Lenovo ThinkCentre M720q Tiny
A 2018 ThinkCentre Tiny on the B360 chipset with 1 M.2 NVMe slot, 1 2.5" bay and up to 32 GB of RAM (official). It can take a PCIe card, which is rare in this size.
Good for 4K HEVC; no AV1 decodeSpecs widely confirmed
Specifications
| CPU generations | 8th gen (Coffee Lake) / 9th gen (Coffee Lake Refresh) |
|---|---|
| Typical CPUs | Core i3-8100T (4C/4T, 35 W); Core i5-8500T (6C/6T, 35 W); Core i5-9500T (6C/6T, 35 W); Core i7-8700T (6C/12T, 35 W) |
| Chipset | B360 |
| Memory | 2× DDR4 SO-DIMM, up to 2666 MT/s, 32 GB official maximum |
| M.2 NVMe slots (storage) | 1 |
| 2.5" SATA bays | 1 |
| PCIe expansion | PCIe x8 via riser |
| Onboard Ethernet | Intel I219-V |
| Extra NIC option | PCIe x8 card via Lenovo riser (replaces the 2.5" bay) |
| vPro / AMT | No |
| Power adapters | 65 W or 90 W |
| Idle power (measured) | Not measured yet |
Checked against: Lenovo User Guide & Hardware Maintenance Manual. Official limits can be lower than what owners report working.
What owners should know
- The PCIe riser is the reason this model is popular for routers (OPNsense/pfSense) and 10GbE: it takes a low-profile PCIe card.
- Owners commonly run 64 GB (2×32 GB), but Lenovo's official maximum is 32 GB.
- Installing the riser card uses the space of the 2.5" drive bay.
Plex and Jellyfin transcoding
Handles 10-bit HEVC (typical 4K HDR) in hardware. No AV1 decode, so AV1 files fall back to the CPU. The table covers every CPU option sold in this chassis. Check which CPU a listing actually has.
| Video engine | H.264 | HEVC 10-bit decode | VP9 | AV1 decode | HEVC encode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intel Quick Sync (Kaby Lake–Comet Lake) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Plex needs a Plex Pass for hardware transcoding; Jellyfin does not. More detail in our Quick Sync generations guide.
Before you buy one used
- Confirm the exact CPU model in the listing photos or System Information screenshot, not just "Core i5".
- Check that a power adapter of the right wattage is included (65 W or 90 W). Many ex-office units ship without one.
- Ask whether the BIOS is unlocked. Ex-corporate machines sometimes keep an admin password.
- A 2.5" drive needs the caddy and cable, which are often missing when a unit shipped with only an M.2 SSD.
- The PCIe riser is usually not included. Budget for it separately.
Find one
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Head-to-head comparisons
Similar models to consider
- Dell OptiPlex 3070 Micro1× NVMe · 32 GB max · no PCIe · Good for 4K HEVC; no AV1 decode
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- HP EliteDesk 800 G5 Mini2× NVMe · 32 GB max · no PCIe · Good for 4K HEVC; no AV1 decode