The Lenovo Yoga Mini breaks free from the rectangular-shaped mold of other mini PCs with a sleek new circular design and plenty of useful extras. However, Lenovo didn’t compromise to get this shape — every curved side of this puck-shaped mini PC is put to good use, from its generous port selection to its built-in microphone and fingerprint scanner.
From the moment I laid eyes on the Yoga Mini back at CES when it was first unveiled, I knew we were dealing with something completely new here. While other mini PCs come with brackets so you can mount them behind a monitor, this one is designed to sit front and center on your desk.
The RGB lighting that wraps around its base can alert you to incoming notifications or even just greet you when you approach. Likewise, thanks to a built-in accelerometer, the top of the Yoga Mini acts as a customizable button to launch apps or instantly transform this mini PC into a pseudo smart speaker.
After using the Yoga Mini as my daily driver for a month, I’m impressed with its near-silent operation and speedy performance thanks to the Intel Panther Lake chip inside.
I wasn’t able to try out Lenovo’s local AI assistant Qira with the base model sent over for review but that won’t be a problem with the higher-end configuration which comes with more memory and a more powerful Intel Arc B390 integrated GPU.
Likewise, while upgradeable, you can only swap out the SSD on the Yoga Mini and doing so isn’t nearly as easy as on other mini PCs. Still, this is the Windows-powered Mac mini alternative I’ve been waiting for.
My Lenovo Yoga Mini review will help you decide if this is the best mini PC for your desk and whether or not it’s worth spending more on the upgraded version over the base model.
Lenovo Yoga Mini: Cheat Sheet
- What is it? A small yet powerful mini PC with a circular design intended to sit front and center on your desk.
- Who is it for? Anyone looking for a stylish, space-saving desktop that doesn’t compromise on ports or performance.
- What does it cost? The entry-level configuration of the Lenovo Yoga Mini costs $999 while the more powerful version costs $1,489.
- What do we like? Its unique circular design, USB-C power delivery, generous port selection, near-silent operation, and smart extras like the fingerprint scanner and RGB underglow.
- What don’t we like? The steep hike over its original starting price, the 16GB RAM limit on the base model that prevents it from supporting Lenovo’s local AI assistant Qira, and how difficult it is to open and upgrade.
Lenovo Yoga Mini: Specs
|
Price |
$999 (as tested) |
$1,489 |
|
CPU |
Intel Core Ultra 5 325 |
Intel Core Ultra X7 358H |
|
GPU |
Intel Graphics |
Intel Arc B390 |
|
RAM |
16GB LPDDR5X |
32GB LPDDR5X |
|
Storage |
512GB |
1TB |
|
Ports |
1 x USB-A, 3 x USB-C (one with 100W PD-in), 1 x Thunderbolt 4, 1 x HDMI 2.1 (TMDS), 1 x 2.5G Ethernet, 1 x 3.5mm headphone jack |
1 x USB-A, 3 x USB-C (one with 100W PD-in), 1 x Thunderbolt 4, 1 x HDMI 2.1 (TMDS), 1 x 2.5G Ethernet, 1 x 3.5mm headphone jack |
|
Connectivity |
Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0 |
Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0 |
|
Dimensions |
5.12 x 5.12 x 1.91 inches |
5.12 x 5.12 x 1.91 inches |
|
Weight |
1.32 pounds |
1.32 pounds |
Lenovo Yoga Mini: The Ups
The Yoga Mini instantly sets itself apart with its unique look, but it’s how you interact with this mini PC that elevates its circular shape beyond a simple gimmick.
Lenovo has also packed it with a generous port selection, while the Intel Panther Lake chip inside delivers the punchy performance you’d expect from a premium desktop.
Rounded but not stripped-down
At just 5.12 x 5.12 x 1.91 inches, the Yoga Mini is an ultra-compact desktop PC that’s only a hair larger than Apple’s Mac mini M4.
However, it’s both shorter and lighter at 1.32 pounds versus 1.5 pounds. Unlike the Mac mini, it’s powered directly via a standard USB-C cable, making it much easier to pack up and take with you on the go.
Above the front Yoga logo, two small pinholes house the built-in microphones, while an integrated fingerprint scanner is built right into the power button on the right side.
For easy access, the left side features a 3.5mm headphone jack and a full-featured USB-C port with video output. I particularly loved this side port during testing — it allowed me to instantly plug in a portable monitor when I needed extra screen real estate, as well as a pair of the best smart glasses, the Viture Luma Pro, which worked like an absolute charm.
Around back, things get even more versatile. Power is supplied through a dedicated USB-C port positioned directly underneath the HDMI 2.1 (TMDS) port.
That means you aren’t forced to use the included power brick — any GaN charger rated for 100W or higher will do the trick. Alongside the power input, you get a high-speed USB-C port with DisplayPort Alt Mode, a 40Gbps Thunderbolt 4 port, a 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port, and a high-speed USB-A port.
While you do get one less USB-C port than on the Mac mini M4, having that USB-A port means you won’t need to hunt for a dongle every time you want to plug in a flash drive.
Under the hood, my review unit came equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 5 processor, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. Lenovo also offers a higher-end configuration outfitted with an Intel Core Ultra 7 chip, 32GB of memory and a 1TB SSD.
While you can swap out the primary SSD for more storage down the road, keep in mind that this mini PC’s RAM is soldered to the motherboard and can’t be upgraded.
Reach out and touch
Unlike other mini PCs, the Yoga Mini is immediately inviting thanks to its RGB underglow. This is a device that wants you to interact with it, which is clear from the get-go thanks to this small but meaningful addition.
Within Lenovo’s Turbo AI Engine app, you can fully customize the color and effects of the Yoga Mini’s RGB underglow. For instance, with a little help from Intel’s built-in Wi-Fi sensing tech, I set the mini PC to greet me with a violet light show complete with a bouncing ball lighting effect the second I approached my desk.
Alternatively, you can set the underglow to react to music or light up in a specific color when an important notification arrives.
Lighting isn’t all the software can control, either. Thanks to a built-in accelerometer, the top of the Yoga Mini acts as a customizable button.
By default, a single tap turns off the ambient lighting, while a double tap launches Lenovo’s Voice Mode to let you speak directly to the mini PC via its built-in microphone and speaker. You can also reassign either the single or double tap to launch any application on your PC.
You won’t just be touching the top surface, though — the fingerprint scanner integrated into the power button is also extremely useful.
I used it for instant, secure Windows logins, but because it’s tied directly into Windows Hello, you can also use it to log into supporting websites via your browser or unlock apps like one of the best password managers.
It’s worth noting that during my testing, the customizable tap feature was slightly finicky. While I could use it to turn off the Yoga Mini’s ambient lighting, I couldn’t get it to launch third-party apps just yet. Lenovo assured me that a fix is coming in a future software update, so this should be resolved shortly.
Puck-sized power
Despite its small size, the Yoga Mini is a surprisingly capable desktop. To put it through its paces, I built a minimalist desk setup with the PC front and center beneath a 5K2K ultrawide monitor. For an even cleaner look, I swapped out the included power supply for a 100W GaN charger paired with a braided USB-C cable.
Over a month of daily use, the base model with 16GB of RAM handled my standard workflow smoothly — even with dozens of Chrome tabs open across multiple windows alongside light photo editing in GIMP.
What impressed me most wasn’t just the speed, but how whisper-quiet it remained under load. Compact mini PCs often rely on aggressive, high-pitched fan curves to manage their thermals, but the Yoga Mini stayed virtually silent throughout my entire time using it as my daily driver.
| Header Cell – Column 0 |
Lenovo Yoga Mini |
Mac mini M4 |
Geekom A9 Max 2026 Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Geekbench 6.7 single-core |
2667 |
3838 |
2910 |
|
Geekbench 6.7 multi-core |
10850 |
14838 |
12476 |
|
25GB file copy test (MBps) |
1457.1 |
3017.3 |
1550.6 |
|
Handbrake (Mins:Secs) |
6:12 |
4:42 |
3:30 |
Even if the Yoga Mini technically underperformed in benchmark testing at our lab compared to the Mac mini M4 and the newer Geekom A9 Max 2026 Edition, in my real-world experience it held its own quite well.
The machine booted quickly, apps opened fast and I didn’t experience any significant slowdowns. While I would have loved having the extra memory and better integrated graphics you get with the higher-end model, the base Yoga Mini handled everything I threw at it and more.
I always get excited when testing a mini PC that uses a USB-C port over a barrel port for power since I’m not chained to the included power adapter.
However, as I had the MSI Pro Max 271UPXW12G monitor I recently reviewed on hand, I decided to see if I could power this mini PC and get video out using a single cable. Surprisingly, I could.
From there, I wanted to try out the gaming capabilities of the Intel Core Ultra 5 CPU inside it as Panther Lake has made impressive improvements when it comes to integrated graphics.
While I did have to play at 1080p on that 4K monitor, I was able to run my go-to game, the skateboarding sim Session, on the Yoga Mini surprisingly well. Obviously your gaming experience will vary significantly depending on the game, but for older or less demanding titles, you can certainly play some games during your downtime with this mini PC.
Lenovo Yoga Mini: The Downs
The Yoga Mini is certainly an impressive mini PC, but it’s not without its downsides. These include not being able to run Lenovo’s AI assistant Qira on the base model, along with the fact that opening it up for upgrades requires having a suction cup at the ready.
A Copilot+ but not quite a Qira PC
With 50 TOPS from its NPU, the Core Ultra 5 inside the base Yoga Mini is more than capable of running local Copilot+ features like live captions with real-time translation and Windows Studio Effects.
However, if you stick with the entry-level model over the upgraded configuration, you’ll completely miss out on one of Lenovo’s most exciting AI features.
Alongside the Yoga Mini, Lenovo unveiled its new on-device AI assistant, Qira, at CES earlier this year. Designed to handle conversational voice commands, transcribe meetings in real time, and translate conversations on the fly, Qira showed a ton of promise.
After learning all about it back in January, I was genuinely excited to test it out here, especially since the Yoga Mini’s puck-shaped design and built-in mic array seem tailored for it.
Unfortunately, running Qira requires a minimum of 24GB of RAM. Since my review unit only came equipped with 16GB, I couldn’t even install it — and trust me, I tried. While this won’t be an issue if you spring for the higher-end configuration, it’s disappointing that Qira’s memory requirements lock out the base model entirely.
Thankfully, if you want to mess around with on-device AI, you can still run plenty of lightweight open-source models like Llama 3 8B or Mistral on the base model using tools like LM Studio.
Bring your own suction cup
Upgradeability is something I always like to see on the mini PCs I review but sometimes, given their form factor or the company that makes them, this just isn’t possible.
For instance, you can’t easily open the Mac mini M4 to add a larger SSD. At first glance, I thought this was true with the Yoga Mini because when you flip the device over, there aren’t any visible screws.
As it turns out, you can upgrade the Yoga Mini but doing so required a bit more work than I’m normally accustomed to. With mini PCs like the Geekom A9 Max, you just take off the feet on the bottom and unscrew a few screws. With the Yoga Mini, you need a suction cup.
I tried using a pry tool to lift off its top lid at first but that didn’t get me anywhere. That’s when I discovered you need a suction removal tool to do so. Since I didn’t have one on hand, I improvised by using a strong suction cup I had left over from installing one of the best dash cams in my car.
That did the trick and with the case off, I now had access to the Yoga Mini’s internals. As I mentioned before, you can’t swap out the RAM since it’s soldered but you can remove the stock SSD and replace it with one with more storage.
However, since there isn’t a second M.2 SSD slot, you need to clone the original drive and move its contents to your new one before you do so.
Now don’t get me wrong, the fact that you can upgrade the Yoga Mini’s SSD is great. Still, I wish Lenovo just would have put an indent around back to get its top lid off. Or alternatively, they could have included a suction removal tool in the box.
Lenovo Yoga Mini: Verdict
The Lenovo Yoga Mini is unlike any mini PC I’ve tested yet, but in the best possible way. It trades the traditional rectangular form factor for a circular puck design without compromising on ports or performance.
The customizable RGB underglow, integrated fingerprint reader, and tap-enabled top lid add a ton of personality to this mini PC without feeling gimmicky in the slightest.
While I wish I could have tried out Lenovo’s local AI assistant Qira on my review unit, the base model of the Yoga Mini is still an excellent choice if you’re after a sleek, ultra-compact, and quiet desktop PC.
You might pay a slight premium for the novel form factor, but Lenovo didn’t skimp on ports or performance to get there—and you won’t have to deal with annoying fan noise, either.