10C/20T in 1L Lenovo ThinkCentre M90q Tiny Review

We take a look at the Lenovo ThinkCentre M90q Tiny which we purchased with the 10 core/ 20 thread Intel Core i9-10900T which is a 35W TDP CPU. We see the hardware, the power consumption, and how it performs.

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Timestamps
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00:00 Introduction
02:47 Hardware Overview
12:59 Performance and Power Consumption
16:25 Pricing and Key Lessons Learned
20:52 Conclusion

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Other STH Content Mentioned in this Video
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[denverag]

I'm patiently waiting for the M95Q tiny with 5950E :)

[MobileIndifference]

I just bought in M93P tiny after watching project tiny mini micro. I bought it with a i3 and put a E3-1275Lv3 in it. Nice and fast, under $200. Very happy.

[Garageland]

THIS IS PATRICK FROM STH!! every opener keeps getting more intense lol. fun videos and enthusiasm

[RoastBeefSandwich]

I have 100 of these Tinys deployed in the All-In-One monitors. They have proven exceptionally well designed.

[boringdallas]

4:21 that's what I needed to see.

Some folks I know bought a cheap version with a non-DP USB-C port on the front and no USB-C port in the rear.

Thanks for this.

[adamsaint]

That little plastic bit is supposed to insulate antenna leads that are 'spare'

[yousifkady]

Love the video. Excellent review of the M90q as we have purchased a lot of them recently for our company.

[ExtremePilot]

Just started watching this series since I work at an E waste company and I'm about to pick up an optiplex 7070 micro i7. That plastic piece at 12:20 looks to be a protective cover for a WiFi antenna cable, they must have lost it while installing the WLAN card and it found its way under the board.

[DmnkRocks]

Some comments from my 100+ Tiny Experience. The Tool-Less Option is a Screw with a "finger clip" - the once you get with Monitors. I personally don't care, as I always have a Screwdriver on hand.
The Included 2.5" bracket is always included, unless the space is used by something else (eg. Graphicscard). - this is true for all ThinkPad/Station Products. Even the cheap E-Series ThinkPads get their Drive Cages included, even if you don't option it.

[stucorbishley]

Great video Patrick, good idea to cover one of the more high end units... From a density point of view, sub $1k for a 1L machine with that much threading is quite something. Arguably could replace several small older machines depending on peak workload.. 👍

[ThineHolyBacon]

A Lenovo Tiny system with both the riser option AND 2x M.2 slots!? I really wish I saw this about 3 weeks ago :<

[gonace]

I really appreciate this series of videos, they´re really great information for those who are prospecting for one of these computers.

[davescom]

You have so many models! Which one is with Power Supply internal and not external, avoiding to carry any more stuff with me?

[ivomusters]

I do like the extra info on pricing and coupons because as you said, it might be about a 1 fast unit vs multiple smaller units comparison

[MobiusHorizons]

the little plastic bit looks almost exactly like the shield that covers a wifi antenna port. I'm guessing it got dropped during configuration.

[Steampunk_Star_Raisin]

Why would you custom order the computer with i9 and only 4 gigs of ram? Seems like a waste of CPU upgrade...

[cuchomoon]

Patrick, i have an m90q with i5 10500t, do you know if i can upgrade the processor to an a i5 11500?, thank you so much.

[harrisongilbert]

Hey Patrick, I have a question since you’re the guy for all of the colo things. I’m planning on getting a half rack colo in the coming months for some of my servers, but I’m not sure yet whether I should get a switch or router since my provider is just dropping me a 1g up/down cable. I’ve heard from some friends that I should only get a router if I plan to BGP peer with a Tier 1 or 2 and always just use a switch if that’s not the case, but other people have said that I should always try to use a router for futureproofing. What’s your take on this?

[zahirig]

Great video. Can you do a video on the naming system lenovo is using for these devices? When I look at it, it appears all over the place.

[asdf]

A 10900T or 10900 in that tiny a form factor? Even with Intel 630 graphics this thing would be a solid Plex server while being able to do other things. It really sounds impressive, and might be a better value than a NUC with a 4-core 8-thread CPU depending on use case. Thank you for the video!