ThinkCentre M920q vs OptiPlex 7070 Micro
Illustration
Good budget option
Illustration
Good budget option
Our verdict
Editorial opinionOur verdict
Two renewed classics with six cores and up to 32 GB. The M920q has a PCIe slot (with a riser) for a network card, which makes it the better router or homelab base. The OptiPlex 7070 has a slightly newer CPU. Buy whichever is cheaper in good condition, unless you want that PCIe slot.
| Factual data | ThinkCentre M920q | OptiPlex 7070 Micro |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i5-8500T | Intel Core i5-9500T |
| Cores / threads | 6 / 6 | 6 / 6 |
| RAM | 32 GB | 32 GB |
| Drive slots | 2 | 2 |
| Network | 1 × 1 GbE | 1 × 1 GbE |
| Video engine (encode) | H.264, HEVC 8-bit, HEVC 10-bit (HDR) | H.264, HEVC 8-bit, HEVC 10-bit (HDR) |
| Processor power | 35 W | 35 W |
| Size | 179 × 183 × 34.5 mm | 183 × 178 × 36 mm |
| Price from | — | — |
What each one is good forDerived from the specs
| Uses | ThinkCentre M920q | OptiPlex 7070 Micro |
|---|---|---|
| Home Assistant | GoodOfficial or well-supported Home Assistant OS image | GoodOfficial or well-supported Home Assistant OS image |
| Media server | Great fitIntel Quick Sync: the best-supported transcoding in Plex and Jellyfin | Great fitIntel Quick Sync: the best-supported transcoding in Plex and Jellyfin |
| Homelab / Proxmox | GoodUp to 32 GB of RAM in SO-DIMM slots | GoodUp to 32 GB of RAM in SO-DIMM slots |
| Router / firewall | LimitedOne network port: only as a 'router on a stick' with VLANs and a managed switch | LimitedOne network port: only as a 'router on a stick' with VLANs and a managed switch |
| NAS | Good2 internal drive slots (1× M.2 + 1× SATA) | Good2 internal drive slots (1× M.2 + 1× SATA) |
| Desktop | GoodWindows 11 supported | GoodWindows 11 supported |
| Electronics / GPIO | Not suitableNo GPIO header: add a USB microcontroller board instead | Not suitableNo GPIO header: add a USB microcontroller board instead |
Software supportEditorial opinion
| Windows 11 | Excellent | Excellent |
|---|---|---|
| Linux (Debian, Ubuntu or vendor image) | Excellent | Excellent |
| Proxmox VE | Excellent | Excellent |
| Home Assistant OS | Excellent | Excellent |
| OPNsense / pfSense / OpenWrt | Good | Good |