UK Lenovo ThinkStation P350 Tiny new / i5 11500 / 8GB RAM / 256GB NVMe / 3 yr warranty NOW £420 (or less!) delivered

[Parallax]

Hello all,

This seems like a very good deal, though note it uses a 65W TDP CPU.

Lenovo ThinkStation P350 - tiny - Core i5 11500 2.7 GHz - vPro - 8 GB - SSD 256 GB - UK

The Lenovo ThinkStation P350 is a core i5 2.7 GHz laptop with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. The P350 ships with Windows 10 Professional and is covered by a 3 year on-site manufacturer warranty.

www.theitbay.com

Or if you would prefer a better known retailer (for £70 more, after the latest round of price reductions at ITBay) :

https://www.serversdirect.co.uk/p/1598108/lenovo-thinkstation-p350-tiny-core-i5-11500-8gb-256gb-ssd-windows-10-pro-workstation-pc

Either way elsewhere these are around twice this price. These are equivalent to M90q Gen 2s.

 

[Parallax]

In fact it's even cheaper, it seems, if you buy multiples. I bought two from ITBay and the total came to £469 each.

They say to contact them if you're buying several; they offered two at zero discount and four for ~£10 discount each, so I just ordered two through the site yet ended up with a discount of £20/unit.

 

[Parallax]

Now even cheaper, £460 each is the starting price from IT Bay. In case anyone is worried about buying from them, my two arrived promptly sealed in the box and I just had to ask Lenovo to reset the warranty to start on the date of purchase (simple web form, accepted by Lenovo the following morning) - seems these had been sitting in a warehouse a while.

 

[Occamsrazor]

@Parallex - Thanks... that does seem like a pretty good deal, I see it for 620 on Amazon UK. Do you know if the RAM is a single 8gb or 2 x 4GB? How feasible is it to run Proxmox with a couple of virtual machines etc with 16GB?

 

[Parallax]

@Parallex - Thanks... that does seem like a pretty good deal, I see it for 620 on Amazon UK. Do you know if the RAM is a single 8gb or 2 x 4GB? How feasible is it to run Proxmox with a couple of virtual machines etc with 16GB?

It's a single 8GB 3200MHz stick. As long as you don't go crazy, 16GB is fine for a couple of Linux VMs. I run ~20 Docker containers in an 8GB VM.

 

[Occamsrazor]

The 11500 is a TDP 65W processor, right? Do you think it uses a lot more in practice e.g. at idle than a 35w? Do you know what your P350 idles at in power terms?

 

[Parallax]

The 11500 is a TDP 65W processor, right? Do you think it uses a lot more in practice e.g. at idle than a 35w? Do you know what your P350 idles at in power terms?

I know where you're coming from, I really have to keep an eye on anything that consumes power and is on 24/7. Welcome to the UK in 2022.

It depends if you intend to push it hard or not. The only difference between the CPUs really is the maximum power consumption parameters, so at idle it should consume roughly the same* amount of power whether 35W or 65W TDP. You could also make the argument that if your workload is bursty in terms of demand, then doing more work (consuming more power) in a shorter time on a 65W TDP CPU may be a wash with doing less work over a longer period on a 35W TDP part.

* However, the P350 comes with a 170W power supply, so if your power usage is low, this will cause inefficiency vs a 35W TDP part on say a 65W power brick. So very, very hard to say but probably we're only talking a watt or two difference overall.

 

[maxg]

That's indeed a pretty good deal for the P350, but I'm confused about the differences with the M90q Gen2. Are you sure it comes with a 170W brick? I think the i5 M90q G2 comes with a 125W one. Can you also confirm if the P350 has the PCIe riser slot, 2 M.2 2280 slots? Does it come with a 2.5" drive cage?

 

[Parallax]

That's indeed a pretty good deal for the P350, but I'm confused about the differences with the M90q Gen2. Are you sure it comes with a 170W brick?

Yes, I bought two and both came with 170W supplies.

Can you also confirm if the P350 has the PCIe riser slot, 2 M.2 2280 slots?

Yes to both.

Does it come with a 2.5" drive cage?

Mine didn't.

 

[maxg]

OK, thanks. Did you still notice a "SATA1" ribbon connector next to the WLAN M.2 2230?

 

[Parallax]

OK, thanks. Did you still notice a "SATA1" ribbon connector next to the WLAN M.2 2230?

I'm familiar with the Tinys, I've had five models across 4 generations which all had the SATA connector and caddy. So I can definitively tell you there's no caddy and no ribbon cable with attached drive connector included in this P350 version. The ZIF connector on the motherboard is present though, so you'd just have to add the FRU, which is usually ~£25 or so. I put the caddy FRU for the M720/920q into the Tiny reference thread, I'm not sure if that works in the P350 but I don't see any reason it shouldn't. EDIT : apparently, it doesn't!

This didn't bother me because ultimately I'll probably put a 10GbE card in them; and in the meantime I'm running them with two m.2 drives.

 

[maxg]

Sorry for the questions, I'm very tempted to get a P350 as Laptop direct is selling them refurbished under £400, but I'm hesitating because I will need to get both a PCIE riser (for raid controller) and a drive bay/ribbon cable (for SATA power, I have SATA QVO drives) and both are looking difficult to find in the UK. They are sold on auction sites but shipping from China with long delivery times.

I wonder if anyone has tried a P330 riser in a P350, I know they have different FRU but the connector looks the same. The P330 riser can be found more easily and cheaply.

 

[Parallax]

Sorry for the questions, I'm very tempted to get a P350 as Laptop direct is selling them refurbished under £400

I saw that, but personally I would rather spend the extra £60 (ie only 15% more) and get it brand new in a sealed box with a three year on-site warranty. But I know times are tough and £60 is £60.

but I'm hesitating because I will need to get both a PCIE riser (for raid controller) and a drive bay/ribbon cable (for SATA power, I have SATA QVO drives) and both are looking difficult to find in the UK. They are sold on auction sites but shipping from China with long delivery times.

I'm not sure I'm understanding you correctly, but if you're looking to put a 2.5" drive and a PCIe card in a Tiny I don't believe that'll work. I note in the Tiny reference thread that I read somewhere someone had claimed to have done it, but I don't think it's very credible and anyway the heat would be horrendous. These are very compact boxes and even if you could physically jam it all in there, you would have basically zero airflow.

Also I'm not clear on the purpose of the RAID card in this setup anyway?

I wonder if anyone has tried a P330 riser in a P350, I know they have different FRU but the connector looks the same. The P330 riser can be found more easily and cheaply.

I agree I can't see why they'd be different, but I don't have any personal experience I can offer. The best place to ask would probably be the reference thread I linked to.

 

[maxg]

I'm not sure I'm understanding you correctly, but if you're looking to put a 2.5" drive and a PCIe card in a Tiny I don't believe that'll work. I note in the Tiny reference thread that I read somewhere someone had claimed to have done it, but I don't think it's very credible and anyway the heat would be horrendous. These are very compact boxes and even if you could physically jam it all in there, you would have basically zero airflow.

It's very likely be possible by removing the PCB from the 2.5" enclosure, they are full of air. I can confortably fit 2x4TB in a dell 3070, even with power splitters, SATA cables and M.2->SATA adapter.

 

[Parallax]

It's very likely be possible by removing the PCB from the 2.5" enclosure, they are full of air. I can confortably fit 2x4TB in a dell 3070, even with power splitters, SATA cables and M.2->SATA adapter.

In that case you're doing things that are well outside my experience so I can't advise you. I'm not familiar with the Dell boxes either, so I can't compare. In the Tiny the m.2 slot(s) are on the underside of the motherboard, so just bear that in mind as well. There is a WiFi 2240 slot as you note on the upper side but that has limitations.

 

[Parallax]

Now even cheaper, £429.98...

 

[JediAcolyte]

A bit off topic but how much are power rates in the UK?

 

[Parallax]

Depends on your supplier, but mine is 30.6p/day for the supply and then 28.2p per kWh.

 

[JediAcolyte]

Jueezus...
By my (Google's) math that's $30/month plus .28 cent/kwh

I feel bad complaining about .10 cent when I see people with .07 cent

There are times when it's nice to be in America.

 

[Parallax]

Jueezus...
By my (Google's) math that's $30/month plus .28 cent/kwh

I feel bad complaining about .10 cent when I see people with .07 cent

There are times when it's nice to be in America.

Yes, it's expected to increase around 45% in October.

But then I pay around $14 a month for 30GB of 5G mobile service and $25 for unlimited internet at up to 900Mbps, so it's all relative.