Lenovo M73-SFF, Core i5-4570, 8GB, 500GB HDD

The M73-SFF costs $104 and delivers exactly what you'd expect from a 2013-era office PC. The i5-4570 and 8GB of DDR3 rank in the bottom 11th and 9th percentiles respectively, and the 500GB HDD makes everything feel sluggish. It's a functional budget box for basic tasks, nothing more.

The i5-4570 is a 4-core, 3.2GHz chip from 2013, and in our database it lands at the 11th percentile for CPUs. That's not a typo. Modern budget processors run circles around it, but for basic office tasks it's still got enough muscle to keep a dozen browser tabs and a few Office apps moving. The 8GB of DDR3 is the bigger bottleneck, ranking at the 9th percentile. Windows 10 Pro will run, but you'll feel the squeeze if you're the type who never closes anything.

The 500GB HDD is the real drag here. At the 22nd percentile for storage, boot times will be measured in minutes, not seconds, and app launches will feel like waiting for a pot of coffee. The Intel HD 4600 integrated graphics, with its 18th percentile ranking, is fine for pushing pixels to a monitor but completely out of its depth for anything 3D. This is a machine built for patience.

Stacked against the HP ProDesk G4 and Dell Optiplex, the M73-SFF is the budget option of the trio. The ProDesk and Optiplex typically ship with newer CPUs and sometimes SSDs, which explains why they command higher prices. The GEEKOM A5 Pro and Kamrui Pinova P1 are mini PCs with modern silicon and NVMe storage, and they absolutely embarrass this Lenovo in every performance metric. But they also cost several times more. The MSI Cubi NUC is in a similar boat, tiny and efficient but pricier. The M73-SFF wins only if your budget is the deciding factor and you don't mind living with 2013-era performance.

At $104, the M73-SFF is priced like a dinner for two at a decent restaurant, and you're getting a complete Windows 10 Pro desktop with a legitimate license. That's the whole pitch. The reliability ranking at the 70th percentile is reassuring for a refurb, and the 4.6 rating from buyers backs that up. But value here is relative. You're paying for functionality, not speed. If you factor in the cost of an SSD upgrade, which this machine desperately wants, you're looking at another $30 to $50, and suddenly the math gets less charming.

The Lenovo M73-SFF is a refurbished office workhorse that lands at $104, and for that price you're getting a 4th gen Intel Core i5-4570, 8GB of DDR3, and a 500GB spinning hard drive. The CPU sits at the 11th percentile in our database, which means it's well behind modern chips, but it still handles spreadsheets, email, and web browsing without throwing a tantrum. The 4.6 out of 5 rating from four buyers suggests people who grab this thing know exactly what they're signing up for.

Where this machine really shows its age is the storage and graphics. The 500GB HDD ranks at the 22nd percentile, and the integrated Intel HD 4600 sits at the 18th. That's not a recipe for snappy boot times or anything beyond casual 2D work. But if you need a cheap Windows 10 Pro box for a front desk, a point-of-sale terminal, or a homework station, the M73-SFF is honest about what it is.

Skip this if you have any interest in gaming, video editing, or running modern software. The gaming score of 5.3 out of 100 tells the whole story. The Intel HD 4600 graphics are a decade old, the 8GB of DDR3 is a bottleneck, and the 500GB HDD will test your patience every single day. If you're buying for a student who needs to run anything beyond Chrome and Word, or if you value your time waiting for apps to load, look elsewhere. This is a machine for people who need the cheapest possible Windows box and nothing else.

The Lenovo M73-SFF is a $104 ticket to a functional Windows 10 Pro desktop, and that's about as generous as we can be. The reliability numbers are decent for a refurb, and the customer rating is solid. But the RAM, storage, and graphics all rank in the bottom quarter of our database, and the CPU isn't far behind. If you need a cheap machine for light office work and you're okay with slow boot times, this works. If you want anything resembling a modern computing experience, save up for something with an SSD and DDR4.