It didn't take long at all for PC makers to start injecting AMD's freshly-baked
Ryzen 7040HS 'Phoenix' processors into updated product lines. Enter Simply NUC and its Moonstone mini PC family. These miniature systems pack some impressive hardware, including up to a Ryzen 9 7940HS CPU based on AMD's latest-generation Zen 4 architecture.
That's the flagship model, which pairs the Phoenix CPU with up to 64GB of DDR5 memory and up to two capacious (and also pricey) 8TB NVMe solid state drives, for 16TB of total storage. You'll have to pay a premium to play with those specs, though—you're looking a $4,388 asking price and that's before adding an operating system.
Fortunately, significantly less expensive configurations are available. A baseline config for the flagship model serves up 8GB of DDR5 RAM and 256GB of SSD storage for $939. Alternatively, buyers can select from two other baseline configs based on AMD's
Rembrandt-R processors (Zen 3+), including a Ryzen 7-7735U setup starting at $839 and a Ryzen 5 7535U foundation starting at $699. Both of those come standard with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD storage.
"Perfect for working or gaming, we saw an opportunity to set the new standard of innovation-driven mini PC performance," said Aaron Rowsell, Simply NUC co-CEO, "Moonstone is the highest performing 4x4 ever launched."
The Ryzen 9 7940HS is an 8-core/16-thread processor with a 4GHz base clock, up to a 5.2GHz boost clock, and 24MB cache. It has a configurable TDP range of 35W to 54W, with Simply NUC advertising a 45W TDP. It also features integrated Radeon 780M graphics with 12 graphics cores clocked at 2,800MHz.
It's a powerful chip for sure, hence Simply NUC flexing what it claims is the "best performing 4x4 mini PC on the market."
Outside of the raw horsepower that sits underneath the hood, all three Moonstone mini PCs offer up three USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, two USB4 Type-C ports (Alt-DP), a single USB 2.0 port, two HDMI 2.1 and two DisplayPort 2.0 (via the USB-C ports) outputs, a 3.5mm stereo headset jack, a 2.5G LAN port, and a microSD card slot. And for wireless connectivity, these mini PCs support Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2.