Lenovo Drops Tiny AMD-Based ThinkCentre Mini Desktop for IoT and Industrial Applications

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By Niels Broekhuijsen
last updated

Small, passive, and ample connectivity. What's not to like?

(Image credit: Lenovo)

There's something about small, low-TDP fanless PCs that never fails to intrigue us, and Lenovo's latest creation is no exception. This one is powered by an AMD processor and comes with enough power and connectivity for simple, low-demand applications in Internet of Things (IoT) and industrial applications. 

As spotted by Fanlesstech, the Lenovo ThinkCentre M75n IoT comes with AMD's Athlon 3050e processor, which has a TDP of just 6W. This is obviously easy enough to cool passively, and it's wired to 4 GB of memory and two M.2 slots. 

The primary goal of Lenovo's new ThinkCentre M75n is as an IoT (Internet of Things) computer, to act as an efficient central hub for your various devices that don't act as IoT devices natively. Nevertheless, nothing is stopping you from using it as a normal PC, though with just a 6w processor it wouldn't make much sense. Given that this is a ruggedized computer designed for factory work and industrial applications, it will also cost far more than any competing solutions in the same 6W TDP envelope. 

(Image credit: Lenovo)

Thanks to this low TDP, Lenovo is able to entertain the following statement: "Thanks to tailored, triangular-shaped fins, the ThinkCentre M75n IoT dispels heat more efficiently than most other compact PCs. In fact, this industrial PC can handle temperatures up to 50˚C (122˚F)."

(Image credit: Lenovo)

Connectivity is handled by a trio of USB 3.0 ports, two USB Type-C ports, two Serial ports, a DisplayPort connector, gigabit Ethernet, and a Mic/Headphone combo jack. There is an optional 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0 module available, too. 

The system comes with Windows 10 Home installed from the factory, but it's also Ubuntu and Redhat certified.

No word on an exact release date other than 'soon,' but we do know that pricing will sit at $329.

Niels Broekhuijsen
Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

13 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Rdslw
    I just love how the page:
    https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/amd/athlon_silver/3050ulist this athlon as:
    base frequency2,300 MHz (2.3 GHz, 2,300,000 kHz) +that kiloherz since my earliest days in PC I remember like 4Mhz cpu's kHz is so abstract.

    but that box seems like a perfectly capable netflix TV addon.
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    Rdslw said:
    but that box seems like a perfectly capable netflix TV addon.

    For $330? Why would you choose this over every streaming box available which are all much cheaper and purpose built for the task? Nvidia Shield TV Pro for $200, or this for $330? I'll take the shield. For the cost, this doesn't seem to have much use as a home device. For businesses, however, there are ample use cases.
    Reply
  • Rdslw
    spongiemaster said:
    For $330? Why would you choose this over every streaming box available which are all much cheaper and purpose built for the task? Nvidia Shield TV Pro for $200, or this for $330? I'll take the shield. For the cost, this doesn't seem to have much use as a home device. For businesses, however, there are ample use cases.
    I just noticed that shield also can stream 4k 60 fps so yeah it has no sense here. I kinda prefer linux + mouse than nvidia gui but its not a reason to double the price. (was the shield anounced ? How I missed a refresh?)
    I guess I was fixated on having my own solution because nobody makes good & small stuff.
    Reply
  • digitalgriffin
    Again so close yet so far. It would have been a great net app box (pfSense/untangle) if it werent for the fact its missing a second gig ethernet
    Reply
  • F-minus
    spongiemaster said:
    For $330? Why would you choose this over every streaming box available which are all much cheaper and purpose built for the task? Nvidia Shield TV Pro for $200, or this for $330? I'll take the shield. For the cost, this doesn't seem to have much use as a home device. For businesses, however, there are ample use cases.

    Why are you even asking that. This isn't meant to be used as a stream box, this is partially military grade, resistant to humidity, heat, shocks, dust - it's perfect for more hostile environments, not to sit below your TV. This is like asking why you would buy a rugged phone that is resistant to oil, dust, water, drops, and looks like crap, instead of a Samsung Galaxy S20, well ask the rigger guy or a coal miner why a Galaxy S20 would not survive a day, same goes for this thing.

    There's also a normal M75n (not IoT) version that is equiped with 3300U 4/4 or 3500U 4/8 coming, that is more in the space you're looking at, home computing and normal office work. It is also likely going to be more expensive, then again with 4 cores 8 threads you can actually use it as a tiny workstation, for people with limited space, I'm in the market for one - and it will be the smallest Ryzen box out there, ignoring all the other Athlon or semi-custom solutions, that pale in comparison to actual mobile Ryzen chips.

    https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/coming-soon/ThinkCentre-M75n/p/WMD00000407
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    digitalgriffin said:
    Again so close yet so far. It would have been a great net app box (pfSense/untangle) if it werent for the fact its missing a second gig ethernet
    Some of the Intel models have dual ethernet.

    https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/desktops-and-all-in-ones/thinkcentre/m-nano-series/ThinkCentre-M90n-IoT/p/thinkcentre-m90n-iot
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    F-minus said:
    Why are you even asking that.
    I'm not. My post contained a quote of the one sentence in a previous post that prompted my response. The original poster even responded in agreement. Try to follow along with the rest of us.
    Reply
  • nofanneeded
    Overpriced ....

    F-minus said:
    Why are you even asking that. This isn't meant to be used as a stream box, this is partially military grade, resistant to humidity, heat, shocks, dust - it's perfect for more hostile environments, not to sit below your TV. This is like asking why you would buy a rugged phone that is resistant to oil, dust, water, drops, and looks like crap, instead of a Samsung Galaxy S20, well ask the rigger guy or a coal miner why a Galaxy S20 would not survive a day, same goes for this thing.

    There's also a normal M75n (not IoT) version that is equiped with 3300U 4/4 or 3500U 4/8 coming, that is more in the space you're looking at, home computing and normal office work. It is also likely going to be more expensive, then again with 4 cores 8 threads you can actually use it as a tiny workstation, for people with limited space, I'm in the market for one - and it will be the smallest Ryzen box out there, ignoring all the other Athlon or semi-custom solutions, that pale in comparison to actual mobile Ryzen chips.

    https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/coming-soon/ThinkCentre-M75n/p/WMD00000407

    this is not military grade , it is industrial grade ... but anyways still over priced for what it does and the hardware inside ... the tiny case they are using is some $30 cost nothing more with passive heatsink
    Reply
  • digitalgriffin
    spongiemaster said:
    Some of the Intel models have dual ethernet.

    https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/desktops-and-all-in-ones/thinkcentre/m-nano-series/ThinkCentre-M90n-IoT/p/thinkcentre-m90n-iot
    Pentium j5005 $110
    Case $50
    Ram $60
    Psu $45
    2 nic pcie card: $80
    $345 and it more than doubles the power.

    Or i can get a barebones protectli for that kind of scratch and get a i3
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    digitalgriffin said:
    Pentium j5005 $110
    Case $50
    Ram $60
    Psu $45
    2 nic pcie card: $80
    $345 and it more than doubles the power.

    Or i can get a barebones protectli for that kind of scratch and get a i3
    No storage? You need to add $45 for a 256GB NVME drive. The dual nic version of this only comes with a whiskey lake based i3-8145U ($458), which is not half the speed of the Pentium j5005. It's actually much faster. Also, the whole selling point of this is the compact size and robustness with no moving parts for better durability which you can't match with off the shelf parts. If you're not meeting those standards you're just building a different non-competitive product.
    Reply