Project TinyMiniMicro is back! The Lenovo ThinkCentre M75q Tiny Gen5 is a 1L PC based on the AMD Ryzen platform. Since we have reviewed many Tiny systems previously, this one felt interesting enough to revive the series because it introduces a number of fundamental changes. We also managed to add a lot more RAM than the official specs list. Let us get into it.
Lenovo ThinkCentre M75q Tiny Gen5 Overview
For this one, we have a video:
As always, we suggest watching the video in its own tab, browser, or app for the best viewing experience.
We purchased this unit for just over $800 with mediocre discounts a few weeks ago. Lenovo pricing is discount-heavy, and sometimes, promotions and deals can make prices vary wildly. Our unit had 16GB of RAM, 512GB NVMe SSD, and an AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 8700GE. We also got Windows 11 Pro with the system.
Given where we are at in the product cycle, this system is still mostly found new, but we should start to see the used platforms increasingly hit the market over the next 6 to 36 months which will lower prices. That is why we are doing this one now.
Lenovo ThinkCentre M75q Tiny Gen5 External Hardware Overview
The system itself looks like several generations of Lenovo Tiny ~1L systems before it.
Lenovo has a headset jack, the power button and three USB ports on the front. Something nice is that Lenovo labels its ports well showing all are USB 3.2 Gen2 10Gbps ports. Two are Type-A with one being an always on port. The third is a USB Type-C port. Unfortunately, this seems to only be a USB port.
On the side, we get vents.
On the other side, we get more vents.
On the rear, we get a standard Lenovo rectangle power input, a DisplayPort, USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A port, HDMI port, then three USB Type-A ports.
Networking is still Realtek 1GbE. Unlike some of the other 1L PCs, Lenovo has one external antenna for its WiFi 6E.
There are also two optional ports. Our system came with an extra DisplayPort and there is an option for the second port then to be a serial port. Lenovo has a few different options on what can go into this system.
For many, this is going to lack the display outputs for a multi-display workstation which is a bummer. It feels like Lenovo could have pushed to have more display connectivity than they have in this system.
A fun one is that since Lenovo is a big company, we get big warnings that we do not see on systems from smaller vendors. We will have a fun story about the “button cell or coin battery” when we get inside the system.
Next, let us get inside the system.
The mini systems are neat, but pretty niche.
You are at what, $1200+ if you want 128GB RAM in it by the time you get a couple drives? And still only 1 low speed NIC?
I think the systems are neat from an academic standpoint, but poor choices in any situation where you have room for something a BIT bigger.
If you’re adventurous, then I believe this part would allow powering this unit with a generic usb-c power supply that uis sufficiently rated for required A at 20V:
Lenovo 4X90U45346
Tiny systems without Intel/QuickSync have no use case for my lab.
Good tip by @frank.
Using the same adapter, one can achieve “UPS” using a power bank that has pass through capabilities.
I have a couple of such power banks mainly for my homelab and i bring with me one such for charging Thinkpad laptops.
The latest HP Elite 805 DM has a USB-C port with PD. This I miss in these Lenovos. That is a very nice option if you have a display with USB dock.
I have 4 of these exact systems running in my home along with an older generation of the m75q.
This one is louder than the old ones under load. However they make great PCs for general use, kids workstations and light gaming, and various server/lab workloads that don’t demand ECC.
I have one running as an NVR for an analog encoder because I have a bunch of old BTC cameras and it runs fantastic. Also have one running proxmox with various VMs and containers running. As somebody pointed out, there are better Emby/Plex/Jellyfin options because of the lack of quicksync, but they are still really solid boxes.
The also often go on sale. The last one I bought was just over $600 from Lenovo direct with 32GB or RAM and a 1TB SSD. Pretty hard to beat the value prop. Personally, I prefer these over the Dell/Intel options, of which we deploy a ton of at work. The Lenovo is just a really solid option.