the open source video transcoder HandBrake 1.4 to convert the 12 minute video clip from 4K to 1080p resolution (shorter is better).

The ultimate productivity test is PugetBench for Photoshop from Puget Systems.(opens in new window), using Creative Cloud version 22 of Adobe’s renowned image editor to evaluate PC performance for content creation and multimedia applications. This is an auto-enhancement that performs a variety of common GPU-accelerated Photoshop tasks, from opening, rotating, resizing, and saving images to applying masks, gradient fills, and filters.

MSI’s desktop outperforms Geekom and the underpowered Liva Z3, posting a PCMark 10 score that clears the hurdle of 4,000 points showing excellent performance of Microsoft Office 365 and Google Workspace. The Pro DP21 also shows healthy numbers in the CPU benchmarks, coming close to the 6-core Acer on Geekbench. Adobe Photoshop isn’t this mini PC’s forte, but with more RAM, it’ll probably do just fine.

graphic test

For Windows PCs, our synthetic gaming tests include two DirectX 12 game simulations from UL’s 3DMark, Night Raid (more discreet and suitable for systems with integrated graphics) and Time Spy (more demanding high and suitable for gaming rigs with discrete GPUs). Also included in this group is the cross-platform GPU benchmark GFXBench 5, which we use to measure OpenGL performance.

MSI’s Pro DP21 is pretty much what you’d expect from a desktop with Intel UHD integrated graphics. That means you won’t be playing the latest games anytime soon. As an example, Intel’s NUC 12 Pro with the latest generation Iris Xe graphics scores pretty well in these tests.

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Verdict: Mini Size, Mega Value

In short, the Pro DP21 shows what a value-oriented mini PC should look like. Current connectivity such as Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth, along with its excellent upgrade potential, make the Pro DP21 a viable replacement for small form factor towers, and its desktop-grade Intel processor outperforms many mobile CPUs. is also much more responsive. You can’t go wrong with the MSI Pro DP21, which has been tested and costs less than $500.