Minisforum V3 tablet arrives — the world's first AMD Ryzen 7 8840U-powered Surface clone

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Pre-sale (and likely final) price is $1199; Preorders receive a tablet pen, tempered glass screen protector, and a "Premium Laptop Sleeve"

Official render of the Minisforum V3 in use, connected to a docking station.
Official render of the Minisforum V3 in use, connected to a docking station. (Image credit: Minisforum)

The Minisforum V3 tablet is the latest Ryzen 7 Hawk Point-powered PC to join the market. This time, it breaks from Minisforum's usual Mini PC flair in favor of the 3-in-1 tablet form factor popularized by Microsoft Surface and Lenovo Yoga tablet PCs. The Minisforum V3 has a 14-inch screen that can operate in a standard handheld tablet mode, a solo kickstand, and an included magnetic attachable keyboard for more laptop-typical use.

Most of the Minisforum V3's specs are somewhat standard for Ryzen 7 8840U devices, but there are some highlights here. 

The 8-core,16-thread Ryzen 7 8840U has been paired with a 2560 x 1600 16:10 IPS screen that runs at 165 Hz and has a reported 100% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage. Combined with the unique form factor, this should make this device particularly compelling for professionals on the go, especially after some manual calibration is done for color accuracy and not just gamut coverage. The screen is rated for 500 nits, which is a bit brighter than some other laptops.

According to Minisforum, the cooling system should enable the Ryzen 7 8840U and its onboard Radeon 780M iGPU (RDNA3 with 12 Compute Units; AMD's current best iGPU) to run at a stable 28 watts at all times. 

This means that this laptop's performance should be on par with the ROG Ally Z1 Extreme when plugged into a wall — or likely better, considering the Minisforum V3's default configuration includes 32 GB of DDR5-6400 MT/s RAM. 

Besides core performance aspects, the rest of the device is most likely what you'd expect. The AI bandwagon is in full force, so there is touted "Ryzen AI" support and a dedicated Copilot key. Your enthusiasm about these particular features may vary, but they are present if your workflow has any use for them.

In any case, the Minisforum V3 does look like a nice Windows 3-in-1 tablet, with decent internal specs and features like quad speakers, display-in support for other devices, and full DCI-P3 coverage being a particular highlight. The official listing starts at $1,199 on Minisforum's site and includes 32 GB of DRR5-6400 MT/s RAM alongside a 1 TB NVMe Gen 4 drive.

This tablet is recommended firmly for people who can leverage its form factor and high color gamut coverage. The lack of a dedicated GPU in this price range hurts the pure-gaming value argument too much for anyone else. Performance-per-dollar-minded consumers should likely consult our list of the Best Gaming Laptops or the Premium Laptop roundup for other high-end tastes.

Christopher Harper
Christopher Harper
Contributing Writer

Christopher Harper has been a successful freelance tech writer specializing in PC hardware and gaming since 2015, and ghostwrote for various B2B clients in High School before that. Outside of work, Christopher is best known to friends and rivals as an active competitive player in various eSports (particularly fighting games and arena shooters) and a purveyor of music ranging from Jimi Hendrix to Killer Mike to the Sonic Adventure 2 soundtrack.

15 Comments Comment from the forums
  • -Fran-
    While it looks like a very nice product, I just can't stomach the $1200 entry fee for what is a slightly souped up tablet with a bundled keyboard.

    The monitor specs read really good, but are professionals on the field that actually need that quality in the market for such a tiny screen? Artists using drawing tablets would go WACOM or the like before this as well?

    And I don't see a pen bundled with it either?

    To take the point further, I'd say anyone in the market for such a device is better off with the Lenovo Go or the Ally-Z1E (maybe even the non-extreme) with a nice monitor attached. Hell, even the Steam Deck could work if they can use Linux. I know as I have it driving 2 1440p monitors plus the built in one from a dock.

    Regards.
    Reply
  • Amdlova
    Only bad thing is can be infected with malware or other things... don't fell safe with these brands.
    And other thing really kick out my head. repair...
    Chinese stuff it's a nightmare to find the components to repair.
    They need to improve that to be a a good brand.
    Reply
  • KethanTX
    It does have a pen bundled with it, as well as the keyboard. So it's a laptop/tablet with pen with 4096 pressure levels and supports Microsoft Pen Protocol 2.6. It also has two USB 4 ports and what they call Vlink, a single DisplayPort in USB-C. So you could use an external GPU on one of those USB 4 ports if you wanted. It has a 1080p webcam with Windows Hello and a 5MP rear camera with autofocus. It also has a full-size UHS-II SD card slot, a headphone jack, and a fingerprint reader in the power button.
    Reply
  • Notton
    I think the pricing is competitive, all things considered.

    It's most direct competitor, the Surface Pro 9, with i7/32GB/1TB is $2600 full price and $2082 on discount.
    And that price doesn't include the $280 keyboard cover, bringing the total to $2362.

    Something similar, like the Asus ROG Flow Z13 with i9-H/RTX4060/16GB/1TB is $1880 full price, and $1550 discounted.

    The main issue with minisforum, and similar smaller companies, is BIOS/firmware update support.
    Reply
  • watzupken
    -Fran- said:
    While it looks like a very nice product, I just can't stomach the $1200 entry fee for what is a slightly souped up tablet with a bundled keyboard.

    The monitor specs read really good, but are professionals on the field that actually need that quality in the market for such a tiny screen? Artists using drawing tablets would go WACOM or the like before this as well?

    And I don't see a pen bundled with it either?

    To take the point further, I'd say anyone in the market for such a device is better off with the Lenovo Go or the Ally-Z1E (maybe even the non-extreme) with a nice monitor attached. Hell, even the Steam Deck could work if they can use Linux. I know as I have it driving 2 1440p monitors plus the built in one from a dock.

    Regards.
    Compared to a Microsoft Surface that may not come with a keyboard and pen bundled, I think this price puts the Surface to shame. Specs wise, I feel there is nothing in the Microsoft Surface range that can beat this when it comes to productivity and games.

    To your point about being better off with a handheld console, I think it really depends on what you are going to use it for. Handheld consoles are really just good for games because of the lack of keyboard and touchpad, and with a screen too small for proper productivity work on the go.
    Reply
  • watzupken
    Notton said:
    I think the pricing is competitive, all things considered.

    It's most direct competitor, the Surface Pro 9, with i7/32GB/1TB is $2600 full price and $2082 on discount.
    And that price doesn't include the $280 keyboard cover, bringing the total to $2362.

    Something similar, like the Asus ROG Flow Z13 with i9-H/RTX4060/16GB/1TB is $1880 full price, and $1550 discounted.

    The main issue with minisforum, and similar smaller companies, is BIOS/firmware update support.
    I think BIOS and firmware support tends to be spotty regardless of the size of the company when it comes to laptops, based on my recent experiences using laptops from known brands like Lenovo and Acer. Usually when there is a significant issue, they will definitely release some sort of firmware/BIOS update to address it.

    If anything, usually we get a more tweaking friendlier BIOS on devices produced by these smaller companies.
    Reply
  • Akanonymous
    Just because its a tablet doesn't mean it a surface clone think before you post

    Also if there was a rtx 4070m in it would have been better
    Reply
  • redgarl
    Akanonymous said:
    Just because its a tablet doesn't mean it a surface clone think before you post

    Also if there was a rtx 4070m in it would have been better
    What the hell are you talking about?

    The Surface Pro 9 has an Intel iGPU.

    That 8840u APU is way beyond what is inside the Surface Pro 9 in performance and efficiency while costing half.

    To add to the stupidity, you are talking about a dGPU in a tablet format... give me a break dear Nvidi0t...
    Reply
  • Akanonymous
    redgarl said:
    What the hell are you talking about?

    The Surface Pro 9 has an Intel iGPU.

    That 8840u APU is way beyond what is inside the Surface Pro 9 in performance and efficiency while costing half.

    To add to the stupidity, you are talking about a dGPU in a tablet format... give me a break dear Nvidi0t...
    Bro i know this one is better than surface pro that is why i don't want them to call this a clone and also i am not an nvidea fan even a rx6500m would be great it is my requirment that why bro chill out
    Reply
  • FoxtrotMichael-1
    -Fran- said:
    The monitor specs read really good, but are professionals on the field that actually need that quality in the market for such a tiny screen? Artists using drawing tablets would go WACOM or the like before this as well?
    From what I understand, most professional digital artists do use tablets now and WACOM is becoming rarer and rarer. With that said, the digital artist market is mostly saturated with the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, so I’m not sure if a Surface or Surface clone will make inroads there.
    Reply