Lenovo ThinkCentre Neo 50q QC Internal Hardware Overview
Removing the sole thumbscrew from the rear of the PC that is holding on the lid of the ThinkCentre Neo 50q QC, we are granted extremely quick access to the internals of the system. This makes the 50q QC one of the easiest-to-open mini-PCs we have ever reviewed, right up there with other, similar Lenovo mini-PCs.
A single fan and a heatsink are essentially all that remain between the user and getting access to the chips that make up the mini-PC. Even then, the only user-serviceable parts are not covered by the fan or heatsink, so it is not necessary to disassemble the 50q QC any further to make any upgrades. But where is the fun in that?
Removing the fan and heatsink, we finally get our sights on the rest of the chips in the 50q QC.
At the bottom of the box (in this orientation) is the Snapdragon X SoC and associated LPDDR5X DRAM. Lenovo only offers a single CPU/SoC SKU here, using Qualcomm’s most basic Snapdragon X part, the X1-26-100.
With just 8 Oryon CPU cores and a top clockspeed of 3.00GHz – below every other Snapdragon X SKU – this is not Qualcomm’s strongest-performing chip by any means. But it is well-positioned to be the most efficient, which is a boon for the tiny 1L PC.
Otherwise, with Snapdragon X hardware first and foremost being designed for laptops – and in particular being paired with LPDDR5X memory – we find the soldered-down DRAM in this system. Our review unit has 16GB of LPDDR5X-8448 memory, while Lenovo also offers a 32GB SKU.
Even this low-end SKU includes Qualcomm’s Hexagon NPU, however. Meaning that this is a Copilot+ certified PC. Otherwise, graphics are driven by the integrated Adreno GPU, which supports a DirectX 12_1 feature set. For gaming uses this makes the Adreno a bit dated, but for the business-focused Lenovo this is hardly a concern compared to items like power consumption and AV1 support.
A quick look at the removed heatsink shows us that while the Snapdragon X is a pretty cool processor overall, Lenovo did not take any chances here with regards to cooling, covering it, the DRAM, and the voltage regulation modules with a relatively large heatsink. This only covers roughly half the floorplan of the mini-PC, but in terms of volume it is a good chunk of that 1L of space the entire PC occupies.
Getting away from the SoC, it is interesting to note just how small the motherboard is for the 50q QC. Even with the small size of the PC, it still does not cover the entire floor plan.
Wasting no space, Lenovo has used this void to place the PC’s M.2 SSDs and Wi-Fi card – which itself is also mounted via an M.2 slot.
As a result, Lenovo is able to use the metal chassis as a heatsink itself. A pair of thermal pads sit below the M.2 SSDs, providing some heat transfer away from the drives. Though the fact that the pads are on the back side of the SSDs makes it a less than ideal cooling setup.
There are two M.2 2280 slots available in the 50q QC. Both slots support a PCIe 4.0 x4 connection, providing more than sufficient bandwidth for any SSD that is going to operate at a low enough power envelope to work well in a mini-PC. Lenovo ships in configurations with one or both slots filled, filling the left (white) slot when a SKU ships with just one drive.
Our specific 50q QC box came with a 1TB version of Samsung’s PM9C1a SSD, a DRAMless PCIe 4.0 x4 SSD that, according to spec sheets, uses TLC NAND. With that said, Lenovo is a major OEM and regularly switches between SSDs, so this is more of a snapshot in time than a guarantee of the SSD to be used.
As for Wi-Fi connectivity, this is an optional feature on the 50q QC. But for those SKUs that do include it, it is provided by a Qualcomm adapter as well: the QCNFA765.
The QCNFA765 provides both Wi-Fi 6E connectivity as well as Bluetooth 5.3 support. There are two antennas leads present: one leads to an internal antenna, while the other is routed to the external antenna connector.
Finally, we have a quick look at the additional DisplayPort output installed into the punch out port position.
It is connected back to the rest of the system via a small connector beneath the board.
So how does this all come together as a complete product? Let us take a look at performance.
These will deprecate in value quickly.
1L is too big for this pc. Specially with the soldered ram.
Same lack of linux support as any random unknown ARM SBC.
It was my, admittedly layman’s, understanding that the UEFI ARM stuff was supposed to be generically discoverable and not require hardcoded device tree data. Is that only kind of/sort of true; and ARM vendors only care on server hardware?
Am I the only one looking at the first picture thinking it is a CD-ROM?
Qualcomm is synonym of not able to run Linux
I also understand the Neo 50q Tiny QC is unable to run Linux.
For a home server that makes this hardware a nonstarter. Unsuitability for use in a home lab or other server environment is something I would expect emphasized in an article from a site called Serve the Home.
If, in fact, there were a way to load a mainstream distribution such as Ubuntu, Debian, Redhat or Suse, then it would be greatly appreciated to test that claim and explain how.
Qualcomm says it wants to be a player in the PC space, but their behavior still resembles something of a locked in cell phone. The Nuvia tech they acquired and bragged about for so long as surpassing Apple’s M chip is exactly why everyone scoffed at Nuvia pre-buyout. It never could and it still can’t.
I have tried working with Qualcomm on the 7C and it was a massive waste of time. Just too many proprietary bits and stupid design decisions to keep out the educated. Even working with their “Developer Community” portal, was a massive joke (on me).
You wont see them anywhere in my world. Good riddance.