- VZMORE iX9 Max pairs a Core Ultra 9 185H with 24GB of soldered LPDDR5 and a 1TB SSD for $949, after a $50 off code
- Its 14 ports include dual USB4, dual 2.5GbE, two HDMI 2.0 outputs, and an SD 4.0 reader, but no front USB-C or OCuLink
- The aging 185H launched in December 2023 with its 11 TOPS NPU, which falls well short of Copilot+ requirements even as compliant Panther Lake mini PCs are already shipping
VZMORE only made its public debut at IFA in early September 2026, but has already put its first Intel-based mini PC on sale.
The iX9 Max pairs Intel’s Core Ultra 9 185H with 24GB of LPDDR5 memory and a 1TB SSD inside an aluminum chassis measuring 5.31 x 5.19 x 2.27 inches, and it comes in exactly one configuration at $949 (or $899 with an accompanying discount code at the time of writing).
The price allows users to tap into a generous amount of I/O, albeit at a the cost of a slightly dated 65W 16-core Intel Core Ultra 9 mobile chip under the hood.
Fourteen ports, a 2023 flagship mobile CPU and a late 2026 box
Around the back sit two 40Gbps USB4 ports with DisplayPort 2.0 alt mode, another 10Gbps USB-A port, a USB 2.0 port for keyboards and dongles, two HDMI 2.0 outputs, and a pair of 2.5GbE Ethernet jacks. To top it off, an SD 4.0 card reader lives on the side.
That is theoretically enough to drive four displays, hang a NAS off one network port and a home lab off the other, and still have USB ports to spare. One of the USB4 ports also supports 100W of USB-C power input, so a decent GaN charger can replace the bundled 120W brick.
Interestingly, both HDMI ports on the unit are HDMI 2.0, which supports 4K output but not the 120Hz that HDMI 2.1 would offer. With no USB-to-HDMI 2.1 adapter in the box, users looking to run things at 4K 120Hz might be disappointed, even though VZMORE’s AMD-based AX9 Max ships with HDMI 2.1, according to our review of that machine. The unit also skips a front USB-C connector, which could be annoying or a potential dealbreaker for some users.
The processor, despite its age (released at the tail end of 2023), is no slouch either: The Core Ultra 9 185H was the top chip in Intel’s first Core Ultra generation when it launched in December 2023, with 16 cores (six performance, eight efficient and two low-power efficient), 22 threads, a 5.1GHz boost clock, and an eight-core Arc integrated GPU. It is rated at 45W base power and up to 115W turbo, and VZMORE lets you choose between 20W, 40W, and 65W modes.
At 65W, 16 cores remain plenty for heavy spreadsheet work, code compilation, virtual machines, and photo editing. But this chip is hardly new to mini PCs. We first reviewed it in one, the Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti, back in 2024, and Intel’s Panther Lake parts have been turning up in compact desktops such as Asus’ NUC 16 Pro since CES 2026.
The AI story here might be a bit thin, but it’s still a viable avenue; the 185H’s NPU tops out at 11 TOPS, well short of the 40 TOPS threshold Intel set for next-generation AI PCs, which has become the bar for Copilot+ certification. The “local AI capabilities” in VZMORE’s marketing will instead rely primarily on the CPU and GPU.
VZMORE’s own marketing seems a bit cherry-picked: The company claims the iX9 Max renders 45% faster under thermal stress than a “base-configured M3 system,” based on its own Cinebench 2026 testing. It does not say which M3 machine it used, and the comparison pits a 16-core chip at 65W against an eight-core Apple part from 2023.
VZMORE’s performance pitch rests on its cooler offering: it claims its V-Cooling vapor chamber offers 40% more heat-spreading area and 50% better heat transfer than a conventional dual-heat-pipe design, and that the iX9 Max can sustain 65W while staying under 38dB.
If you want a quiet, well-connected desktop PC with a three-year warranty, plenty of RAM, US shipping, and no plans to open it up, the iX9 Max ticks plenty of boxes. The port count really is generous, and a 65W Core Ultra 9 is still a capable workstation chip in late 2026.
But $949 is a lot to ask for a processor that turns three next month, in a design that appears to share most of its DNA with a cheaper Geekom offering that you can get for as little as $750 a pop. It might be wiser to wait and watch for a few third-party reviews to emerge before taking the plunge on a sub-$1000 mini PC, especially since upgrades are increasingly expensive, should one need to switch things up sooner rather than later.
