Lenovo ThinkCentre neo 50q Gen 5 2023

A tiny, well-connected office PC that's perfect for making your desk disappear. It handles everyday business tasks with ease and has a killer port selection, but the slow storage and weak integrated graphics mean it's strictly for spreadsheets and web apps. If you can find it near the $900 mark, it's a solid buy for a clutter-free workspace.

That Core i5-13420H is a solid workhorse for business tasks. It sits around the middle of the pack for CPU power in our database, which means it'll chew through Office apps, web apps, and video calls without breaking a sweat. The 16GB of DDR5 RAM helps keep things snappy when you've got a ton of tabs open. The real bottleneck is the storage. That 1TB NVMe drive is on the slow side, so while app launches feel quick, moving huge files around will remind you this isn't a high-end workstation. And don't even think about gaming. The integrated graphics score a 12 out of 100 in our gaming tests, which is about as low as it gets. This machine is for getting work done, period.

Stacked against something like an Apple Mac Studio M4 Max, the ThinkCentre is in a completely different universe. The Mac Studio is a creative monster with best-in-class performance, while the Lenovo is a quiet office clerk. It's a more direct rival to other business mini PCs. Compared to a typical Dell or HP business tower, you're trading raw power and upgradeability for that tiny footprint. The HP OMEN and MSI Aegis systems on our list are gaming rigs that will run circles around this thing in any 3D task, but they're also massive by comparison. This Lenovo carves out a niche for people who prioritize desk space and basic office speed above all else.

Pricing on this model is all over the map, with a wild spread from $900 to over $14,000 across different vendors. At the lower end, around that $900 mark, it's a fair deal for a compact, well-connected business PC with Windows 11 Pro. You're paying for the tiny form factor and the port selection. But if you see it creeping much past a grand, you're getting into territory where you could snag a more powerful mini PC with a better CPU and faster storage. Shop around and don't overpay for the convenience of the size.

The Lenovo ThinkCentre neo 50q Gen 5 is a tiny desktop that punches above its weight for office work. It's built around a 13th Gen Intel Core i5-13420H, which is a laptop chip repurposed for a desktop that's barely bigger than a paperback. You get 16GB of speedy DDR5 RAM, a 1TB NVMe SSD, and Windows 11 Pro right out of the box. The whole thing is designed to vanish behind a monitor with the included VESA mount, and it's loaded with ports, including dual 4K display outputs and eight USB ports. For spreadsheets, Zoom calls, and juggling a dozen Chrome tabs, it's a clean, capable little machine.

But let's be real about what this isn't. The integrated Intel UHD Graphics are strictly for showing you a desktop and playing video, not for gaming or any 3D work. And while the 1TB SSD is a nice size, the storage speed itself is a weak spot, landing in the 6th percentile in our database. It'll boot Windows fast enough, but it's not setting any file transfer records. This is a focused tool for business users who need a reliable, space-saving PC, not a powerhouse for creative pros.

Skip this if you do any kind of creative work like photo or video editing, or if you want to game even a little. The integrated graphics are a dead end for that. Also, if you need a ton of local storage speed for large file transfers, the slow SSD will frustrate you. Look for a mini PC with a higher-end processor and faster storage, or just get a small tower that's more upgradeable.

The ThinkCentre neo 50q Gen 5 is for the office worker who truly values a clean desk. If your daily grind is email, documents, spreadsheets, and video meetings, and you want the PC itself to be invisible, this is a great fit. It's quiet, capable for those tasks, and has all the ports you'll need. Just don't buy it expecting to edit video, play games, or do any heavy lifting. Know its limits, find it at a good price, and you'll be happy.