Lenovo ThinkCentre M715q Tiny Key Specs
Since many of our users are going to want to run different OSes on this, we wanted to give some of the key hardware specs. There is a lot on these machines that are customizable, but this at least gives you some sense of what hardware is available. If you want to know if your hardware is compatible with your OS, this list should help do that tie-out.
CPU Support
- AMD Pro A6-8570E
- AMD Pro A6-9500E
- AMD Pro A10-8770E
- AMD Pro A10-9700E
- AMD Pro A12-9800E
- AMD Athlon 200Ge
- AMD Athlon Pro 200GE
- AMD Ryzen 3 2200GE
- AMD Ryzen Pro 3 2200GE
- AMD Ryzen 5 2400GE
- AMD Ryzen Pro 5 2400GE
RAM Support
- Up to 32GB in 2x DDR4-2666 SODIMMs
Storage Support
- 1x M.2 NVMe SSD
- 1x 2.5″ Drive (SATA)
Networking (Wired)
- Realtek RTL8111
WiFi
- 802.11ac wireless, M.2 Card, Realtek RTL8821AE (dual band),
Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.0 combo adapter, 1×1 - 802.11ac wireless, M.2 Card, Realtek RTL8822BE (dual band),
Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.1 combo adapter, 2×2 - 802.11ac wireless, M.2 Card, Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 (dual band),
Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.1 combo adapter, 1×1
Chipset
- AMD B300
USB Ports
- 2x USB 3.0 Front
- 1x USB 3.0 Rear
- 3x USB 2.0 Rear
OSes From Factory
- Windows 10 Pro 64
- Windows 10 Home
- Windows 7 Pro
- Linux
Something that we wanted to quickly point out here is that these CPUs are Ryzen 2xxx series CPUs. For most of the Ryzen 2000 series, we saw a transition to the 12nm Zen+ architecture. These are still 14nm Zen parts. If you are doing comparison shopping, this is something worth keeping in mind.
Lenovo ThinkCentre M715q Tiny Performance and Power Consumption
Instead of going through the entire Linux-Bench test suite, we are going to show a few performance and power numbers here to give a general sense of performance. We actually planned to do storage testing, but then we realized that there was a huge variability in terms of what drives could be found in machines.
Python Linux 4.4.2 Kernel Compile Benchmark
This is one of the most requested benchmarks for STH over the past few years. The task was simple, we have a standard configuration file, the Linux 4.4.2 kernel from kernel.org, and make the standard auto-generated configuration utilizing every thread in the system. We are expressing results in terms of compiles per hour to make the results easier to read:
We first wanted to point out that the AMD Ryzen Pro 2200GE generally is, at minimum, 1.5-2x faster than the older HP EliteDesk 705 G3 Mini AMD Pro A10 and A6 options we tested previously. That ratio will hold in other tests, but will also be true for the M715q versions with those APUs. That is why we focused our efforts on a Ryzen system.
7-zip Compression Performance
7-zip is a widely used compression/ decompression program that works cross-platform. We started using the program during our early days with Windows testing. It is now part of Linux-Bench.
Here AMD became more competitive with Ryzen Pro. As a result, we see newer CPUs such as the 8th and 9th gen Core series offer significantly more performance. The Core i5-6500T is competitive with the Ryzen 3 here, but in later generations, the Core i5-8500T offers 6 cores at the same 35W TDP.
OpenSSL Performance
OpenSSL is widely used to secure communications between servers. This is an important protocol in many server stacks. We first look at our sign tests:
Here are the verify results:
We also wanted to point out that this is very competitive with 4C-6C Intel Xeon D-1500 solutions such as well as the Intel Atom C3758. This uses more power and does not have 10GbE, but it does have an AMD Vega 8 iGPU which allows features such as the h264/h265 hardware for transcoding to be used. Again, check your software for compatibility there. There are certainly trade-offs, but these are very reasonable especially given the price.
Next, we are going to look at power consumption before moving onto our key lesson learned and final words.
Hi,
Nice review, as always. I really like the series/reviews on these mini boxes.
I noted a few possible errors though.
Right below the Hardware Overview header on page 1, you state “The chassis itself is a fairly standard design for the earlier HP Minis.”
At the bottom of the Power Consumption Section on page 3, you state “These are designed to be quiet so many of them can fill rooms of small cubicles or co-working desk space so Lenovo, HP, and Dell had to design them to be relatively quiet.”
Should “HP” be replaced with “Lenovo” in these cases, or are you directly comparing these devices with the HP units you recently reviewed?
Thanks for all your hard work on these projects/reviews – it is appreciated.
I have three m75q-1 as my proxmox cluster. They have the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 3400GE (4c/8t) and Vega 11 and are Win 10 pro licenced.
The memory / nvme slots are under a cover on the bottom with the main case housing the 2.5″ 6G SATA drive.
Couldn’t be happier with them, especially as I got them for $200 each! I just had to add more memory (32Gb) and they run beautifully. Usually just hum along at around 10-12W.
Wish I can find one for $200 in Indonesia. Best lenovo tiny that goes for ~200USD is the M72/M92/M93P…
I can’t find those prices anywhere and that’s for any devise in the series so far. Can you use averages or ranges, for the day of presentation, from either eBay or Amazon? That’s a potential credibility issue especially for new readers.
Also for the videos, please spend more time on the devices and more close ups, it might work better than the descriptions (good they might be).
Patrick: nice review. I have the same M715q tiny but with a A6 CPU. You mention Ryzen with 8 thread will also work, what is the exact model number?
@Greg Chang AMD Ryzen 5 Pro 2400GE