Lenovo IdeaCentre Mini 5 review: The mini PC for everyday use turns out to be great value for money

Lenovo's IdeaCentre Mini 5 is a compact and powerful mini PC that is particularly suited for office, multimedia and everyday tasks. Equipped with the Intel Core i5-13420H, the device offers solid computing power, which should be sufficient for most users. The IdeaCentre Mini 5's biggest drawback is its low 3D performance, but this is of secondary importance when you consider its field of use. All the more surprising is its selection of ports, which expands its application possibilities enormously thanks to Thunderbolt 4 being included. With the right accessories, you can make up for its weak 3D performance—as you can clearly see from taking a look at the results of our tests.

The Lenovo IdeaCentre Mini 5 proved to be a bit of a mixed bag when it came to its noise emissions. The integrated power supply unit certainly provides a little more order at your workplace, even though this results in the device being slightly larger overall. In terms of cooling, an additional heat source in the case itself is probably not the best idea. However, those who don't constantly use the device under full load will usually be rewarded with a pleasant noise level. Nevertheless, the mini PC masters occasional full-load scenarios without any problems.

In terms of its price, the Lenovo IdeaCentre Mini 5 is comparatively well-positioned. For less than $600, you can get a great mini PC that is perfectly built and equipped with connectivity options that are above the standard in this price range.

The Lenovo IdeaCentre Mini 5 is a powerful mini PC that looks a little different from the masses. Thanks to its Intel Core i5-13420H, it offers a good mix of performance and energy efficiency—even though the SoC isn't one of the most modern on the market. This is certainly not a problem, as the SoC delivers more than enough performance during everyday use, which is also reflected in its price. Our test sample retails for about $660. However, you'll have to make do with 16 GB DDR4 RAM, although the SSD boasts 512 GB of storage space.

If you're not satisfied with the performance of the Intel Core i5-13420H, the mini PC is also available with an Intel Core i7-13620H. We find a surcharge of around $150 to be fair and justified, resulting in a price of $849.99 for the same basic equipment. However, one important point should not be ignored, as an operating system doesn't come pre-installed and has to be factored in separately when purchasing.

The Lenovo IdeaCentre Mini 5's scope of delivery has been kept to a minimum. As the power supply is already integrated into the device, only the connection cable and a small but high-quality stand are included.

It is possible to perform maintenance on the Lenovo IdeaCentre Mini 5, although this isn't necessarily user-friendly. To access the inside, you first have to remove the lid, which is only attached to the case with plastic clips. There are then four screws underneath, which secure the underside to the base. This is again additionally fitted with plastic clips, but removing them is a little tricky. Internally, the device is quite tidy and structured. The 150-watt power supply unit, which can be removed, takes up a large part of it. Below this are the M.2 slots for the mass storage devices, one of which is still free. The WLAN module can also be replaced if necessary. The RAM is located under the fan unit, which can also be removed without needing any tools. In total, you can install two SO-DIMM modules in the device.

We carried out all our performance tests using the energy profile "Balanced". The BIOS offers some customization options, although Asus offers even more choices on its NUC mini PCs. The SoC's performance, on the other hand, can't be changed. Three fan profile options are available. The profile "Balanced" was already selected on delivery. It should also be noted that the Lenovo IdeaCentre Mini 5 can be used both horizontally and vertically. In all of our tests, we used the mini PC vertically.

The Lenovo IdeaCentre Mini 5 with an Intel Core i5-13420H offers solid performance for everyday use. The 8-core processor (4 performance cores, 4 efficiency cores) reaches up to 4.6 GHz and effortlessly handles office tasks, multitasking and video streaming. However, the SoC, which is now a good two years old, is no longer one of the fastest models on the market. When comparing its performance to the competitor devices, our test device ranked in the good midfield. With a maximum power consumption of up to 115 watts, Lenovo gives the processor free rein. PL1 and PL2 are identical, so only the temperature limit in combination with the built-in cooling limits the PC's performance. As already mentioned, there is only a 16 GB DDR4 RAM module installed in our test sample, which limits its performance somewhat.

For further comparisons and benchmarks, please refer to our CPU comparison table.

A good performance in the CPU benchmarks unfortunately didn't automatically guarantee a good ranking in the system performance tests—as the Lenovo IdeaCentre Mini 5 proved: There was a gap to the faster competitors, although it was sometimes small. Our test sample's single-channel operation became particularly noticeable in the RAM tests.