Lenovo Tiny-In-One M23 and Tiny M73 review: Small but powerful PC

I have to confess that I had not read up about the ThinkCentre M Series before the review unit came home. I was expecting a small box that will hold in it a compact mini PC that could yoke to any large screen. I was mistaken. Yes, the Lenovo ThinkCentre M73 is a small PC, roughly the size of a small set top box.

But it can be housed in a slot behind the 23-inch monitor, thus saving a lot of space. But there is more to this hide-in-the-back trick. Once the PC goes into its groove behind the monitor, you need just one adapter to power the entire rig and this a feature a lot of people will love.

Price: Rs 41,000 onwards

What is good?

The top draw for me is the design. Lenovo seems to have thought of every possible deployment scenario with the Tiny M series. So you can have a separated PC and monitor set-up or a semi all-in-one experience where the computer is hidden behind the monitor, but is still easily accessible. The 23-inch monitor has a slot for the PC, but it also covers up the ports and wires, making the entire rig look really good. The monitor on its part can be adjusted to suit your usage case.

For me a good measure of a new technology is the ability of the user to get it working without reading a manual. Though this set up was relatively new, I could get it up and running in under a minute. I had a couple of doubts in the way, but they all proved to be unfounded by the time I ended. Actually, Lenovo has packed the boxes in such a way that you can work the PC as well as the monitor without yoking the two together and that is why I ended up with cables, I had no use for.

You might not expect top-end performance from a PC that is this tiny. But the M73 is made for high-end performance and every specification has been put in place with that in mind. I am convinced that this could be looked at as a workstation replacement by corporates who are looking to refresh their hardware in the near future. It helped that the review unit I had came with Windows 7 Professional and not Windows 8, the tiles of which serve no real purpose in your professional life.

Despite the small form factor, this PC does not compromise on connectivity options. There are at least 8 USB ports you can use, spread across different parts of this rig. While you can use the two behind the PC, accessed by opening a flap on the monitor’s rear, to connect the keyboard and mouse, the ones on the side and front are ideal for using external hard drives. There is an HDMI port and a LAN port to add to this connectivity.

The large display does a good job of hiding the PC, but it is also perfect for those who need more real estate for work. I think the time has come for all of us to shift to larger screens on desktops, after all we have an abundance of smaller ones.

The M73 is a very quiet, even when you push it to do high-end stuff. It also stays cool, despite the small chassis.

What is not that great

The entire rig is quite heavy once assembled and that might be something for Lenovo to look at, especially since it is calling this a tiny PC.

With this form factor, I would have liked to have Wi-Fi connectivity. If the rig needs just one wire, I don’t want to add to the clutter by adding more. The same applies to the keyboard and mouse in the box. There is a strong case for these being wireless in a set up like this. Let’s kill these wires please.

Should you buy?

Yes, if you are looking for something that will free up a lot of space on the desktop. I think this set-up could be an ideal workstation for small and medium companies because performance is simply not an issue with these devices.