[Success] Lenovo M93p, M73p "Tiny" mini PC i5 4570t, i7 4765t Yosemite-Catalina

[Gigamaxx]

In the Haswell based Dells I've used for hacks, I've always found it best to flash up to at least the 2017 BIOS version for the best results. Sometimes older versions work but in general it's a good idea to update.

I normally do with my HP Probooks. These are a pain to update. You need windows and then run terminal type commands. The auto update doesn’t work. I think the latest version is a 2017 bios. I downloaded it but haven’t done the command line update yet.

I just looked into it a little further and it seems some users are having trouble with WiFi whitelist and asking for bios mods. Both my bios versions lit right up with my Azurewave BCM94352HMB cards. No problems here.

i have a i7 4765t on its way so I’m planing to work on that cpu version this weekend. This new M93p came with 2 displayports and its up and running well with dual monitors.

 

[Richdem]

I normally do with my HP Probooks. These are a pain to update. You need windows and then run terminal type commands. The auto update doesn’t work. I think the latest version is a 2017 bios. I downloaded it but haven’t done the command line update yet.

I just looked into it a little further and it seems some users are having trouble with WiFi whitelist and asking for bios mods. Both my bios versions lit right up with my Azurewave BCM94352HMB cards. No problems here.

i have a i7 4765t on its way so I’m planing to work on that cpu version this weekend. This new M93p came with 2 displayports and its up and running well with dual monitors.

Would you be able to share some Geekbench scores for the i5 & i7? I would be interested to compare them against my HP8300 i7-3770 Hackintosh

Thks

 

[Gigamaxx]

Would you be able to share some Geekbench scores for the i5 & i7? I would be interested to compare them against my HP8300 i7-3770 Hackintosh

Thks

yes as soon as the i7 arrives I will bench those and update the post. The i5 scores are above already.

 

[mares77]

I just picked up another one barebones and it has 2 Displayports.
This one has this bios.

FBKTCCAUS

bios date. 11/21/2016

i will post the other one in a minute here. It’s 2014 date.

FBKT75AUS

bios date. 04/01/2014

both systems booted out of the box but I went back in later and adjusted the settings.

Many thanks for the information about the bios version.

 

[mares77]

In the Haswell based Dells I've used for hacks, I've always found it best to flash up to at least the 2017 BIOS version for the best results. Sometimes older versions work but in general it's a good idea to update.

Your suggestion will make the guide more perfect, thanks!

 

[Gigamaxx]

Would you be able to share some Geekbench scores for the i5 & i7? I would be interested to compare them against my HP8300 i7-3770 Hackintosh

Thks

Posted the new Geekbench scores on the first post.

 

[trs96]

seems some users are having trouble with WiFi whitelist

Do these Lenovo Tinys use a laptop motherboard ?

 

[Gigamaxx]

Your suggestion will make the guide more perfect, thanks!

I understand the value of updating the bios however until an easy method is found I would advise against it if your system is working well now. As I mentioned I have a 2014 and a 2016 version and there is literally no difference in performance for the CPU/Graphics.

Updating bios always comes with a risk. On an ATX board with dual bios you can always revert back by using the second bios option. The same goes for dual bios video cards. When you only have a single bios you take the risk of bricking your system. I have compared the Geekbench scores against windows systems and it is equal. So I'm not sure how much will be gained by updating the bios. The Spectre and Meltdown bug bios fixes have slowed down a lot of Intel systems. There is also an issue of bios whitelisting the WiFi card. As I said my initial investigation for the bios update shows it to be a complicated task which may not be advisable for the everyday or beginner users on this forum. It is also a **do at your own risk** update. This guide is intended for novice to experienced users and i've tried to make it as easy as possible to install and use the system. I think the hardest part will be the Unibeast USB creation. Luckily, I don't need to tend to that thread.

My HP pro books are easy to update I just plug in Ethernet and AC power supply and it will do it in the bios menu. This is not such an easy update.

If you have one of these and are planing to update the bios let us know how it goes and maybe write up an instruction set I would be happy to post it in the first post section of the guide.

Here are some of the Horror stories I've encountered.

 

[Gigamaxx]

Do these Lenovo Tinys use a laptop motherboard ?

It is more like a NUC its square but has the Laptop memory, Laptop fan and heatsink, Mini PCI wiFi slot, and a power adapter brick. The CPU socket is 1150 so its not welded on. These are selling with i5 and i7 CPUs on eBay that are not the 35 watt versions, the potential problem is not just burning out a power adapter but also the mobo capacitors. You could probably get away with the 45watt chips for a while but anything higher could fry the board.

Here is the Geekbench 4 CPU list there is a i7 4765t on a Z97 motherboard overclocked to 3.125GHz. As you can see the windows versus Linux versus OS X is equal in performance.

 

[Richdem]

yes as soon as the i7 arrives I will bench those and update the post. The i5 scores are above already.

I just ran Geekbench 5 (That's all I could download) and got the following results in my High Sierra i7 - 3770

Seems really low.

The OpenCL seemed better