Most editing machines ask you to choose: power or portability. The GMKtec EVO-X1 Pro is interesting because it barely asks at all. This is a full desktop editing computer that measures 107 x 111 x 63mm and weighs 590g — lighter than a 70-200mm lens, and small enough to genuinely live in a corner of a camera bag. For anyone who has wanted a proper editing machine on location without hauling a laptop that throttles or a tower that doesn’t travel, that’s a proposition worth a look. You can find it on the GMKtec store.
What it actually does for photo work
Inside is AMD’s Ryzen AI 9 HX 470: 12 cores, 24 threads, boosting to 5.2GHz, with Radeon 890M integrated graphics and a 55 TOPS neural processor (86 TOPS across the platform). In practice that means Lightroom Classic’s AI Denoise — the single most demanding thing most photographers ask of a computer on a regular basis — runs locally at sensible speed, and culling and developing large RAW libraries doesn’t leave you waiting. Photoshop handles big layered files comfortably with 64GB of memory behind it, and Capture One tethering has plenty of headroom for a studio session.
The storage is the quiet hero for photographers. Two M.2 slots each take an 8TB drive, so you can run up to 16TB internally. For anyone whose photo library currently lives across a nest of external drives, being able to keep an entire catalogue on internal NVMe — fast enough to scrub through without generating previews for a week — changes how a working day feels.
And for video
For video editors, the 890M handles 4K timelines in Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve well enough for cutting, colour and delivery on typical projects. It is not a substitute for a discrete GPU when you’re grading heavily, running noise reduction across long clips or rendering effects-laden sequences — and GMKtec has clearly anticipated that.
Alongside a USB4 port, there’s an OCuLink connector. In plain terms, that’s a socket that lets you plug in a full-size desktop graphics card via an external dock, and it carries far more data than a Thunderbolt connection can (64Gbps, over PCIe 4.0 x4). So you can work on the machine as it comes, then bolt on real GPU power for the jobs that need it, rather than buying a bigger computer. Triple display output via HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 2.1 means a proper edit suite is possible too, and dual 2.5Gb Ethernet ports help if your media sits on a NAS — though anyone editing 4K directly off networked storage will still want 10GbE, which this doesn’t have.
Where it sits, and who it isn’t for
It’s worth being clear how this fits against the rest of GMKtec’s line, because the naming doesn’t help. The EVO-X2 and EVO-X3 use AMD’s far more powerful Ryzen AI Max+ 395, with a 40-compute-unit Radeon 8060S and 128GB of faster memory. The X1 Pro’s 890M has 16 compute units and tops out at 64GB. This is the smaller, cheaper tier — not a replacement for either, despite some reports muddling the two.
That makes the choice reasonably simple. If you’re grading 6K footage daily or running very large AI models locally, the X2 or X3 are the machines. If you shoot stills, edit video occasionally, and want something powerful, quiet and small enough to take with you, the X1 Pro looks like the sensible buy — and at roughly half the price of the X3.
Two honest caveats. This is a modest refresh of the 2024 EVO-X1 rather than a new design — the processor steps up and Wi-Fi moves from 6 to 7, but the chassis and thermal ceiling are familiar. And as a brand-new launch there are no independent reviews yet, so GMKtec’s AI performance figures remain unverified.
GMKtec EVO-X1 Pro: Specifications
Processor: AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 (12 cores / 24 threads, Zen 5, up to 5.2GHz). Graphics: AMD Radeon 890M integrated. AI: 55 TOPS NPU, 86 TOPS platform total; ships with GMKtec Claw for local AI models. Memory: 64GB LPDDR5-6400. Storage: two M.2 slots, up to 8TB each (16TB total); 1TB and 2TB configurations. GPU expansion: OCuLink (PCIe 4.0 x4, 64Gbps) and USB4. Display: HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 2.1 and USB4 DisplayPort output; triple display support. Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, dual 2.5Gb Ethernet. Front ports: 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, USB4 (display output and power delivery), OCuLink, 3.5mm audio, power and reset. Rear ports: 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 2.1, dual 2.5Gb Ethernet, DC input, Kensington lock. Cooling: dual-fan vapour chamber; 65W peak system TDP, quieter 35W mode. Chassis: CNC aluminium, 107 x 111 x 63mm, 590g. Power: 120W adapter included.
GMKtec EVO-X1 Pro: Price and availability
The EVO-X1 Pro is available now direct from GMKtec. UK early-bird pricing is £1,230 for the 64GB/1TB configuration and £1,360 for 64GB/2TB. US pricing is $1,599.99 and $1,769.99 respectively, after a launch discount running until 15 August. There is no 32GB option; all configurations start at 64GB.
