MSI Mini PC PRO DP21 Review

A RAM-packed powerhouse in a tiny case, crippled by terrible graphics and a high price. Only buy this if your desk is microscopic and your work eats memory for breakfast.

The MSI Mini PC PRO DP21 is a weirdly over-specced little box that's trying to solve a problem most people don't have. The one thing you need to know is that it's packing a surprising 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB SSD into a chassis the size of a thick paperback book. That's a lot of memory for a tiny PC, and it makes this thing feel like a developer's secret weapon or a hyper-compact server, but for everyone else, it's a confusing mismatch of power and purpose. It's fast for office work, but you're paying a premium for the small size and the RAM you probably won't use.

Looking at our database, the performance story is a split personality. The CPU lands right in the middle of the pack at the 50th percentile, which is fine for daily tasks. The real surprise is the RAM, sitting in the 82nd percentile. That's a ton of fast memory for this class, and it means you can have a hundred Chrome tabs, a VM, and your IDE open without a hiccup. The flip side is the GPU, wallowing in the 25th percentile. It's Intel UHD Graphics 770, so forget about gaming or any serious graphical work. This thing is a brain on a stick, not an athlete.

Not worth it for most people. You're paying a premium for the compact size and that giant helping of RAM. If you don't have a specific, memory-hungry use case that demands a tiny PC, you can get more raw power for your money elsewhere.

This isn't competing with the gaming towers like the HP Omen or Alienware Aurora listed—that's a mismatch. Its real rivals are other mini PCs like the Intel NUC or Asus PN series. Compared to those, the DP21's 32GB RAM is a standout, but you pay for it. For the same price, you could build a micro-ATX PC with a proper graphics card that smokes this in every task except fitting on a bookshelf.

If you're looking for a general-purpose desktop for a good price, this isn't it. Go get a standard tower or an all-in-one. If you want to play any games at all, skip this immediately and look at systems with a dedicated GPU.

We can only recommend this to a very specific user: someone who needs a compact, no-fuss workstation with lots of RAM for virtualization, coding, or data processing, and has zero interest in graphics performance. For that niche, it's a tidy solution. For literally anyone else—home office users, media streamers, general consumers—there are better, cheaper options that aren't hamstrung by integrated graphics.