Back in January 2024, we declared Lenovo’s ThinkCenter Neo Ultra the best Apple Mac Studio alternative on the market, but the company has now launched an updated version with a better GPU.
The change of innards affects the Yoga Portal Mini PC, which is the Chinese version of the ThinkCenter Neo Ultra.
Spotted by VideoCardz, while the international version of the mini PC comes with up to a Core i9-14900 processor and RTX graphics, the Yoga Portal features a Core i7-14700 CPU and a GeForce RTX 4070 GPU.
Big difference in price
Lenovo previously said its ThinkCenter Neo Ultra is designed for SMBs that want to benefit from the capabilities AI promises without making significant investments in equipment, and that remains true for the Chinese version.
While Chinese buyers get a device with a less powerful processor, they benefit from superior graphics performance. The graphics card in the Yoga Portal is the full desktop version and takes advantage of a desktop socket. There is a a potential downside, however. VideoCardz notes “replacing the graphics card might be challenging or even impossible due to the custom cooling designed for this form factor.”
The Yoga Portal comes with 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD (both upgradable), as well as a dedicated M.2 slot for an independent NPU card.
The dimensions of both versions are the same at 195x191x108mm, and they both come with an extensive array of ports. At the front, there are two USB-A ports, a USB-C port, and a headphone/mic combo jack. On the rear, it includes two USB-A ports (USB 10Gbps / USB 3.2 Gen 2) and two additional USB-A ports (USB 5Gbps / USB 3.2 Gen 1), alongside an HDMI 1.4 TMDS port, an HDMI 2.1a FRL port, and four DisplayPort 1.4a ports. The rear also houses one GbE RJ-45 port for wired network connectivity.
To ensure the device stays cool even under heavy use, both versions of the mini PC feature a triple thermal fan design that draws cool air from the top and expels it from the bottom back.
The Yoga Portal is priced at RMB 17,999 in China, which is around $2,514 – in comparison, a similarly specced ThinkCenter Neo Ultra will set you back $4,164.
