Power Consumption
Idle power consumption on 120V power we saw 11-13W idle for the quad-core unit. We generally assume these nodes will use 9-12W idle so this was a bit higher. Again, these are used units so it may vary a bit.
The power supplies are 65W Lenovo power adapters from the company’s notebook line. We hit 54W on our unit putting as much stress as we could on it. This is still a relatively low power consumption. Most nodes used for labs, or even as desktops, will sit idle most of the time.
Something that we will note is that the power adapter that came with this unit had a lot of lint and cobwebs attached to the velcro strap. Most of the TMM nodes we get come with clean power adapters, but this was the exception. Still, it worked fine.
At idle, the noise is not significant. Under CPU and/or GPU loads, the fan spins up and the system is audible. An advantage is that one can move this system to avoid direct noise by mounting it on the back of a TV or monitor, under a desk, or elsewhere. These are designed to be quiet so many of them can fill rooms of small cubicles or co-working desk space so these need to be designed to be relatively quiet.
Next, we are going to discuss key lessons learned before getting to our final thoughts.
Key Lesson Learned for TMM
In this series, we wanted to also focus on some key lessons learned. Since we have already tested well over a dozen different models, we are taking away key pieces of advice from each that we wanted to share.
Our key takeaway is to pay attention to both the CPU model number along with stickers. In this particular unit, even though it was not listed as having an OS nor vPro when we purchased it, we saw evidence to the contrary.
The Core i5-6500T was the lowest-end processor to support vPro in these machines. When we saw the Core i5 vPro sticker we were reasonably certain it had vPro. Likewise, it was listed with “No OS” however, we saw the Windows Pro sticker on the photos of the bottom of the unit. There was no OS installed since there was no drive, however, this sticker is affixed to units that have the embedded Windows 10 Pro license.
Of course, there is some risk in looking at stickers as the systems may have been altered after purchase making the stickers incorrect. At the same time, we thought it was a high likelihood that these systems would be OK.
Our key takeaway, therefore, is if you are looking at similarly priced systems for hardware, double-check the stickers to see if one provides more value for additional features.
Final Words
We came away with two primary views of the Lenovo ThinkCentre M900 Tiny. First, at $160 used, it was an excellent value. It is highly competitive with a Raspberry Pi 4 8GB once the 8GB model has a nice case. The expandability to 16GB or 32GB of RAM in this system plus the SATA and NVMe drive slots means that one can effectively consolidate 2-4 8GB Raspberry Pi 4 8GB models into a single system like this, especially in cases where one is RAM limited. Further, the Intel HD 530 graphics are well supported for applications such as Plex transcoding with QuickSync offload. Likewise, it is an upgrade over the more expensive Mac Mini (late 2014 until the next-gen was launched in 2018) in many ways. The value is strong here.
The other side of this system is what happens when we look at what comes after. The Core i5-8500T is a 6 core processor. Newer systems also have 10Gbps USB 3.2 Gen2 ports and some Type-C ports as well. There are quite a few of these small features which we miss on an older system like this. Once memory and storage are added, the cost to get those extra two cores is not great. For example, we purchased a HP ProDesk 600 G4 with a Core i5-8500T, 16GB of memory, and a 256GB NVMe SSD for $350. That may well be worth the incremental price especially if one is thinking of clustering systems.
Overall, the key distinction of this system is the price. When the reduced memory and storage are accounted for, it was similar in price to the Project TinyMiniMicro HP EliteDesk 705 G3 Mini we looked at. It does have a better processor and vPro which we prefer over DASH. As a result, for some, this is going to be the better buy. In this space, there is a lot of nuances and personal preference involved.
Hey Patrick,
Lots of references to HP and Dell in this article – presumably from copy/paste from previous articles. Might wanna check that.
Yeah I’ve also noticed that a lot of the articles have these sorts of issues bvut I look past them because this is soul crushing work. 95% the same but you need superb attention to detail to catch the differences.
Anyway below is one paragraph that needs fixing as it contradicts itself. The issues are in angle rackets/greater/less than symbols.
“On the rear of the unit, one gets two DisplayPort headers as standard. There is an optional slot above the NIC . That spot can also be blank, VGA, DP, or HDMI. “
I have had this for 4 years or so. There are several issues. The nvme drive will overheat and it’s well documented on the forums. I started having issues with that drive after a couple of years. The second issue was mentioned already with the horrible cable from the WiFi card that it’s so easy to get caught. It’s a great form factor though.
@Patrick – Have you tried to upgrade the CPU’s in any of the TMM machines? – it appears that although not directly supported, a lot of them are able to take Intel Xeon E3’s CPU’s (just remember to get those with igpu’s and low wattage :-))
Hi Patrick,
Have you considered fitting another antenna and attaching the lead fitted to the hard drive to it’s socket?
I just purchased one of these, ex government with a 6400T, and awaiting delivery. My one does not have a wifi card fitted or antenna socket, so ordered an Intel AC9260 wifi card and a Dingfu Dual Band antenna kit with two antennae from Amazon.
My intention is to fit both antennae to the unit and fit the lead that was attached to the hard drive case to one of them. Not much room in these units, but mine does not have a VGA socket so I’ll probably use that space – hopefully the lead reaches or I may have to go even more unusual.
Full disclosure: not IT inclined and no idea, really, what I’m doing, but I found this thread and thought you folks might be able to help me. Suddenly the Thinkcentre M900 we have had for a few months doesn’t “talk to” my bluetooth speakers. They turn on but don’t connect. Same for camera. Zoom doesn’t see me even though Google meet sees me. I had moved some USB cords after moving the computer and now this. Is there a specific audio port? While we are at it, is there a specific printer port? I have a USB “Hub” – are some things not OK to put in the hub? Everything is USB- keyboard, mouse (on the other hand, given I’ve “lost” contact with the speakers maybe that’s good). This is only just occurring to me. Sigh. Thanks for any help.
Quick question.
I have one of these and would like to install an NVME drive, but there’s 2 plastic stand-offs in the way. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to remove them and replace them or what. What’s your advice?
Got 64Gbytes to work with 2x KCP426SD8/32 Also put in a 2Tbyte NVME drive and an 8Tbyte Sata drive. My NAS build is ‘complete’. Just trying to figure out a way to add a second 1Gbit ethernet, I think I might have found a way via the WiFi adapter slot (M.2 E-key).
root@tiny:~# cat /proc/meminfo
MemTotal: 65751872 kB
Getting a $16 DFRobot M.2 (A+E Key) to Gigabit Ethernet Module works. It fits in really well, the cabling is near perfect, you just need to ‘nudge’ the HDD led base slight. This allows the M900 to have 2 ethernet interfaces. Perfect for routing too!
@Robert Campbell, which CPU do your units have? Mine got i7 6700T and I’m currently clustering them for Proxmox, check this one out, a 10 Gbe adapter compatible with the nvm / pci express slot, currently not in stock but for sale ~ 160 euros. https://www.innodisk.com/en/products/embedded-peripheral/communication/egpl-t101
Anybody knows, if those devices will happily eat 24V?
Have this available through all my other controllers.
Wandering if you guys could help me, got a m900 tiny recently, everything smooth until I installed my nvme drive. At reboot fans goes crazy to 100% but no video output whatsoever. Also USBs are not powered seems like it doesn’t post at all.
Removed the nvme, tried to restart and same things happens.
I tried:
– replacing the CMOS battery (no luck)
– clear CMOS (this doesn’t even go through, meaning it powers on, but same situation with fans and no video)
– replaced memory kits with known compatible and working ones
I’m kinda at a loss here, anybody experienced something like this or have any input?
The ThinkCentre Minis with an AMD Ryzen 7 or 9 (okay overkill) would be the perfect Proxmox hosts.