Preface
As a young guy who loves learning and working, I spend 90% of my active time each day on my computer, so having a great machine really matters. My company actually does a pretty good job on this: everyone gets a spacious desk setup, two monitors per person, and the PC specs are solid too—9th-gen platform plus a discrete GPU. I haven’t worked at many companies, but I honestly find this kind of setup really considerate. It’s the kind of condition I never imagined back when I was still in school.
But unfortunately, the Windows platform just doesn’t fully do it for me—I still prefer developing under macOS. So earlier I went to Xianyu and picked up some “junk” to mess around with Hackintosh. But since that junk’s performance was nowhere near the company-provided PC, it quickly became boring, and I flipped it again. If I wanted something I could actually use as a productivity machine, it still felt a bit short—until I saw the Lenovo 510s mini. Sure, it’s way more expensive than the random junk I pieced together on Xianyu, but the build quality, the specs, and the size basically hit every fantasy I’ve ever had about a mini PC. On January 1st, I couldn’t resist and bought it as my New Year gift to myself. Hopefully I can use it to learn more this year and grow a bit (I mean… I spent the money, I have to come up with a reason to convince myself).
Appearance
JD lists the weight as 1.5kg (including the power adapter, which takes up almost one third of that), and the dimensions are 194*43.5*182.4. It’s basically a 1L-class mini PC. Since my own photos didn’t turn out great, I’m quoting a few images shared by a big shot on “值得买” (authorized).
Specs
The specs are honestly hard to complain about. The stock configuration is:
| Spec | Details |
|---|---|
| Brand / Model | Lenovo 天逸 510S Mini |
| CPU | Intel Core i5-10400 |
| Memory | 16GB |
| SSD | WD SN530 512GB (2242) |
| GPU | Intel HD Graphics UHD630 |
| Audio | Realtek ALC235 |
| Wi‑Fi | Intel AX201 |
CPU: The 10th-gen 10400 is 6C12T. Intel didn’t fix Hyper-Threading on the 8th/9th gen i5 lineup, so those i5s were 6C6T. Yeah, Intel has been “squeezing toothpaste,” but at least they showed a bit of sincerity with 10th gen. The i5-10400 is basically the same spec as the 8th-gen i7-8700: same physical cores, logical threads, and L3 cache. So if I’m buying, I’d at least go 10th gen. I’m already very satisfied with the 10400—if I go higher, I’m guessing the cooling won’t be able to keep up.
Memory: Now that we’re in the “16GB everywhere” era, the included 16GB definitely isn’t behind. But IDEA is a memory hog. If I’m using it as a productivity machine, I’d bump it to 32GB. Whether it’s actually necessary or not, it at least clears the psychological hurdle—using a machine with too little RAM just feels uncomfortable, whether it’s placebo or a real bottleneck. One thing to note: the 510s mini comes with dual-channel 16GB (2x8GB). If you want to upgrade, you’ll likely need to replace both sticks, which makes it relatively expensive. But considering most users probably find 16GB sufficient, going straight to dual-channel out of the box is arguably more user-friendly.
Storage: 512GB is enough for me, and it can also take an extra “warehouse” drive. But what I can’t accept is that the included SSD is the super awkward 2242 form factor. 2242 basically means the controller is going to be pretty weak, because it has to balance performance and size. I ran a quick benchmark on the SN530—its “tech” isn’t great: no DRAM cache, sequential read/write tops out around 1000MB/s, and I don’t even dare look at 4K. So I swapped it immediately for my favorite PCIe 3.0 SSD: the SN730. I’ve mentioned this drive in multiple posts—honestly it’s still the SSD I’m most satisfied with right now. Even sustained (post-cache) speeds can hit 1800MB/s, and I don’t really care that it’s TLC.
Reasons
- From a hardware perspective, it’s a great match for a Hackintosh. I spend a ridiculous amount of time at the office, and on the big data side I manage a lot of clusters every day—using a Unix system is often much more convenient. I’m also more familiar with (and prefer) macOS. Working this long every day, I don’t want to “wrong” myself. Mac mini is expensive and upgrading it is inconvenient, so naturally I wanted to tinker a bit 😂
- Also, I actually prefer using my own computer at work. It feels more “mine”—you know exactly where everything is. Even if you leave the company, you don’t have to worry about data backup and migration. When you join the next company, you don’t need to reinstall your environment either—just
gitthe code and immediately get back into the business of writing bugs - This 510s mini is super portable and not expensive. Even if it can’t hold up in the future, I can put it at home as a set-top box and it’s still fine. Plus it has two M.2 slots and one SATA port—worst case, I can use it at home as a NAS
- 10th-gen standard-voltage CPU, and the expandability is great. From what I’ve read, 11th gen also uses the LGA1159 socket, so this 510s mini can be upgraded top to bottom: CPU, RAM, SSD, Wi‑Fi card—all replaceable. Future-proofing
- The price is genuinely good. I bought it on JD, and the final price was around 3.5k. For a 10400 + 16GB + 512GB, with a case and motherboard this small—honestly, even DIY would get close to that price. Cheap, backed by a big “American-conscience” brand, compact and convenient… enough said, I bought it
Experience
It’s extremely good to use. This is the most worth-it, best-value product I bought in 2021. I can basically find no flaws—perfectly matches all my needs.
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