Lenovo upgrades its Mac Studio rival just six months after it launched, and it’s a stunner

LovabledanielsJanuary 7, 202558 Views

Lenovo ThinkCentre neo Ultra Gen 2 adds Core Ultra CPU options and Thunderbolt
But form factor remains the same, as does the rest of its specs
The refresh comes at no extra cost as it keeps its retail price

At last year’s CES, Lenovo introduced the ThinkCentre neo Ultra, its first ultra-small form factor AI desktop for SMBs and a competitor to Apple’s Mac Studio.

That device launched in July 2024, and now at CES 2025, Lenovo has unveiled an upgraded version that truly wows.

The first generation of the ThinkCentre neo Ultra was powered by 14th Gen Intel processors, up to the i9-14900T. The upgraded version is now outfitted with Intel’s Core Ultra CPUs, promising a big leap in performance.

Thunderbolt 4 and much more

(Image credit: Lenovo)

The original neo Ultra featured a wide range of ports. On the front, it had two USB-A ports, a USB-C port, and a headphone/mic combo jack (3.5mm).

The rear panel offered four USB-A ports, two HDMI 2.1 ports, four DisplayPort 1.4a ports, and an Ethernet (GbE RJ-45) port. That meant it was capable of driving up to eight displays. The refresh doesn’t change the port arrangement but it does make a welcome switch.

Between the two rows of rear ports on the original model were two punch-out ports. The first could be configured for HDMI, DisplayPort, USB-C with DisplayPort functionality, or VGA (dust off your old CRT monitor!). The second could be configured for HDMI, DisplayPort, VGA, or 2.5GbE RJ-45. Both punch-outs are now gone, replaced by additional ventilation and a new Thunderbolt 4 port.

Aside from the new processor options and the addition of Thunderbolt 4, everything else remains the same.

The form factor hasn’t changed – it still measures 195 x 191 x 108mm (3.6L). All other specs, including four M.2 slots, an Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU, and up to 64GB of DDR5 RAM, are unchanged.

Another thing that hasn’t altered, and which we’re very pleased about, is the price. The ThinkCentre neo Ultra Gen 2 will be available in February 2025, with an expected starting price of $3,099.

If you’re happy with the specs of the original (and would prefer a VGA port instead of Thunderbolt 4 – hey, we’re not judging), Lenovo is still selling the first-gen model, and it’s currently 49% off at $1,580.49.