Zotac’s original Mek was tall and thin, but its two newest PCs go in two completely different directions. On the one hand, there’s the Mek Mini, a squat PC that’s less than 10.2 inches tall and just over 5 inches wide. It will cost around $1,500 when it releases in late Q1 or early Q2. Then there’s the Mek Ultra, a mid-tower with a bunch of RGB lighting and liquid cooling, which will cost about $1,900 in late Q1 or early Q2.
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Zotac Mek Mini | Zotac Mek Ultra |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-8700 | Intel Core i9/7900X / Intel Core i7-8700K |
| GPU | Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 (8GB) | Up to Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti (11GB) |
| RAM | 16 GB OC 2666 MHz DDR4 | Up to 32 GB OC 3200 MHz DDR4 |
| Storage | 240 GB NVMe M.2 SSD, 2TB 2.5-inch SATA HDD | Up to 500GB NVMe M.2 SSD, Up to 4TB 3.5-inch HDD |
| Size | 10.3 x 10.2 x 5.4 inches / 260.9 x 258.8 x 137.2 mm | 22.1 x 9.6 x 22.6 inches / 561.3 x 244 x 573 mm |
I adore the Mek Mini from an aesthetic point of view. It’s so little! But it packs a punch with an RTX 2070 GPU, Intel Core i7-8700, 16GB of RAM and plenty of storage. It even has a little bit of Zotac’s Spectra lighting and comes with both a gaming mouse and a mechanical keyboard. If you want a desktop to easily bring to LAN parties in a backpack, this is the one.
Zotac is currently planning on making the Mek Mini in black, but it's also seeking community feedback on a series of colors. In a Las Vegas suite during CES, it showed me red, white, green and chrome models (I like the red the best. Instead of a stereotypical gamer red, it's a deep, rich hue. The white is also really classy, like a tuxedo).
On the other side of the coin is the Mek Ultra, a mid-tower that goes up to an RTX 2080 Ti and Intel Core i9-7900X at the top-end. It goes up to 32GB of Zotac’s own RGB RAM has a 240 millimeter all-in-one liquid cooler. There’s plenty of Spectra RGB lighting including the top radiator, the water cooler and the front of the machine.
No matter what size you like, it seems Zotac has one for you. I’m particularly curious to see how the thermals work in the Mek Mini. We’ll find out when these release later this year. And if you prefer the original tall, thin model, a new Mek 1 with RTX cards that will start at around $1,899 is coming in February.
