For those always asking about tiny Computers

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Aug 2, 2018
Messages
1,280
Location
PA
Just got a load of these in at work for a Ford Dealership with a sea of old PC's...

Lenovo M90n Nano

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]
 
Originally Posted by Kira
What does one do with this thing?

The same things you would do with any other desktop computer. This one just takes up less space.
 
Is the bottom open/exposed like shown or did you remove a cover ?

Originally Posted by Quattro Pete
Originally Posted by Kira
What does one do with this thing?
The same things you would do with any other desktop computer. This one just takes up less space.

"Like"
 
I got a Tiny ThinkCentre 92P with an I5, 8 gigs and a 64 gig SSD for $195. Would have been under $150 without Windows 10 which I destroyed on start up-- couldn't wait to dig up a naked box. Screams with Ubuntu Mate. Guess I'm a Lenovo fan boy without meaning to be as I have a Chromebook and a Moto E4+. Has a great build quality.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by E150GT
Where do you stick the CD?


One of the best things to ever happen is the disappearance of CD/DVD's. Ran libraries in a county of 400,000 for 35 years and that was a format from [censored]. If you took a six CD book on a road trip, one of the CD's was sure to not work. Like ripping eighty pages out of a book. Good riddance to that whole mess.

I still have a twelve year old laptop with a DVD drive, need to update a lightweight Linux distro on it. If somebody gave me something irreplaceable on a CD I guess I could pull it in on that and make a flash drive out of it. Or upload it to Google Docs.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by Kira
What does one do with this thing?

Do you plug keyboards and monitors into it?

Is it dedicated?

This is a full fledged computer. Just attach power adapter and monitor. It comes with wireless keyboard and mouse too.

Originally Posted by hallstevenson
Is the bottom open/exposed like shown or did you remove a cover ?

Originally Posted by Quattro Pete
Originally Posted by Kira
What does one do with this thing?
The same things you would do with any other desktop computer. This one just takes up less space.

"Like"

Bottom cover is removed just for a picture. Accepts two M.2 drives.
Originally Posted by atikovi
Without the specs., nothing to compare it to.

GB RAM?

GB hard drive? SSD?

Hz?

i3 i5 i7?

i5-8365U
8GB RAM
256GB SSD
Originally Posted by csandste
I got a Tiny ThinkCentre 92P with an I5, 8 gigs and a 64 gig SSD for $195. Would have been under $150 without Windows 10 which I destroyed on start up-- couldn't wait to dig up a naked box. Screams with Ubuntu Mate. Guess I'm a Lenovo fan boy without meaning to be as I have a Chromebook and a Moto E4+. Has a great build quality.

I picked up a lease return M73 Tiny from work for $25 recently. I have it in another thread here. i5 4570T, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD. Windows 10 Pro.
Originally Posted by E150GT
Where do you stick the CD?

In the trash bin with the other obsolete tech
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by atikovi
Without the specs., nothing to compare it to.

GB RAM?

GB hard drive? SSD?

Hz?

i3 i5 i7?

In the majority of cases where one of these are used, those are almost irrelevant. These devices typically do pretty mundane tasks and sometimes only do (1) thing so as long as it's "modern" hardware, it will be just fine. People aren't gaming on these, doing 3D modeling, weather forecasting modeling, etc, etc.
 
Things like this are really not a good choice for a work environment. They cost as much or more than a small desktop but either can't be upgraded and/or repaired if needed.
That and are slower than a entry level desktop. They are laptops without the screen/keyboard.
 
Originally Posted by Jimzz
Things like this are really not a good choice for a work environment. They cost as much or more than a small desktop but either can't be upgraded and/or repaired if needed.
That and are slower than a entry level desktop. They are laptops without the screen/keyboard.

These are faster than you think. What can break in them? CPU and RAM almost never die. SSD/Hard drive is replaceable and power supply is a power brick/adapter that costs $50 to replace. These also come with wireless keyboard and mouse so basically you're missing a $80 monitor. A laptop of this caliber would run you $1000 easy.
 
I appreciate the purpose, especially in uses where you just need data access, but have to agree with others that it's not for me due to lack of upgradeability, low performance, serviceability, and probably lifespan too if it depends on a shorter lifespan small/thin fan for cooling (else it runs hotter and has lifespan suffrage more continuously instead).

I suspect that "eventually", we'll have sufficient functionality in our phones, and monitors will have built-in, or a small add on module with HDMI or whatever the next standard is, for wireless communication between the two. We do already have the tech to do this but the performance of the host and the bandwidth of the wireless is still a bit lacking for a large scale deployment, particularly with the push to keep increasing monitor resolution to 4K and beyond. Granted, that res. isn't really needed for many data access purposes, but can't hurt either.
 
Last edited:
It's certainly not for everyone, myself included. These don't really suffer from short lifespan due to heat. Modern processors are really efficient. Look at our phones for example with a 5 watt processor and no fan. Our phones are crazy fast and this thing has plenty of extra space for cooling compared to a phone. Modern computers are very thermally aware in that they know how to downclock to stay cool. Yes, a normal desktop is much more serviceable however lifespan and performance simply aren't an issue for these things.
 
Single monitor port kind of limits these to applications like call centers, word processing, service desks, etc. where the user won't need a lot of screen space. The unit can be attached to the back of the monitor. Someone with two monitors on their desk isn't so sensitive to the size of the PC.

There is a very similar "IoT" model offering fanless operation in ambient temperatures up to 122 F. The entire top cover is a finned external heatsink. But the CPU installed is limited to i3 because of heat. Speaking of obsolete formats, this model not only has an RS-232 port, it has two RS-232 ports.
 
Last edited:
Looks kinda cool, but I've always been a fan of smaller things. Something like this, I bet I could tape to the back of a monitor and have a "portable" computer.

I'm finally getting over the loss of CD drive, USB thumbdrives are ridiculously cheap and long lived and a smaller form factor. I'm even starting to buy into life on the cloud.
 
Originally Posted by mk378
Single monitor port kind of limits these to applications like call centers, word processing, service desks, etc. where the user won't need a lot of screen space. The unit can be attached to the back of the monitor. Someone with two monitors on their desk isn't so sensitive to the size of the PC.

I run dual monitors at work, and am starting to think a third would be nice... but as a non-gamer couldn't additional monitors be added via a USB hub? Very often my other displays are just for viewing a document while I work in a different window, lag is acceptable.
 
Originally Posted by mk378
Single monitor port kind of limits these to applications like call centers, word processing, service desks, etc. where the user won't need a lot of screen space. The unit can be attached to the back of the monitor. Someone with two monitors on their desk isn't so sensitive to the size of the PC.


I just use a splitter.

Originally Posted by supton
Looks kinda cool, but I've always been a fan of smaller things. Something like this, I bet I could tape to the back of a monitor and have a "portable" computer..


Some people have turned the raspberry Pi into things like that. They have gameboy cases for it (complete with screen) and even a 10-inch screen where you attach the raspberry pi to the back and use it as a tablet.
 
This has the capability of multiple monitors thanks to DP and USBC (thunderbolt 3) port and guess what... IT COMES WITH THE ADAPTER NEEDED!. Amazing right?

Also to the guy who wants to tape this to his monitor. They also have a VESA mount to do that officially.
 
Originally Posted by jayjr1105
It's certainly not for everyone, myself included. These don't really suffer from short lifespan due to heat. Modern processors are really efficient. Look at our phones for example with a 5 watt processor and no fan. Our phones are crazy fast and this thing has plenty of extra space for cooling compared to a phone. Modern computers are very thermally aware in that they know how to downclock to stay cool. Yes, a normal desktop is much more serviceable however lifespan and performance simply aren't an issue for these things.


?? The average power consumption of a phone processor isn't remotely close to 5W and they are very slow compared to desktop CPUs.

Plus, phones aren't necessarily expected to last several years while this type of kiosk-PC would (hopefully) do so.

If you just want to consider very low power processors, then it makes this form factor that much, less useful.

Lifespan and performance are always factors. The Nano has not been on the market long enough to assume it has the same lifespan as larger form factor PCs. You seem to merely be assuming it does, without any consideration of the factors that contribute to shorter lifespan.

It all comes back to the anticipated use. For uses that aren't compute-intensive, it may do fine, as small form factor systems have demonstrated for many years running things like point of sale systems or machine control.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top