Lenovo ThinkCentre M720q Tiny Review - Including a Look Inside 

Thanks for Subscribing! I got an older used Tiny with a 4th Gen i5 on ebay pretty cheap last year. I upgraded it with a 2.5" SSD, and it's pretty quick too.

It's a pleasure! I am more a Thinkpad than a thinkcentre guy. I have a R61, X220, X230i, T420 (with an upgraded 2820QM in it) and a Yoga P40. The ancient R61 has the best keyboard from all of them.

Certainly! Thanks for watching!

Probably, really depends on the recommended system specs for what software you're using

Removing the CMOS battery is certainly one of the first steps I would do.

@@ZipTieNinja thank you for replying in really appreciate it. I will try it better get myself some thermal paste first.

You are very welcome, and I am very appreciative that you read the comments!

The Intel HD Graphics 630 does support 4k @60Hz but I don't have a 4k monitor to show it with. I have never noticed audible fan noise from the M720q PCs.

Thank you so much Zip Tie Ninja:)

@@ZipTieNinja FAN noise on these models is absolutely TERRIBLE!! Just terrible! Noisy as hell, and the worst, inconsistent fan speed (it slows down and speeds up, very very very annoying). I got one brand new i send it back.

@@ZipTieNinja I did, but that was after accidentally hitting the rendering function in Blender at work, it eh, can lift off pretty well if it needs to, but it returned to normal very quickly once I shut rendering down. I considered it to be comparable to my currently 11 year old Elitebook 8560W: loud and definitely there, but also completely expected in such a form factor.

I think you will be pleased with it for a media center. I have an older one that I have used as a media center, but 1080p. This model does have BT4.2

You can't switch the case. It is proprietary.

I have not had cooling issues with this model, but it is not meant for high-powered tasks. I have seen a lot of the Dell "Micro Desktop" PCs, but I have only touched a few. HP makes "Mini" PCs as well, but I haven't worked with any myself.

I have sold several of these, mostly in the Tiny-In-One configuration. I haven't have overheating issues with any of them, but it cooling is an issue for you, a larger PC with more "breathing room" would make more sense.

No, integrated Intel graphics only on this one. They do offer different configurations that do have dedicated graphics.

If you are looking for 24x7 use, I would recommend this above no name stuff.

@@ZipTieNinja thank you!

It supports M.2 on the motherboard and has a 2.5" bay as well. I have the 256GB M.2 NVMe, and I could add up to a 4TB 2.5" SATA SSD.

Thank you

Hey, thanks! And please subscribe!

I've seen M720q Tiny PCs with 1x HDMI and 2x DisplayPort, or 2x HDMI and 1x DisplayPort connectors. You can freely convert DisplayPort to HDMI, DVI, or VGA with Adapters. I've had issues converting things TO DisplayPort, though...

That price would be fairly high for a model with these specs. This one was closer to $700. I would not recommend this for gaming, because it doesn't have dedicated graphics.

@@ZipTieNinjaomg... i knew it got jipped i was kinda worried for that reply i wonder if i should go back and give him a good chin im replying on the computer now =(

It requires a riser card, and I don't think the brackets will line up. It is really intended for Lenovo cards that are options for additional rear connections.

M.2 drives are solid state data drives. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth cards are PCI Express. I'm really surprised if you ordered one that did not include the card.

The external power adapter may be defective. Or there could be a short in the motherboard.

Thanks for watching!

Agreed. I really don't understand why any PCs are sold anymore without type-c

The CPU, RAM, and HD/ SSD are removable. We can't know for sure what Lenovo has support for in the BIOS, so I typically try to get a CPU that was offered in the PC I want to upgrade.

This one is compact and portable to move up my data

You're welcome!

I agree. It's a solid PC, and very serviceable.

Nice pc masha Allaah barakallah Alhamdulillah.

I don't have one on hand right now, but do you mean a 2.5" SATA drive or the M.2 NVMe drive?

@@ZipTieNinja m.2 can i put one in this mini pc?

There's not much you can do other than adding more RAM or faster / larger SSD. Without dedicated graphics it will not be a good gaming system. Unfortunately, it was probably not a very good investment for gaming

I really hope you enjoy it!

@@ZipTieNinja didnt have time to setit up yet but for sure ill enjoy it.

Compatibility chart: M900 Tiny / M700 Tiny / M600 Tiny / M93p Tiny / M83 Tiny / M73 Tiny / M53 Tiny / M73 Thin Client / M53 Thin Client / M32 Thin ClientThinkCentre® Chromebox

@@ZipTieNinja Thank you very much for your reply.

It is AC WiFi, there are not M720q models with bgn only. It is a card, but some motherboards only accept the model card they come with, so I don't know if you can change it to a different one.

@@ZipTieNinja Thank you !

I would start with re-seating the ram and doing a CMOS reset

You are most welcome! I'm really enjoying the experience!

Most of them have HDMI and DisplayPort outputs. You can adapt the DisplayPort to HDMI, DVI, or VGA.

It does, but to my knowledge, only proprietary video cards can be put in that slot. Thanks for the info!

I seriously doubt it. The 2nd slot would have to have a header soldiered on to it, and it may not be pathed to the PCI-E bus anyway.

@@ZipTieNinja Just looked kind of odd to me that tha space for a second slot is actually there and yet it is unused. I guess you are right, it is probably not connected to the PCI-E bus.

The P330 Tiny has 2x M.2 slots, so I bet it's the same PCB with different components on it...

@@ilkertrksln Very, very common to have PCB versions with some things populated and some things not. It is much, much cheaper for a manufacturer to have 1 PCB with some parts not put on it, instead of designing several different ones. That last situation would require the manufacturer to buy in time for the manufacturing of at leas 2 different PCB's, have the etching process adapted to suit the other model and have the pick and place machines reconfigured with the new layout, whereas now the pick and place machines only get told to not place connector Y on position X in models starting with Z. It might actually even be that it is in fact connected, but the firmware has locked that extra position out. Much easier to have everything there and just tell firmware that second slot does not exist. That said, I will say that the idea of trying to put a connector on there has always tempted me, my laptop has an unpopulated M-SATA slot and I have wondered about buying the connector for it, along with a small size SSD :P.

@@Dutch3DMaster Thank you for the reply! I forgot about this question. This Tiny PC is now the proud host of my Home Assistant system

It does. It includes a removable antenna that I don't have connected in this video.

You're welcome. Mostly silent.

They are very small given what they can do. DOS gaming should be fine, but contemporary PC gaming requires more graphic capabilities.

I've not used the Dells as much, but the Optiplex are the better ones from Dell. I still prefer Lenovo over the Dell tough. Elevation will help, but I'd obviously try to clean it out as much as possible, because there is only 1 fan on these. Good luck with it!

@@ZipTieNinja Thanks for the reply. I waited until I had something useful to say. I bought both - a used Lenovo Tiny 710q and a new Dell Optiplex Micro 5070. In terms of construction, I like them both. I had heard about the "dust screen" on the Lenovo and thought I might be missing something if I bought the Dell. But I don't think so. The screened part of the Lenovo case where air intake occurs is quite coarse - more so than the Dell I think. However there is an area on the Lenovo where there IS a very, very fine mesh backing that is placed directly behind the case screen, but that finer screen is positioned over the m.2 drive and ram. That seems smart, protecting them, although as far as I can tell, there is no dynamic air flow through that area - it's just passive. So although it's a good screen, I don't think it's doing much. Also I think it would be prone to clogging if there actually was dynamic air flow. As I suspected from owning a Dell server and some Dell desktop cases, the Dell micro is very easy to open up for cleaning. Those trademark sky blue plastic Dell tabs. Want to lift up the 2.5" SSD? Just lift a tab. Expose the memory and m.2 drive? Lift the fan tab. On the other hand, the Lenovo puts the memory and m.2 drive on the underside of the motherboard, out of the way. That seems smart. The Dell places it under the fan. Also, when you do lift the Dell fan, you have to pay attention to the ribbon wire that connects it to the mainboard. Both cases are metal and I think I could stand on them without much effect. Although I can't think of too many occasions when I'll want to do that. So far, in terms of physical durability, I'm happy with both. I haven't tried to remove the Lenovo fan, which requires screw removal, but on the other hand, there doesn't seem to be a need. I'm a little apprehensive about the Dell for the sole reason that I see a whole lot of used Lenovo Tiny machines and very few used Dell Optiplex micro machines, but maybe the Lenovo Tiny has been around longer, or is just far more popular. The Dell cost me less than a new Lenovo, even though the Lenovo was on sale - and Dell gave me a 5 yr warranty at very little additional cost. Since I'm operating in dust, that was very, very attractive and it was what, for me, cinched the sale. Thank you again for your comment!

I does support 2 monitors. I've seen M720q Tiny PCs with 1x HDMI and 2x DisplayPort, or 2x HDMI and 1x DisplayPort connectors. You can freely convert DisplayPort to HDMI, DVI, or VGA with Adapters.

No. Potencia total del sistema 65w

Fairly sure this will work. At work (regional television station) these machines are used for loading-docks for the memory cards from the camera's of all sorts and even the really fast card readers are attached to it and work flawless. I think you will see a bottleneck at the conventional disk earlier or on the controller side of the enclosure limiting the speed, but not by such an amount it would become noticable.

This does not have dedicated graphics, so I'm not sure how well they would work.

I think it will work great!

The CPU, RAM, and HD/ SSD are removable. We can't know for sure what Lenovo has support for in the BIOS, so I typically try to get a CPU that was offered in the PC I want to upgrade.

@@ZipTieNinja Hey. I'm interested in another Lenovo product in the ThinkCentre series, the M75q featuring a AMD Ryzen CPU. Do you happen to know if one can buy a different power adapter with a higher TDP and use it to increase performance? I'm not sure but there are a couple of asian videos on RU-vid suggesting so.

That's a cool idea, but I've never tried it. It certainly stands to reason though.

Some of these can be ordered with dedicated graphics, but it is a proprietary card that you cannot really add later. For anything needing that level, you really need a larger desktop PC

@@ZipTieNinja aww, Thank you for replying ☺️

You're welcome!

Thanks for the sub!

Probably not unless it is a RAM or CPU issue. You would have to swap them with spares to verify. Otherwise it is probably a bad motherboard.

A motherboard short circuiting typically does not make it make a sound, there's far to much depending on energy for a short to even make it function correctly. I would say, take out one of the RAM sticks if you are capable or take out other devices not specifically needed for operation when possible, and check if the problem is gone. Should it be gone, start replacing devices and see if the problem returns. The device you installed is the problematic one then. In case that doesn't help, try checking the motherboard for damage (obviously torn off parts, that kind of stuff) Probably a late reply without some actual use, but in case anyone has the same problem ;) .

There are multiple models of Tiny PC, so you will need to look at the speed of RAM you have, like 2666MHz or 2400MHz or something like that to that know what type of SODIMM will work. As far as capacity, that will depend on model as well. I would assume pretty safely that 8GB modules will work fine, though.

The power brick runs on 110-240V Do you mean Watts?

There simply isn't space for that. These are meant for business applications like banks, hospitals, etc.

I don't know about the fan, but I will be working on one later this week and let you know. The inside of the HP and this one look very similar, but I really don't care much for HP. They use inferior parts in most PCs, and I see many more issues with HP in general. I have never used the HP tiny, though.

@@ZipTieNinja Ok I see, so in your experience the tiny Lenovos are better. I was mostly curious about the sound if it is loud under normal conditions or idle. If it is more lika a regular laptop as it should be I am happy. Thanks for reply.

hi, camping for update (: appreciate it

The video cards are propitiatory for this PC. I'm not sure you can have a 2.5" drive and use the PCIe slot at the same time. I haven't had a chance to open one of these up yet...

Zip Tie Ninja I can send you a picture of my system if you want ? It has the intel Q370 chipset

There may be models that do not include Wi-Fi

Since that is a 65 watt cpu, and this comes with a 65 watt power adapter for the whole system, I think it wouldn't work. It might with a larger external power supply, but I think you're tempting fate and I would not take the risk.

@@ZipTieNinja so the 9900t is 35 watts .. lol

I don't think so. Some Lenovo Tiny's do support dedicated graphics, but they appear to be proprietary cards

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This PC would work extremely well for that!

You're welcome!

@@ZipTieNinja ❤️❤️❤️ 1k soon🙏

This keyboard is available with 2 different mouse options. I recommend this one: amzn.to/3dHeGAd

It should. It is a powerful PC, as long as you don't need intense graphics or expansion slots.

Yo recomendaría el i5

Yep :)

Correction, it looks like an RP SMA but it is smaller. So I'm not sure if that's a standard or not. I'm not the biggest expert on antennas.

The PC can work fine stand alone, and includes a power supply with it.

@@ZipTieNinja Also have you seen those PCs with the built in wifi antennas, what is the purpose of it and if you can make a new entire wifi network on it does that mean extra monthly pay?

This has an external WiFi antenna on the back, it just isn't connected in the review. The WiFi built into desktops and laptops are intended to connect to WiFi networks, not cellular. Those are a separate "WAN" device that does cost monthly. Some laptops do include "WAN" cards, though.

You're welcome

I've connected two before successfully. I'm not sure if it will support three.

Its an older Asus VS247H-P

I certainly intend to! I will do a review of a Ryzen powered Tiny if I get one at the shop!

You can fit a 2.5" laptop size spinning SATA drive, but it has to be the standard thickness (7 or 9mm). It will fit along with an M.2 NVMe SSD at the same time. I think you mean 6TB instead of 6GB for the HDD, and I am not aware of one that would fit. They are usually 3.5" not 2.5".

@@ZipTieNinja Hello mate !!! Thanks for touch !!! I got for laptop size HDD but it little thicker then usual 2.5 The size 6TB

I have an older model that is about 5 years old and still going strong.

Without dedicated graphics, gaming would be limited.

Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

That depends on what you are designing. This does not have dedicated graphics, but there are versions that do.

I think you will be quite pleased with this one

Pretty much all major providers have a tiny PC now. What's inside is a little different though. Lenovo's Tiny-In-One solution is pretty unique though

No. PCIE 3.0 x4

Nice!

There are several variants, so it depends on which one. Some start around $600, and some are over $1,000

Locations where space is limited, or adding it to the "Tiny-In-One" Monitor to make an all in one PC.

The system requirements list dedicated graphics, so this does not meet the minimum.

I've never heard it get very loud if that is what you are asking.

iI have one and it is incredibly noisy which is why i'm here looking for solutions to the problem. The reviewer did not run it for very long so you can't see for yourself what the true noise level is when running a low power program.

It will run basic games, but without dedicated graphics gaming will be very limited

@@ZipTieNinja can it run fortnite?

I don't play fortnite, so I'm not sure. I would assume you'd be much better off with something with dedicated graphics for gaming.

Open the Start Menu, then click on the Power button. When you see the Sleep, Restart, & Shutdown options, hold down Shift on the keyboard and click Restart. On the "Choose an option" Screen, click "Troubleshoot" then "Advanced Options" Select UEFI Firmware Settings option. Click Restart to restart the system and enter UEFI BIOS

@@ZipTieNinjawhat if i have a Linux distro running, is there any easy function key method? The usual F1 doesn't work.

No, you can't. Graphics are integrated in the CPU, and there aren't expansion slots on PCs this small. If you're needing better graphics, you really need to look at larger PCs.

@@ZipTieNinja this pc can export eidus 9 full HD editing software editing plugins ?

I would not recommend video editing without dedicated graphics.

As an IT professional with decades of experience, I respectfully disagree. This ThinkCentre Tiny is about the same price as standard size ThinkCentre desktops. You are likely comparing it to another brand, especially a consumer grade, not business class product. ThinkCentre PCs tend to last a lot longer than the cheaper models with the same specs. However, you are certainly entitled to you opinion, as am I.

Some of these types of machines are in use at the place where I work for about 4 years now, and the IT department has rarely ever been happier with the stability of them compared to the bigger desktop machines. Since for the most part the work is done in the cloud these days and a browser with decent hardware will get work done (I work at a regional television station), there's only a handful of powerfull desktops left. The amount of space that was saved by not having SFF machines anywhere was immense, along with the energy savings.

Yes

It has integrated Intel UHD Graphics 630. Intel lists the specs as: Max Resolution: 4096*2304 Refresh Rate at Max Resolution: 60

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Thanks!

@@ZipTieNinja Gift me a mini pc, Lol. I am from Bangladesh. Jobless now.