Going Tiny Part 1

So, the holidays are in full swing so I took a break from the column to get ready for the festive season! Since I am a geek, I truly enjoy giving the gift of tech. As such, I went on to my main mission of the holiday season, to buy a small form factor computer for my Mom.

My initial plan was to build a custom Mini-ITX system as they can be both small and affordable while remaining relatively performing. However since some parts were back ordered this plan fell through and I am kind of glad it did. It gave me a chance to sit down with my Mom and discuss her computing objectives to ensure that we got her a product she would ultimately be happy with. Her objective was to replace a five year old HP laptop. So we looked at the different options;

•           Get another laptop. This was the easy way out.

•           Get a Mac Mini or a MacBook. She said no to OS X.

•           Build the aforementioned custom system. A maybe given the time constraint.

•           Buy a mini pc from a major brand such as Lenovo or HP.

Given the fact that Mom is computer savvy, I took into consideration her main requests;

•         Windows 7 Pro as the OS

•           8 GB of Ram

•        I5 or better CPU

•        Lightweight and small enough to fit in a safe if stored.

With those specs in mind I started to browse the various Boxing Day sales and found a few options. The most interesting was however a Lenovo M93p Tiny. I have deployed these machines at work in the past and they do a good job in a production environment so I think that this will be a fine choice for someone who uses the pc a few hours a day after work for what can only be described as light usage. One thing is sure is that the i7 CPU with 8GB of Ram will provide enough punch for reading emails, managing a vast photo collection and even the occasional Photoshop edit. In the end, the sub 700 dollar price is what did it. For the price of a similar model with an i5 CPU and 4GB of Ram, we got the higher end unit. It’s like being bumped up to Business Class free of charge on an overbooked flight.

I will post more comments about the Lenovo M93p Tiny after my Mom gets to use it for a while and we fully configure it.

Happy Holidays and a Prosperous 2015