Lenovo ThinkCentre M70q Gen 5 Black 2024

A tiny office powerhouse with a 20-core i7 and 32GB of RAM that will make your desk feel huge. It's a top performer for business and multitasking, but the integrated graphics mean it's strictly for work, not play. If you need a compact, reliable PC and don't game, this is a fantastic buy.

That 14th Gen i7-14700T is the star here. With 20 cores, it chews through multitasking and heavy business apps without breaking a sweat, landing in the 72nd percentile for CPUs in our database, which is impressive for such a small box. The 32GB of DDR5 RAM is a standout too, sitting well above average and ensuring you won't hit a wall even with massive datasets. The weak spot is the integrated graphics, which fall into the bottom third of our rankings. It handles 4K video output and basic photo editing just fine, but don't even think about 3D rendering or modern games. The 1TB SSD is solid and snappy, though its speed is middle of the pack compared to the latest Gen5 drives.

Stacked against other tiny PCs like the Dell Tower Plus or the MSI EdgeXpert, the M70q Gen 5 carves out a clear niche. The Dell often trades blows on price but might skimp on RAM or use a weaker processor at this size. The MSI EdgeXpert leans harder into industrial use cases with more rugged builds, but Lenovo's vPro support and sheer port variety give it an edge for IT departments. The HP Omen and ASUS Republic of Gamers models are in a different universe entirely, they're gaming rigs with dedicated GPUs that will run circles around this machine in any 3D task, but they're also massive towers that can't hide behind a screen.

Pricing on this model is all over the map, with a spread of over $388,000 across vendors, which is frankly absurd and likely a data error on the high end. Realistically, you'll find it around $1,350, and at that price, it's a solid deal for a business PC with vPro manageability and this much RAM. For a compact, secure, and powerful office machine, it's worth the money. Just don't accidentally buy the one listed for the price of a house.

The Lenovo ThinkCentre M70q Gen 5 is a tiny desktop that punches way above its weight class for office work. It packs a 20-core Intel i7-14700T, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB SSD into a chassis you can literally mount behind a monitor. If your desk is drowning in clutter and you just need a no-nonsense machine for spreadsheets, Zoom calls, and a dozen browser tabs, this thing is a little beast.

But let's be real about what it isn't. The integrated Intel UHD Graphics 770 means gaming is basically a slideshow, and the 135W power supply keeps the CPU on a tight leash compared to its full-desktop cousins. This is a pure productivity tool, and for that specific job, it's one of the best tiny PCs we've seen.

If you need to do any 3D modeling, video rendering that relies on a GPU, or even light gaming, look elsewhere. The integrated graphics are a real bottleneck, and you can't add a dedicated card. A small form factor PC with a low-profile GPU slot would serve you much better.

The Lenovo ThinkCentre M70q Gen 5 is for the office warrior who wants a powerful, invisible desktop. It's perfect for business users, IT managers who need vPro remote management, and anyone who values a clean desk above all else. If your daily grind is data analysis, coding, or running a small business's worth of Office apps, you'll love it.