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This week, I’ve been busy putting Lenovo’s ThinkCentre neo Ultra mini PC to the test.
In the meantime, I’ve run into a snag.
This appears to be the Kinara Ara-2 discrete NPU that comes in the ThinkCentre neo Ultra.
It has its own heatsink and a tiny powered fan.
Where, oh where, has my NPU gone?
We’re still very much watching the infancy ofAI PCs, and there are some kinks to work out.
I’m fairly certain this is the Kinara Ara-2 NPU installed in an M.2 slot on the PCIe card that connects the discrete GPU.
Fine, just as long as it’s making a difference in the background.
For a system running on battery power, thats especially important.
I ultimately reached out to Lenovo for support.
(Image credit: Future)
There’s no confirmed date for when to expect the update.
These points are still valid.
So, how can an AI PC’s usefulness be conveyed to the average buyer?
(Image credit: Future)
One term that is used a lot to advertise “AI power” isTrillion Operations Per Second (TOPS.
)TOPS is more like a flashy term used to compare NPUs in the most general sense.
The Ara-2 technically has enough power to run Copilot+ tools in Windows 11, but it doesnt have access.
(Image credit: Future)
Benchmarking software cant keep up.
For consumers, however, it’s a definite drawback.
Do you really need an AI PC with NPU?
A closer look at the Kinara Ara-2 NPU’s heatsink and tiny cooling fan.
AI PCs are only gaining in popularity, and most new laptops hitting the market have an NPU inside.
However, for most people, they won’t really make a difference in day-to-day use.
Again, it’s a rough estimation of power, but that’s a huge difference.
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x (Gen 9) is one of the best AI PCs we tested this year, complete with a Snapdragon X Hexagon NPU with 45 TOPS of power.
It’s the only fair action, even if the AI PC world still has that Wild West feeling.
Keep an eye out for my full ThinkCentre neo Ultra review in the coming days.
