Lenovo Ideacentre Q190 review

Mini PCs all save on space, making them perfect companions for messy desks. But while the Lenovo IdeaCentre Q190 is comparatively tall compared to other mini PCs we’ve tested, it’s still incredibly slight. Measuring just 155x22x193mm, it’s roughly the same size as an iPad Mini standing on its end. It even comes with a VESA mount so you can screw it onto the back of your monitor if you don’t want to lay it flat or use the included stand.

Its small size doesn’t mean the Q190 is much less versatile than a traditional PC, though, as Lenovo has made good use of the available space to cram in plenty of ports. Most of these are on the rear of the PC, and include four USB2 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port and an optical S/PDIF audio output to connect to certain surround sound systems.

There’s only a VGA and an HDMI output to connect to a display, but as you can plug an HDMI port into a DVI monitor with a £4 adaptor this isn’t too much of a problem. You certainly won’t be short of USB ports, as the PC has another two USB3 ports on the front of the PC along with a multi-format card reader and separate headphone and microphone jacks underneath its elegant, if slightly flimsy, silver plastic flap.

This gives you plenty of scope for adding extra storage to the Q190’s 1TB hard disk, but you’ll need to save two USB ports for a keyboard and mouse, or one if you use a wireless set; the Q190 doesn’t have built-in Bluetooth.

The Q190’s main downside is its lack of upgrade options. The plastic chassis is completely sealed, so you’ll have to make do with what’s already inside the box for the duration of the PC’s lifespan. This will come as a disappointment to some, but fortunately the Q190 is already considerably more powerful than many PCs in this price range.

The Q190 comes with 4GB of DDR3 RAM and a 1.8GHz Intel Core i3-3217U processor, a model that was common to several Core i3 laptops last year. It struggled slightly with our multi-tasking test, but its overall score of 31 in our multimedia benchmarks is still good for a system of this size and price. This puts it just behind a bang-up-to-date Core i3 laptop, so it’s more than capable of handling everyday computing tasks. The relatively limited amount of memory won’t be a problem for most people, but you may run into problems when running virtual machines.

The processor’s integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000 chip is beginning to show its age, however, as it isn’t powerful enough to run the latest 3D games. It failed to produce 15fps in the laptop version of our Dirt Showdown test, which we run at 1,280×720 with 4x anti-aliasing and High detail, and even less demanding 3D titles weren’t particularly smooth. We were just about able to play the Trine 2 platform game on Low quality at 1,280×720, thanks to an average frame rate of 17.6fps, but it was still too jerky to be much fun.

The PC’s built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi makes it easy to connect to your home network, giving it plenty of potential as a home media centre for streaming services such as iPlayer and Netflix. You’ll have to stick with Full HD video, though, as the PC struggled to produce anything more than a stuttering mess of pixels when we tried playing our 4K test footage.

For those willing to brave the Q190’s basic BIOS, there’s also the possibility to wake the PC from LAN when it’s in Sleep mode. This is particularly handy if you’ve mounted the PC to the back of your TV or monitor, as you can wake it up from a tablet or smartphone. Unlike other mini PCs, such as those based on Intel’s NUC platform, there isn’t an option to wake the PC from LAN when switched off.

The Lenovo IdeaCentre Q190 has its drawbacks, and its 4GB RAM means you’re limited in how many intensive tasks you perform at once, but at just £330 it’s certainly an enticing prospect for those who want a neat and tidy mini PC and don’t want to pay an extra £150 for the equally powerful PC Specialist NUC Lite. It wins a Budget Buy award.