Lenovo M90n $399

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Patrick

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Dec 21, 2010
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I saw this and am pretty excited for it. Lenovo via Ebay :

Same price on the Lenovo website:

Ebay gives you $4 off, Lenovo's website lets you configure/ bundle.

Either way, 8GB RAM, Core i5, vPro, WiFi, 512GB SSD, Windows 10 Pro, and very small. I do not think this is going to be the best price/ performance, but I really want a small one.

One big caveat with these, which I think makes the M920q reviewed today a much better buy, is that these have the second M.2 slot, but use soldered DRAM so you are stuck with 8GB unless you get the 16GB model from the factory which costs a lot more. This is also 4C/8T instead of 6C on the T series i5-8000 series.
 
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int0x2e

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Dec 9, 2015
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I saw this and am pretty excited for it. Lenovo via Ebay :

Same price on the Lenovo website:

Ebay gives you $4 off, Lenovo's website lets you configure/ bundle.

Either way, 8GB RAM, Core i5, vPro, WiFi, 512GB SSD, Windows 10 Pro, and very small. I do not think this is going to be the best price/ performance, but I really want a small one.

One big caveat with these, which I think makes the M920q reviewed today a much better buy, is that these have the second M.2 slot, but use soldered DRAM so you are stuck with 8GB unless you get the 16GB model from the factory which costs a lot more. This is also 4C/8T instead of 6C on the T series i5-8000 series.
Very cool unit! I do worry the 15w TDP is going to be a limiting factor, but time will tell.
 

WANg

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Jun 10, 2018
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I saw this and am pretty excited for it. Lenovo via Ebay :

Same price on the Lenovo website:

Ebay gives you $4 off, Lenovo's website lets you configure/ bundle.

Either way, 8GB RAM, Core i5, vPro, WiFi, 512GB SSD, Windows 10 Pro, and very small. I do not think this is going to be the best price/ performance, but I really want a small one.

One big caveat with these, which I think makes the M920q reviewed today a much better buy, is that these have the second M.2 slot, but use soldered DRAM so you are stuck with 8GB unless you get the 16GB model from the factory which costs a lot more. This is also 4C/8T instead of 6C on the T series i5-8000 series.
Eh, Dell offers a similar product (the Optiplex 7070 Ultra), and those machines have dual SODIMM slots, an M.2 slot and a 2.5” drive bay, and they are designed to be integrated into the stands of Dell LCDs. 25 cm x 10 cm x 2.77 cm, or roughly 0.75L.
Oh, and they are 500 OBO on evilBay. My guess is that 460 to 480 + shipping will land the machine (there is an open box variant that’s 450 OBO)

Time to spend that review budget @Patrick.
 
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rafale77

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Sep 28, 2020
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Wow... small size cost money... I am actually running something similar but a tiny bit bigger (HP Prodesk Mini G5) but it came cheaper with the flexibility to swap out the CPU.
 

Patrick

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@WANg if I can find one that is in the sub $400 space similar to the m90n I will get it
 

BlueFox

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No vPro on that one. Need the i5-8365U CPU for that. The i5-8265U doesn't have it. I can't think of a compelling reason to get that one over a NUC, which doesn't have fixed RAM.
 

rafale77

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Sep 28, 2020
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It's a lot of compromises to get to this size for sure and it is a pretty unique "niche". Most devices with this form factor are of the gemini lake class of CPUs (6-10W). I just got this only a couple of hours ago and in came to be $109 after all coupons for prime day. As I opened the link to post this I discovered that the price almost doubled.
 

WANg

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Patrick

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My M90n from the above arrived and I finally had a chance to open it late last evening. I was a bit shocked by first the size, but then also what came with it. The units came with the 65W PSU as expected. What I did not expect was a wireless keyboard and mouse combo as well as a USB-C to HDMI 2.0b adapter.

8GB still feels a bit small for $400.
 
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WANg

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Jun 10, 2018
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My M90n from the above arrived and I finally had a chance to open it late last evening. I was a bit shocked by first the size, but then also what came with it. The units came with the 65W PSU as expected. What I did not expect was a wireless keyboard and mouse combo as well as a USB-C to HDMI 2.0b adapter.

8GB still feels a bit small for $400.
Soldered. RAM.
 

J Hart

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Apr 23, 2015
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I bought one near the beginning of September for $399 and have to say it is better than expected. There are few neat little quirks. One thing is that it can be powered with USB-C PD rather than the supplied Lenovo rectangle plug. Another thing is that the BIOS/CPU allows virtualization to be turned on. I was able to get Hyper-V up and running with no issues. Inside there are two NVME m.2 slots and one mini(micro?) PCIe slot for the Wifi/Bluetooth card. I ended up pairing it with a cheap Lenovo E24-10 Monitor for $94 which has a Displayport connector. It has no problem putting out 4k @ 60Hz on my Samsung monitor. The size is similar to a laptop dock. The noise is practically zero. It has a fan, but as far as I can tell, it doesn't turn on except during high load and even that is not above the average level of noise in my house.

Works surprisingly well as a tiny workstation for Zoom(supports background replacement) and for regular office tasks. I turned on WSL2 and have been using it to do some WFH from it as well.
 
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rafale77

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Sep 28, 2020
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I just read up on the Wyse 5070 thread. Any idea as to what these 3000050463864 models are? Are they extended ones and are they the J5005 CPU ones? Always on the market for cheap Gemini lake mini PCs as I found them very power and price efficient. Sorry don't mean to thread-crap.

I just got my XIDU J4125 one and this thing is so small... about the size of 2x2.5" hard drives. Not nearly as powerful as the lenovo here but 1/4 the price. I will power mine with a POE splitter which is almost the same volume as the pc itself.