Just picked mine up today. Excited to get going with it. Working great for all my ms apps so far. Love the look on the stand! Great Review, it's what made me go out and grab an open box deal from best buy!
Love your content. Can you address the potential malware on non-brand mini pcs like Beelink and minisforum? I've seen videos suggesting that for example the pre-installed chrome has some suspicious unremovable flags. Thank you and please keep it up!
I just purchased this in the 13500H flavor. It's going to be my new server. I'll be moving Plex and a bunch of other stuff to it. One good thing about this processor is that it has Xe video processing, so transcoding should be a breeze. Interestingly enough, this little processor outperforms my Ryzen 7 1700, at least in single thread. It's amazing how fast this stuff evolves.
I have used Lenovo mini/USFF machines for a number of years now and they have worked out very well. i5 processors, easy to open up, work as daily driver and special purposes, use 2.5" SSD/HD, no fan noise. Going for about $50 on eBay with ps and hd caddy.
All mini pc’s should be powered by USB C cables. I found it very convenient to be able to use the same UBC C cable and brick to power both my Mac Book Pro and Mac Book Air.
At least in EU, where I live, accesories and cables, including power bricks, have only 6 months of waranty, while internal power supply will be counted as part of the unit for the full 2-year warranty (or even more if you purchased extende warranty). So internal power supply often is huge plus. I miss the good old days, when all monitors were with internal power supply, and not with these pesky power bricks.
Thanks for the review, seems like a very well put together mini-PC, and a good competitor to the Mac-Mini. The question is though... can it play a decent game of Star Raiders :) ... j/k
Interesting report about Lenovo mini-PC. I've been using a repurposed Thinkpad T420 as a poor-mans server on our home network. Good enough for us as nether I nor my wife does video editing.
Oh man. I don’t know how I found your page. But I used to work at dunkin donuts and somehow I said I did RUclips. And we talked about RUclips for a while everytime you got a coffee. I’d love to ask you some questions if you ever are around.
Hey Lon, I really enjoy your channel. Regarding dual-booting with Linux on its own drive -- I wondered if you could make a step-by-step video covering a few ways to do this. I am value-conscious, and sometimes see old-new stock with potential. For instance, I've wondered about some of the Surface Pro tablets 7+/8 that have removable m2230s, and whether that allows us to just swap in a Linux ssd, or swap between Windows for different purposes or users. The other thing is the old 2018 Mac Mini apparently being able to externally boot into Linux on its own drive. 💎🦘
P.S. I watched some old Doctor Who* the other day, and there was an alien prince called Lon in 'Snakedance'. *Recent blu-ray BBC Peter Davison Season 20 box set release.
Looks like a great mini pc. Shame about the fan noise. If they charged an extra 25 bucks they could have added an inch of height and a low rpm 140mm fan to make it totally silent.
i need to plug in a 2nd monitor. this computer only has one hdmi port. can i use the display port to connect the 2nd monitor even though neither of my monitors have display ports?
Thanks Lon, You mentioned adding an external GPU to the mix. I'd be very curious to see if that CPU and/or firewire would be a bottleneck or a terrible compromise. I have a similar mini PC: an Intel NUC 13, i7-1360P, 32GB RAM. Currently this PC sits quietly in the cabinet beneath my TV and serves very competently as my Plex/Media Server. I've long considered building a gaming PC. I'm not a hardcore gamer by any means, but would enjoy dabbling. I'm thinking I'm at least part the way toward my goal with this NUC. Thinking a modest Nvidia RTX 4070 Super GPU, keeping the cost down and external enclosure size limited. I would use my 46in OLED TV as the "monitor" for this setup. Any chance to see an episode w more recent hardware pairing a mini PC to an external GPU w benchmarks to assess performance vs a more dedicated gaming PC? Mark
I’ve covered thunderbolt gpus in the past look up my review of the akitio node. Ultimately it’s less expensive to build your own pc with the GPU installed vs a mini pc + enclosure
Only ThinkPads, ThinkCentres, ThinkEdges and ThinkStations can be ordered with Linux (Fedora, SUSE, Ubuntu or RedHat). In developing markets, Lenovo devices without Windows tend to come with freeDOS.
A pity about the fan noise, that's the one thing that makes me hesitant about an otherwise attractive product. Maybe a slightly less "mini" form factor would give it more room to breathe?
I am sorry but that gaming performance is pretty bad. I understand this isn’t for gaming but I would say unless you are running some emulators those numbers are a bit too low for much of any gaming.
![Best Mini PC 2024 [don’t buy one before watching this]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/TLE8Okd5GZ4/mqdefault.jpg)
![Best Mini PC 2024 [don’t buy one before watching this]](/img/tr.png)
thank you for the NOISE LEVEL note. This is really important to me ;)
Just picked mine up today. Excited to get going with it. Working great for all my ms apps so far. Love the look on the stand! Great Review, it's what made me go out and grab an open box deal from best buy!
Thank you, very informative.
Great video. Thank you.
This review was VERY helpful. :)
Love your content.
Can you address the potential malware on non-brand mini pcs like Beelink and minisforum? I've seen videos suggesting that for example the pre-installed chrome has some suspicious unremovable flags. Thank you and please keep it up!
I just purchased this in the 13500H flavor. It's going to be my new server. I'll be moving Plex and a bunch of other stuff to it. One good thing about this processor is that it has Xe video processing, so transcoding should be a breeze. Interestingly enough, this little processor outperforms my Ryzen 7 1700, at least in single thread. It's amazing how fast this stuff evolves.
I have used Lenovo mini/USFF machines for a number of years now and they have worked out very well. i5 processors, easy to open up, work as daily driver and special purposes, use 2.5" SSD/HD, no fan noise. Going for about $50 on eBay with ps and hd caddy.
Which model do you have?
So it's basically suits for video editing and basic gaming? I'm wondering to get cheapest variant and upgrade later or jus buy a better at start?
I’d rather have an external power brick and better cooling. Every other manufacturer has figured this out. Even Lenovo’s ThinkCentre line.
This. I feel this is a huge misstep by Lenovo.
All mini pc’s should be powered by USB C cables. I found it very convenient to be able to use the same UBC C cable and brick to power both my Mac Book Pro and Mac Book Air.
At least in EU, where I live, accesories and cables, including power bricks, have only 6 months of waranty, while internal power supply will be counted as part of the unit for the full 2-year warranty (or even more if you purchased extende warranty). So internal power supply often is huge plus. I miss the good old days, when all monitors were with internal power supply, and not with these pesky power bricks.
a amd version would be nice to have, also this looks so cool
I wonder why they do not make all the USB ports as USB3. Would that be super expensive?
Thanks for the review, seems like a very well put together mini-PC, and a good competitor to the Mac-Mini. The question is though... can it play a decent game of Star Raiders :) ... j/k
I would like to see one with an amd apu with Radeon 780m graphics.
Mini PCs are the future of the desktop computers. I have a Mac Mini and Beelink, both are great machines.
Can you review Chuwi UBook X 12" Intel i5-10210Y?
Interesting report about Lenovo mini-PC. I've been using a repurposed Thinkpad T420 as a poor-mans server on our home network. Good enough for us as nether I nor my wife does video editing.
power consumption? Proxmox performance etc etc?
Oh man. I don’t know how I found your page. But I used to work at dunkin donuts and somehow I said I did RUclips. And we talked about RUclips for a while everytime you got a coffee. I’d love to ask you some questions if you ever are around.
Hey Lon, I really enjoy your channel. Regarding dual-booting with Linux on its own drive -- I wondered if you could make a step-by-step video covering a few ways to do this.
I am value-conscious, and sometimes see old-new stock with potential.
For instance, I've wondered about some of the Surface Pro tablets 7+/8 that have removable m2230s, and whether that allows us to just swap in a Linux ssd, or swap between Windows for different purposes or users.
The other thing is the old 2018 Mac Mini apparently being able to externally boot into Linux on its own drive.
💎🦘
P.S. I watched some old Doctor Who* the other day, and there was an alien prince called Lon in 'Snakedance'.
*Recent blu-ray BBC Peter Davison Season 20 box set release.
Dear Lon, another useful video keeping your subscribers updated.
Does this have WiFi and Bluetooth on board
Yes of course!
Links with that info in the description.
Thinkpad wireless keyboard? Awesome.
Is this compatible with QubesOS?
Available in black?
Looks like a great mini pc. Shame about the fan noise. If they charged an extra 25 bucks they could have added an inch of height and a low rpm 140mm fan to make it totally silent.
The internals of this unit appear to be an almost exact copy of the HP EliteDesk line of mini PCs. I'll bet Lenovo is using the same manufacturer.
It looks good, tech wise, though I wouldn't say no to more USB ports.
i need to plug in a 2nd monitor. this computer only has one hdmi port. can i use the display port to connect the 2nd monitor even though neither of my monitors have display ports?
DP to HDMI cables are available but do check their specs and compatability with your setup.
Thanks Lon, You mentioned adding an external GPU to the mix. I'd be very curious to see if that CPU and/or firewire would be a bottleneck or a terrible compromise.
I have a similar mini PC: an Intel NUC 13, i7-1360P, 32GB RAM. Currently this PC sits quietly in the cabinet beneath my TV and serves very competently as my Plex/Media Server.
I've long considered building a gaming PC. I'm not a hardcore gamer by any means, but would enjoy dabbling. I'm thinking I'm at least part the way toward my goal with this NUC. Thinking a modest Nvidia RTX 4070 Super GPU, keeping the cost down and external enclosure size limited. I would use my 46in OLED TV as the "monitor" for this setup.
Any chance to see an episode w more recent hardware pairing a mini PC to an external GPU w benchmarks to assess performance vs a more dedicated gaming PC?
Mark
I’ve covered thunderbolt gpus in the past look up my review of the akitio node. Ultimately it’s less expensive to build your own pc with the GPU installed vs a mini pc + enclosure
When will AMD 12 core and 16 core Mini pc come out
Does Lenovo get it back in linux or Windows
looks like he is just running a live instance.
Only ThinkPads, ThinkCentres, ThinkEdges and ThinkStations can be ordered with Linux (Fedora, SUSE, Ubuntu or RedHat).
In developing markets, Lenovo devices without Windows tend to come with freeDOS.
I prefer the ASUS MiniPC PN series with AMD
Apple studio has SD card slot, this one doesn't. So I stay with my Studio.
A pity about the fan noise, that's the one thing that makes me hesitant about an otherwise attractive product. Maybe a slightly less "mini" form factor would give it more room to breathe?
A larger form factor or a less powerful/power hungry CPU like the Intel 13th-gen P-series, new Core Ultra U-series, or Zen 4 mobile from AMD.
I am sorry but that gaming performance is pretty bad. I understand this isn’t for gaming but I would say unless you are running some emulators those numbers are a bit too low for much of any gaming.