I picked up it’s slower cousin Lenovo THINKCENTRE M53 Tiny Desktop, Intel J2900 Quad-Core 2.41GHz, 4GB DDR3, 500GB SATA, 802.11n, Win7Pro back in January. Here are my thoughts that will probably apply to this unit as well:[list]
[]First, my unit is hooked up to a television, and does a great job of playing back movies, minor web browsing, and running a program to capture audio streams.
[]Computer lacks a HDMI port, but a Displayport to HDMI cable is readily available.
[]This computer comes with a Seagate ST500LM021 500GB SATA laptop drive. It ends up being slow in the bootup and installing upgrades, and I ended up replacing it with a 250GB SSD drive. (Cost $60)
[]Memory is a single stick DDR3-1600 SODIMM. Per Crucial’s Memory Page, it can take up to 8 GB of memory as either DDR3-1600 SODIMM or DDR3L-1600 SODIMM.
[]Just in case I’m unclear, it can only take 1 2.5" drive and 1 SODIMM memory. Period.
[]Opening up the case and replacing the hard drive and/or memory is super easy. Just remove a single screw from the back of the computer, and with a minor press, the case slides open. Both the memory and hard drive are easy to access.
[*]For what I’m using it for (recording audio streams, playing back videos, some web browsing), it is quite good.
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I think what you are seeing is a DisplayPort I/O. You can always buy a DisplayPort to HDMI adapter. They run $15.00 to $20.00. Such as C2g P/N: 54322 at C2g.com.
For this tiny desktop specifically, all other things equal, 100% of the brand $ go to China, not just the manufacturing cost. (Lenovo being a Chinese company.)
Against tiny desktops in general: minimal upgradeability and serviceability… and largely proprietary parts, including the external wall/cord wort power supply.
Yes- Display port does carry audio in this case. The Display port adapter has to support audio passthrough. All recent computers support the audio pass through on the display port.
The internal component of very small computers such as this are non-standard. So, if (and when) you have to take it into a computer shop to have it worked on our upgraded, they will NOT have parts that will work inside your machine. It will also cost you a PREMIUM to get it upgraded/repaired! That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t get one. However, you should weigh the benefits.