GMKtec K8 and awful ending
Three months later, I got nothing
You can read why I was not happy with my GMKtec K8 device. In a nutshell, their BIOS update procedure bricked the system, paid $300 for re-flashing the unit, and now discovered it has a faulty iGPU, an issue that is unrepairable by nature.
Note aside, the PC repair shop cost may be outrageous, but it's what they charge for “BIOS/UEFI restoration” on “non-commercial boards”. Doesn’t cover any other repair the unit may need, like a shorted circuit or any other hardware fault.
Sometimes you get the “inverse silicon lottery”, you just receive a piece of hardware that will not work properly immediately or will die after some time. It’s totally plausible that a chip decides to break inside, so there is nothing it can be done except to replace the entire unit.
I already threw the towel on repairing the GMKtec K8, let alone receiving a full refund. Just for show, I decided to ask (again) GMKtec support email for warranty procedure.
Since this kind of hardware faults are mostly manufacturer’s blame, I expected prepaid shipping labels at the very minimum. For GMKtec, a prepaid label is just the cost of doing business, but to a normal person it’s some days’ worth of dinner.
I think GMKtec is not a malicious company, but their oversight on support is too big to ignore.
- Their documentation should be thorough (is not).
- They should have an online form for support and warranty (they don’t).
- They should have a special support site to download documentation, drivers and firmware (it’s Google Drive).
Ghosting support emails is always a bad sign
The first email was not about warranty, but a simple question: if they had any tool or documentation to re-flash a unit that had a bad BIOS flash or corruption. GMKTec didn’t document any tool or BIOS recovery, so it was normal to ask them directly.
They ignored the email for a full week, and yes, I checked for the SPAM folder twice. Not even an automated reply.
One month later, I sent an email asking to comply with the warranty procedure. The manual states that the device has a 12-month warranty and points the support@gmktec.com email, and this device has still 11 months left.
All hope is lost
After two mails without any response, they did reply a third one where I explicitly required warranty. After telling them that I bought the product from AliExpress, and giving them both Order ID and Serial Number, they told me to try AliExpress first, which I replied that I couldn’t since the 15-day return policy expired.
After that, they proceed to open the warranty procedure: send the item back to Hong Kong, they will inspect it and repair/replace it for a new unit. I would have to pay the shipping label, but they would pay the “delivery fee” back to me, so that was great.
Shipping by DHL, Fedex, and Chilexpress would cost around $200, but Correos de Chile offered to handle it to AliExpress for free, so I took that option. I just hoped they didn’t lose the package. Just in case, I also printed a document where I narrated everything that I tried to check what failed, and also wrote the sender address into the box itself.
After three months, there is no tracking number, no email, no messages from the AliExpress app. GMKTek haven’t received my product under warranty. By this time, I consider the package lost, and any hope of have any product in my hands is gone.
I could rant about the gray Mini PC market for half hour, or how AliExpress products can get sketchy. Instead, if you’re looking for an efficient machine in a small form factor, I’ll recommend you something very simple that will avoid you frustration and anger:
BUY A MAC MINI.
