Small Form Factor PC with discrete graphics, optional NPU card
The ThinkCenter Neo Ultra is a compact (3.6-liter) desktop PC featuring a built-in power supply and four fans.
This new compact PC, based on Intel and NVIDIA hardware, was first presented in January but wasn’t scheduled to launch until the second half of this year. Two days ago, Lenovo officially announced that the new ThinkCenters are now available.
The company stated that the system would feature up to a Core i9 SKU, and that is true. However, contrary to what the name might suggest, this is not the Core Ultra SKU but the 14th Gen Core series. Lenovo is using various 65W and 35W SKUs for this system, which feature 14 to 24 cores depending on the configuration. The highest configuration features the Core i9-14900.
ThinkCenter Neo Ultra Gen1, Source: Lenovo
More importantly, this system comes equipped with an 8GB GeForce RTX 4060 (Laptop GPU). Lenovo is not providing the TDP for this system, so that’s anyone’s guess. However, we do know that the PC uses a 350W power supply, and the RTX 4060 operates within a 35 to 115W power envelope. So technically, it could be the full variant.
As the product name suggests (Gen 1), we will likely see updates for this form factor. Coming soon to laptops and mini-PCs are very power-efficient architectures from Intel (Lunar Lake) and AMD (Strix Point). However, the integrated graphics won’t be as fast as the RTX 4060.
ThinkCenter Neo Ultra Gen1, Source: Lenovo
One noticeable change from the official materials in January to the current materials is that the system now uses four fans instead of three.
The system supports independent NPU cards, which shouldn’t be mistaken for the GPU. The system supports M.2 NPU AI cards, which are very tiny coprocessors that offer around 20 TOPS. In comparison, the RTX 4060 offers over 200 TOPS (depending on configuration). Needless to say, one can utilize the GPU more effectively for that purpose.
Kinara Ara-2 M.2 NPU Card, Source: Kinara
The ThinkCenter Neo Ultra Gen1 is now available in Australia for 3,299 AUD. This is about the same price as the Mac Studio with M2 Max. The Lenovo configuration features a Core i5-14500 CPU, RTX 4060 graphics, and 16GB DDR5 memory. The Kinara Ara-2 M.2 discrete NPU card costs an additional $200.
| Lenovo ThinkCenter neo Ultra | |
|---|---|
| VideoCardz.com | Specs |
| Processor | 14th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-14500, 14C (6 P-core + 8 E-core) 20T 14th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-14500T, 14C (6 P-core + 8 E-core) 20T 14th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-14700, 20C (8 P-core + 12 E-core) 28T 14th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-14700T, 20C (8 P-core + 12 E-core) 28T 14th Gen Intel® Core™ i9-14900, 24C (8 P-core + 16 E-core) 32T 14th Gen Intel® Core™ i9-14900T, 24C (8 P-core + 16 E-core) 32T |
| Operating system | Windows 11 Pro 64 |
| Graphics | NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4060 8GB GDDR6 |
| Memory | Up to 2x 32GB SO-DIMM DDR5 Two DDR5 SO-DIMM slots, dual-channel capable |
| Storage | Up to 2x 1TB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0×4 Performance NVMe Opal 2.0 Dual SSD mode: up to two drives, 2x M.2 SSD |
| Audio | High Definition (HD) Audio Single speaker, 1 x 2W |
| Chipset | Intel® Q670 chipset |
| Form factor | Ultra Small Form Factor (3.6L) |
| Dimensions (W x D x H) | 195 x 191 x 108 mm |
| Weight | Around 3.5 kg |
| Case colour | Luna Grey |
| Expansion slots | Four M.2 slots (one for WLAN, one for AI Card, two for SSD) |
| EOU | EOU design for M.2 SSD and memory installation |
| Power supply | 350W 92%, Fixed |
| Wireless | No WLAN and Bluetooth Intel® Wi-Fi® 6E* AX211, 802.11ax 2×2 Wi-Fi® + Bluetooth® 5.3, Intel® vPro® technology support, M.2 Card *6GHz Wi-Fi 6E operation is dependent on the support of the operating system, routers/APs/Gateways that support Wi-Fi 6E, and the regional regulatory certifications and spectrum allocation. |
| Manageability | Non-vPro® Intel® vPro®* Enterprise *Intel® vPro® offers a superset of DASH’s defined capabilities |
| Security | Firmware TPM 2.0 integrated in chipset Kensington® Security Slot™ Chassis intrusion switch No fingerprint reader Administrator password, Hard disk password, Power-on password Individual USB port disablement Smart USB protection (allows keyboard / mouse only, blocks all storage devices) |
| Ports | Front ports: 2 x USB-A (USB 10Gbps / USB 3.2 Gen 2), one supports [email protected] charging 1 x headphone / mic combo jack (3.5mm) 1 x USB-C® (USB 20Gbps / USB 3.2 Gen 2×2), data transfer only Rear ports: 2 x USB-A (USB 10Gbps / USB 3.2 Gen 2) 2 x USB-A (USB 5Gbps / USB 3.2 Gen 1) 1 x HDMI® 2.1 TMDS 1 x Ethernet (GbE RJ-45) 1 x HDMI® 2.1a FRL 4 x DisplayPort™ 1.4a Optional rear ports: Punch out port 1 (one of VGA / DisplayPort™ / HDMI® / serial / USB-C® (USB 5Gbps) with DisplayPort™ function) Punch out port 2 (one of VGA / DisplayPort™ / HDMI® / serial / 2.5GbE RJ-45) |
Source: Lenovo