Lenovo has officially unveiled its new Snapdragon X series powered ARM mini desktop PC. The Windows based mini PC is called the IdeaCentre Mini x, which brings capable performance in a compact form factor. But Apple recently took the mini PC market by storm with the M4 powered Mac Mini (review). So can Lenovo take on the iPhone maker with its latest ARM mini PC? Read on to find out.
1. Form Factor
Apple is known for the premium design and build quality that it offers on its products. The Mac mini is no exception, bringing the metal body in a compact form factor. The Cupertino based giant took things a step further, packing impressive specs in a body that measures just 2 inches in height and width and 5 inches in depth. It also measures just 1.6 kilograms, making it very light and portable.
But challenging the new Mac mini is Lenovo with the IdeaCentre Mini x. With the demand for smaller more eco-friendly devices growing, the global mini PC saw a rise in 2024. So to meet the growing interesting in compact computing, Lenovo introduced its first mini desktop computer that uses Qualcomm processors for impressive specs that take up very little space.
Just like the Mac mini, it features metal accents but with a 1 liter sized body (7.6 x 7.5 x 1.6 inches) that weighs 1.8 kilograms. In other words, it brings productivity that takes up very little space. The case is also made easy to open, which is helpful for users wanting to make upgrades. It is not fanless and packs fans for thermal dissipation.
2. Performance
Apple’s Mac mini is equipped with the M4 processor which has proven to be quite powerful. Despite its small body, the brand designed this mini PC to be used for both office use, video editing, and other kinds of productivity. Meanwhile, Lenovo’s new Mini ARM PC is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X series of chips. This includes the Snapdragon 8 Elite and Snapdragon 8 Plus.
The Snapdragon X Plus has already proven to outperform the Apple M2 and M3 chips in Cinebench, while the Snapdragon 8 Elite offers performance similar to the M4. While Apple still takes the lead in single core performance by a small margin, the Snapdragon X Elite is quite competitive in the multi core benchmarks. So depending on the applications you use, the choice may matter between Windows or MacOS platforms.
3. Ports
Apple only offers a limited selection of ports on the M4 Mac mini. You get 2x USB-C, 3x Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C), HDMI, 3.5mm headphone jack, and Ethernet. On the other hand, the IdeaCentre Mini x has a 1x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, and a headphone jack on the front. Meanwhile, the rear has 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, 1x USB-A 2.0, 1x USB-C 4, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x DisplayPort 1.4 connection, and an ethernet port. So Lenovo clearly has an advantage in this regard.
4. Pricing & Verdict
Both mini PCs are quite similar in terms of pricing as well. The latest Mac mini starts from 599 US Dollars, which makes it a competitive choice for users who need performance on a set budget. While it’s great that Apple finally starts the base option with 16GB of RAM, there is only 256GB on the starting model.
The exact starting configuration of the Lenovo IdeaCentre Mini x is still unclear, but we do know that it carries a $659.99 starting price. It goes up to 32GB of RAM and up to 1TB of internal storage, so the base option may include 16GB RAM with 512GB storage.
All of this combined, makes Lenovo’s new ARM mini PC a great alternative to Apple’s Mac mini. ARM still has some annoyances on Windows, which is predominantly used by x86 based processors. But later iterations can make Windows an even more viable rival to the Mac mini.
