Lenovo ThinkCentre M90q Gen 6 Black 2025

A brilliant, near-silent tiny PC that's tragically held back by its stingy base configuration. Buy it, but only if you're springing for more RAM and storage.

What surprised us most is how much they crammed into this little box. That 14-core Intel Core Ultra 5 235T is a serious chip for a business PC, landing in the 73rd percentile for CPU power. It chews through multitasking without breaking a sweat, and the thing stays practically silent while doing it. The integrated graphics are, well, integrated graphics. They're fine for your Excel charts and YouTube breaks, sitting right around the middle of the pack, but don't even think about gaming on this thing. Our gaming score of 11.6 out of 100 isn't a typo, it's a warning.

This isn't a gaming rig, so ignore the HP Omen and ASUS ROG monsters on the competitor list. The real fight is against other tiny office PCs like Dell's OptiPlex Micro series or HP's Elite Mini. The M90q Gen 6 stands out with its newer Intel Core Ultra chip and better port selection, including that Thunderbolt port which is a godsend for docking stations. The Dell might feel a bit more solidly built, but the Lenovo gives you more raw CPU grunt for your dollar, especially if you find it on sale. If you need a GPU for design work, though, you're looking at the wrong form factor entirely.

Value is a moving target here since prices swing wildly from $1247 to $2989 across vendors. The low end of that spread is a solid deal for a vPro-equipped business machine this small and capable. The high end is a rip-off. No matter where you buy, factor in the immediate cost of a RAM and storage upgrade, because the base model's 15th-percentile RAM score is an embarrassment. Hunt for a deal on a 16GB or 32GB model and you'll be much happier.

The Lenovo ThinkCentre M90q Gen 6 is the office PC that disappears behind your monitor and you forget it's even there, in the best way possible. It's a tiny, quiet powerhouse built for spreadsheets, Slack, and a frankly ridiculous number of screens. The one thing to know is that the base configuration Lenovo sends out is a trap. 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD in a machine with this much CPU potential is like putting economy tires on a sports car. You'll want to spec it up, or you'll be annoyed within a year.

If you're looking for a machine that can handle even light gaming or GPU-accelerated creative work, this isn't it. Go get a small form factor PC with a dedicated graphics card instead. And if you're dead-set on never opening a PC case, the base model's 8GB of RAM will have you pulling your hair out within a year. Just buy a Mac Mini.

The ThinkCentre M90q Gen 6 is a top-tier tiny office PC with one massive asterisk. The core machine is brilliant: fast, silent, and wonderfully compact with all the ports you'll ever need. But you absolutely must avoid the base 8GB/256GB configuration. It cripples an otherwise excellent computer. Buy a properly specced model with at least 16GB of RAM, and you'll have a reliable workhorse that vanishes behind your monitor for years.