Back in January 2024, we stated that Lenovo's ThinkCenter Neo Ultra was the best Apple Mac Studio alternative on the market, but the company has now released an updated version with a better GPU.
The change of interior affects the Yoga Portal Mini PC, which is the Chinese version of the ThinkCenter Neo Ultra.
Seen by Video card, While the international version of the mini PC comes with a Core i9-14900 processor and RTX graphics, the Yoga Portal features a Core i7-14700 CPU and a GeForce RTX 4070 GPU.
Big price difference
Lenovo previously said its ThinkCenter Neo Ultra is designed for SMBs that want to benefit from the capabilities that 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 Yoga Portal's graphics card is the full desktop version and takes advantage of a desktop socket. There is one potential downside, though. VideoCardz notes that “replacing the graphics card may 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 upgradeable), as well as a dedicated M.2 slot for a standalone NPU card.
The dimensions of both versions are the same at 195 x 191 x 108mm, and both come with a wide variety of ports. Up front, there are two USB-A ports, one USB-C port, and a headphone/mic combo jack. Around the back, you get two USB-A ports (USB 10Gbps/USB 3.2 Gen 2) and two additional USB-A ports (USB 5Gbps/USB 3.2 Gen 1), along with one HDMI 1.4 TMDS port, one HDMI 2.1a FRL port, and four DisplayPort 1.4a ports. The back also houses a GbE RJ-45 port for wired network connectivity.
To ensure the device stays cool even under intensive use, both versions of the mini PC feature a triple thermal fan design that draws cool air in from the top and exhausts it out the bottom rear.
The Yoga Portal is priced at RMB 17,999 in China, which is about $2,514; by comparison, a ThinkCenter Neo Ultra with similar specs will cost $4,164.
