Lenovo ThinkCentre M92 review

Sales of PCs may be falling, but there is still a place in many businesses for a desktop computer, especially a compact design such as Lenovo's ThinkCentre M92 which can sit discretely on the side of a desk or even attach to the back of a monitor.

First announced in May and available to purchase now, the ThinkCentre M92 is actually available from Lenovo in three versions: a tower case, a small form factor model and the tiny chassis we have evaluated here.

The M92 line is further split into two options, with the M92p version shipping with Intel's vPro management and security technology, while the standard M92 does not include this.

Our review unit was the M92 version, which Lenovo supplied with an Intel 2.6GHz Core i3-2120T processor, 4GB of memory and a 320GB hard drive, making for a decent enough specification for handling pretty much any mainstream business application.

But while the M92 might come in a tiny case, it does not come with a tinier than usual price, costing £637 for this specification, despite its lack of support for vPro.

However, it should be pointed out that this appears to be in line with the price of similar compact business PCs from other big vendors, with a comparably specified Dell OptiPlex 390 Mini Tower costing about £580 at the time of writing.

For small businesses, the M92 may well suit their requirements. However, larger organisations should consider whether deploying thin clients linked to hosted virtual desktops would be more secure and cost-effective in the long run for desk-based workers.

The ThinkCentre system itself is about the size of an external DVD-RW drive, measuring about 182mm by 176mm and about 35mm thick, and can easily be positioned flat on a desk or stood on end to save even more space.

In fact, Lenovo supplies an optional external DVD drive for the M92, which can be clamped onto the system and effectively doubles its size. This was delivered already attached to our review unit in a metal frame that can then be mounted onto the back of a monitor stand or elsewhere.