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The Apple Mac Studio made an enormous splash when it entered the market just a few years again. The shape issue with that type of energy was almost too good to be true. Now, the best mini PC producers are replicating that type of desktop powerhouse.
The Lenovo ThinkCentre Neo Extremely is a superb instance of that. Lenovo took the precise measurement of the favored Mac Studio and threw their machine into it, claiming it was the enterprise model of a Mac Studio.
For probably the most half, it has glorious ports, an possibility for as much as 8 shows, beats out the Mac Studio, an RTX 4060 GPU, and even a discrete AI NPU. However can this machine match the efficiency means of the Mac Studio at its greatest?
Lenovo ThinkCentre Neo Extremely: Value and Availability
The Lenovo ThinkCentre Neo Extremely begins at round $3,000 however’s regularly discounted to below $2,000. In the event you spec this factor out, you may run over $5,000. The Lenovo ThinkCentre Neo Extremely is out there for buy by way of Lenovo.com and enterprise companions, so if you’re seeking to decide this up, I might examine first at Lenovo to snag a type of nice offers on this machine.
Lenovo ThinkCentre Neo Extremely: Unboxing & first impressions
The Lenovo ThinkCentre Neo Extremely is sort of the precise dimensions of the Apple Mac Studio. It is available in a compact field with the cable and paperwork you’d anticipate. In contrast to the favored silver on Macs, the ThinkCentre Neo Extremely is available in a Luna Grey chassis that appears extra like what I might anticipate a Lenovo gadget to appear to be.
Very like different compact desktops, the ThinkCentre Neo Extremely would match simply below a monitor, even when not on a monitor arm, or should you needed to, you possibly can tuck it off to the facet, maintain it entrance and heart to indicate off or mount it behind the monitor or below the desk.
Lenovo ThinkCentre Neo Extremely: Design & construct high quality
Specs
CPU: As much as Intel Core i9-14900 vPro
GPU: NVIDIA RTX 4060 8GB
RAM: As much as 64GB DDR5
Storage: As much as 2x 2TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs
Ports:
1x USB-C 20Gbps, 1x 3.5mm combo jack, 2x USB-A 5Gbps, 4x USB-A 10Gbps, 2x HDMI 2.1, 4x DisplayPort 1.4a, 2.5GbE LAN
Elective: Configurable punch-out ports (HDMI, VGA, USB-C, LAN, and so on.)
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3
Dimensions: 7.68” x 7.52” x 4.25” (3.6L), 7.7 lbs
The Lenovo ThinkCentre Neo Extremely is a really skilled and simple-looking machine. Lenovo has performed an important job at making this a machine that doesn’t stand out, will not be overly flashy, however seems skilled and top-tier on the identical time. It is bought a stable body with rounded off edges, however not a lot in order that it seems spherical, extra simply not sharp. The highest panel seems prefer it’s the roof to a constructing with a row of home windows, leaving loads of room for air flow to maintain this powerhouse from overheating.
For many who like with the ability to improve RAM and SSD on their very own, it’s nice to see that the underside panel can simply be eliminated. That is one thing that I see much less and fewer in computer systems usually. But it surely’s a significant element for some customers.
Lenovo ThinkCentre Neo Extremely: In use
I work predominantly from a laptop computer. It has at all times appealed to me to have a single pc that I can simply take from place to position. Nonetheless, having used this pc in my rotation of gadgets for the final a number of weeks, I can say there’s something implausible a few desktop that’s arrange, able to rock, no dock wanted, no cost wanted, plugged into a number of shows, arrange once you’re prepared—a type of desk setup.
As you may see within the desk photographs, I normally have this on a single monitor setup. Nonetheless, I ran 5 shows on this at one time just because that was the quantity I had with me on the time of testing. I can confidently say that this is a superb desktop if you’re working totally on enterprise duties and need to use a number of shows.
There isn’t any want for an exterior graphics card or a dock with DisplayLink like I want with my M2 Sequence MacBook Professional, and there are not any points when working various kinds of screens, as I’ve seen questions on. I used to be working a 49-inch ultrawide, a 32-inch, a 27-inch, a conveyable monitor, and a TV, all with none points.
Throughout my testing, I used this show for just a few digital conferences, plenty of writing and admin work, some primary photograph modifying, some video rendering, rather a lot (40+) of heavy Chrome Tabs (a number of in depth venture administration instruments), Slack, Asana, Jira, Basecamp, ZenDesk, Hubspot, Postman, VS Code, WhatsApp, E-mail, and extra. I labored on some net design, system automation, massive Google Docs with 40+ pages of 11pt font and lots of feedback, and so forth. I attempted to crash this pc, which dealt with every thing whereas simply outputting to an abundance of display screen actual property.
I wouldn’t use this machine for heavy video modifying as a result of I don’t suppose it is one of many best video editing computers out there, however it is without doubt one of the best business computers on this form-factor, perfect for administrative or extra customary enterprise duties like venture administration, paperwork, emails, digital conferences, and so forth.
After testing, I additionally see plenty of benefits to utilizing this should you’re a venture supervisor or supervisor. It might permit for ample shows to indicate every thing that type of function must see all of sudden, with out compromise.
|
Attributes |
Notes |
Score |
|---|---|---|
|
Design |
Smooth {and professional} |
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
|
Ease of use |
Straightforward to make use of |
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
|
Practicality |
Sensible for some superior customers |
⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
|
Value |
Hefty value |
⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Lenovo ThinkCentre Neo Extremely: Last verdict
The ThinkCentre Neo Extremely is a powerhouse of a machine. I’d nonetheless select a Mac Studio for artistic duties, however this machine is a real contender for traditional enterprise efficiency. It’s bought higher video outputs, is simply as compact, and has main enterprise safety and nice software program.
For enterprise professionals, developer groups, and even issues like convention rooms, command facilities, or different setups that want plenty of screens, this machine is a implausible one to contemplate. Simply know that it doesn’t have Thunderbolt, so file transfers will probably be fairly a bit slower than on one thing that does help a model of Thunderbolt.
For additional energy, we reviewed the best workstations you may get proper now.