Desktop PC Review: Lenovo ThinkCentre M90p

Tell your Lenovo dealer you're looking for a premium enterprise desktop, and he'll ask you two questions: How much power do you need, and how much desk space do you have? Your answers will steer you toward the company's latest ThinkCentre models, the M90 and M90p PCs.

Starting at $829, these are powerful, highly manageable computers that come in three form factors or chassis sizes -- tower, small, and "Eco Ultra Small," all with tool-free access to internal components. Available configurations include processor options that range from Intel's humble Pentium G6950 all the way up to up to the Core i7 quad.

For this review, we checked out the Eco Ultra Small version of the ThinkCentre M90p (model 3853E4U), an extremely solid and compact PC priced at $1,234 at CDW. Indeed, the M90p seems so well built we don't doubt it can stand up to the rigors and hazards of even the toughest office environments or frequent shuttling around to different users.

The little Lenovo's eco-friendly credentials include an 87-percent-efficient, Energy Star-compliant power supply and support for Lenovo's own ThinkVantage Power Manager tool, which allows IT managers to monitor and limit the M90p's energy consumption remotely. Because of the limited space inside the M90p, the 130-watt power supply is an external unit that resembles a notebook PC's power brick, except twice as big and heavy. Lenovo also boasts that the system makes good use of recycled materials, with more than one-third of its plastics being post-consumer content.

At only 3.1 by 10.8 by 9.4 inches, the M90p, which runs on the 32-bit edition of Windows 7 Professional, certainly won't take up much room on a desk. Rubber feet -- four each on the bottom and side of the unit -- allow you to place the PC vertically or horizontally, depending on preference and space limitations. There's even a plastic stand to help the M90p stay in place should you choose the vertical option.

Just Room for the Essentials

Opening the M90p up to access its innards is a breeze: Simply slide down a purple catch on the back of the PC and open it up like a book. Inside, you'll find a lone PCI slot mounted horizontally, with no PCI Express slots or option to upgrade the system's Intel integrated graphics. We would have liked to see a wireless card installed, considering how prevalent Wi-Fi is becoming for desktops as well as laptops to connect to corporate networks and the Internet.

Four accessible small screws hold the ThinkCentre's Intel Core i5-660 CPU -- a 3.33GHz dual-core with 4MB of cache -- and heat sink in place on Lenovo's proprietary motherboard. Two memory slots contained our review unit's 3GB of DDR3 (expandable to 4GB).

Since a purple plastic caddy takes the place of screws to hold the 500GB, 7,200-rpm SATA hard disk in place, the drive can easily be removed. Lenovo's hard drive options for the M90p go as low as 160GB and as high as 1TB.

As you'd expect, there isn't room for extra drive bays; the only internal bay holds the hard disk and the only external bay is taken up by the system's DVD±RW drive. The large number of available ports is another matter entirely, however.

There are a total of ten USB 2.0 ports (a pair conveniently located on the front, six in the back, and two inside). VGA and DisplayPort connectors are available for plugging in a monitor or two, though there's no DVI port. As for audio, the front sports headphone and microphone jacks, while the back offers line-in, line-out, and another microphone jack. There's also a Gigabit Ethernet port out back.

The M90p ships with Lenovo's USB optical wheel mouse, which works fine but is nothing to write home about, and a pedestrian yet roomy and responsive keyboard.

The combination of the Eco's powerful processor and capable graphics results in better-than-average performance for such a small desktop. It capably handled everything we threw at it, from multitasking with office documents and graphics to managing and viewing photos and videos. We'd rate the system definitely suitable for all but the most graphic-intensive business (and hardcore gaming) tasks. The M90p also boots up and shuts down far more quickly than we've become accustomed to with most other systems.

In terms of software, you -- thankfully -- get little beyond Windows 7 Professional, Skype, CD and DVD utilities, and trials of Microsoft Office 2007 and Norton Internet Security. We hate when new systems are clogged up with too many unwanted and (often) useless programs. Definitely not included in that category are the Lenovo's host of management, security, and provisioning tools.

The small form factor edition of Lenovo's latest ThinkCentre model, the M90p, packs a lot into its little chassis without sacrificing performance. It earns a thumbs-up for any space-constrained environment.