CES 2025 First Look: ASRock’s One-Cable Mars PC and DeskMini B860 Are Little Titans

LAS VEGAS –ASRock showed off two new mini PCs at CES, each with unique features to help them compete in the small form factor (SFF) PC market. Which of these systems can best fit into a mini-PC will be a matter of opinion, with the new ASRock DeskMini B860 delivering high-end performance in a very limited package and the ASRock Mars 1335U offering a thin PC that can to function fully. from a single cable. See them in action above and read on for more details, starting with our short trip to Mars.

Mars 1335U: A one-line connection with the red planet

The tiny Mars 1335U computer that ASRock designed measures just 194 by 150 by 26 millimeters, giving it an internal volume of just 0.7 liters. That’s extremely small, but desktops of this size are not unheard of in the SFF market.

(Credit: John Burek)

Its specs are pretty conventional, too: it has the laptop-class Intel Core i5-1335U CPU that gives the system its name, 16GB of Kinston Fury Impact DDR5 5,600MHz memory in a dual-channel configuration, and a 1TB Solidigm P42 PCIe SCIe. .

(Credit: John Burek)

None of this makes this system stand out. The big appeal of the Mars, instead, is that it was designed to flow from a single cable. Using a USB Type-C cable and running DisplayPort Alt mode, this computer can be connected to a monitor via a cable that will send a video signal to the monitor. AND provide all the power the computer needs to run. The cable can also handle data transfer at the same time, enabling you to run everything from this connection.

(Credit: John Burek)

As well as being absolutely brilliant, this makes it quick and easy to connect the computer for initial use or to transfer it between monitors. The significant reduction in cables is also a big plus, helping to reduce clutter in and around your computer.

(Credit: John Burek)

The system features additional USB ports, an SD card slot, an Ethernet slot, and additional video connections if you need them. But that’s not as cool or as convenient as doing everything with a thin wire.

DeskMini B860: “Lake of Darts” with slots, as small as possible

The other desktop ASRock showcased is the latest version of its long-running DeskMini SFF PCs. The DeskMini B860 is one of the few modern computers that continues to use Intel’s Mini-STX form factor, which uses perfectly square 5-by-5-inch motherboards. Although not as small as the Mars 1335U, this system offers much more power and performance.

(Credit: John Burek)

The benefit of this design is that it supports standard desktop processors in an extremely compact space. This particular model has an ASRock B860M-STX motherboard with Intel’s brand new B860 chipset that supports Intel “Arrow Lake” Core Ultra 200S desktop processors with a TDP of 65 watts or lower. Yes, that’s Socket 1851 on a 5 inch square motherboard.

(Credit: John Burek)

(Credit: John Burek)

The motherboard lacks PCI Express slots, of course, but otherwise has features similar to what you’d see on a good Mini-ITX motherboard, including two M.2 PCIe slots (one PCIe 5.0, one PCIe 4.0), 2.5 Gbit Ethernet, and Thunderbolt 4 support.

Because of the tight enclosure, the DeskMini B860 doesn’t use standard DDR5 RAM like you’d use in most desktop computers. Instead, it relies on SO-DIMM DDR5 memory like you’d find in a laptop.

(Credit: John Burek)

Additionally, this DeskMini supports CSO-DIMMs, for enhanced memory speeds under XMP profiles, as you can see here…

(Credit: John Burek)

This is great, since you’ll be relying on the Arrow Lake integrated graphics processor (IGP), and faster memory can help IGP performance. Indeed, despite relying on laptop memory, it’s hard to find another computer this size that can pack so much power.

(Credit: John Burek)

ASRock expects the DeskMini to be a hit with education and AI-minded buyers due to its Arrow Lake NPU. We don’t know when the DeskMini B860 or Mars 1335U will be available for sale or how much they’ll cost, but if you’re interested in either, stay tuned for additional updates.

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About John Burek

Executive Editor and Director of PC Labs

I’ve been a technology journalist for more than 30 years, and I’ve covered just about every type of computer hardware—from the 386SX to 64-core processors—in my long tenure as an editor, writer, and advice columnist. For almost a quarter of a century, I worked at the foundation, the giant Computer buyer magazine (and later, its digital counterpart), known as the PC buyer’s phone book and every mailman’s nemesis. I was Computer buyers editor-in-chief for the past nine years, after which most of its digital content was folded into PCMag.com. I also served, briefly, as editor-in-chief of the well-known hardcore tech site Tom’s Hardware.

During that time, I’ve built and destroyed enough desktop computers to outfit a city block’s worth of Internet cafes. Under race conditions, I’ve built computers from board-boot-up in less than 5 minutes.

In my early career, I worked as an editor of science fiction books and as an editor of “Dummies” style computer guides for Brady Books (now, BradyGames). I am a lifelong New Yorker, a graduate of New York University’s journalism program, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

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About Michael Justin Allen Sexton

Analyst

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a love for all things tech, fueled in part by a love of gaming. I started working on computers owned by close family members and relatives when I was about 10 years old. I have always sought to learn as much as possible about any PC computer, leading to a thorough grasp of all things tech today. In my role at PCMag, I really enjoy the opportunity to share what I know.

I wrote for the popular tech site Tom’s Hardware for three years before joining PCMag in 2018. In that time, I’ve reviewed desktops, PC cases and motherboards as a freelancer, while also producing content offers for the site and its brother ExtremeTech. Now, as a full-time PCMag analyst, I’m focusing on reviewing processors and graphics cards while I dabble in all things PC-related.

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