Dell Vostro 3070 vs. Lenovo ThinkCentre E73 Small

Comparison and Differences

Dell_Vostro_3070.jpg case front and back pannelLenovo_ThinkCentre_E73_Small.jpg case front and back pannel
Model
Form factorMini TowerSmall
CPU optionsIntel Gen8&9 i3/i5/i7/i9;Intel Gen4 i3/i5/i7; Pentium;
ChipsetB360H81
Dedicated GPU *GeForce GTX 1660 SuperGeForce GT 1030 Low Profile
RAMDIMM DDR4-2400/2666DIMM DDR3-1600
RAM slots22
RAM speed2666 MT/s1600 MT/s
RAM max32 GB16 GB
USB ports(4x)USB-A 2.0; (2x)USB-A 3.0; (2x)USB-A 3.0; (4x)USB-A 2.0;
Video portsHDMI 1.4; VGA;DisplayPort; VGA;
Other portsRJ45; Hdph; Mic; Line-Out; Line-In;RJ45; Hdph; (2x) Mic; Line-Out; Line-In;
Optional portsN/ASerial; Media card reader (USB 2.0);
SATA ports13
PCI slotsN.A.PCIe 3.0 x16; (2x) PCIe 2.0 x1;
M.2 slotsN.A.N.A.
Drive bays3.5in;2.5in; 2.5/3.5in; 5.25in;
PSU180 WATX 180 W
Weight5.2kg (11.46 lbs)6.0 kg (13.2 lb)
Released20192013
Manuallinklink
Price**Check PriceCheck Price

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* Dedicated GPU warning: Check if your particular power supply model has enough power. Additionally some PSUs don't come with an auxiliary PCIe power connector and you may need to buy a SATA to PCIe power adapter.

Differences between Dell Vostro 3070 and Lenovo ThinkCentre E73 Small

If you are looking for a more modern desktop, then you should go with the Dell Vostro 3070 which was released in 2019. The Lenovo ThinkCentre E73 Small is older and entered production in 2013.

If you are looking for the smaller form factor the Lenovo ThinkCentre E73 Small is the right one for you. It is smaller than the Dell Vostro 3070 and will fit more easily under your desk.

Processor

Usually the newer the generation of the CPU, the better the performance and efficiency is. If your budget allows it, you should go with the Dell Vostro 3070 as it is running a newer generation CPU. This is not to say that Lenovo ThinkCentre E73 Small is bad - it can still run some powerful CPUs, albeit being an older generation.

Memory

Both models have have equal amount of ram slots (2 RAM). Usually two RAM slots are more than enough for most cases. However, the count should be taken into account when planning how much and what combination of RAM you are going to need for your system.

The Dell Vostro 3070 is using the faster 2666 MT/s RAM. The Lenovo ThinkCentre E73 Small is slower by supporting RAM speeds of up to 1600 MT/s. Additionally, if you will be needing a lot of RAM, better go for the Dell Vostro 3070 as it has the ability to run 32 GB of RAM. The Lenovo ThinkCentre E73 Small can do a bit less at max 16 GB. Most of the times, this should be sufficient for the majority of users.

Ports

Both models have the same amount of USB ports for total count of 6. If this is not enough, using a USB hub is always a viable option. None of the desktop models has a USB 3.1 port (10Gb/s), so if you need a fast connection to your peripherals, like external Solid State Drive, you will need to look elsewhere.

Unfortunately, only the Lenovo ThinkCentre E73 Small has a DisplayPort. The Dell Vostro 3070 does not have one? Don't worry though, nowadays video adapters are cheap and you can get almost any combination of conversion types.

The Dell Vostro 3070 comes with an HDMI port, while the Lenovo ThinkCentre E73 Small does not support the interface. Of course missing HDMI port is something that can be easily fixed with a good adapter (e.g. DisplayPort to HDMI).

SATA ports are placed on the system board and it is where you connect your HDD, SSD and Optical Disk Drives. More SATA slots will allow you to have more drives running at the same time. In this regard the Lenovo ThinkCentre E73 Small is better equipped as it comes with 3 SATA slot(s), while the Dell Vostro 3070 has 1 slot(s).

M.2 SSD interface allows you to transfer data with higher speeds compared to the old SATA interface. Unfortunately, neither the Dell Vostro 3070, nor the Lenovo ThinkCentre E73 Small has one. However, you can still use a SATA SSD drive which should give you satisfactory performance.

Make sure that the available M.2 slot supports the PCIe (also called NVMe) interface. This is important as there are M.2 slots which support only the inferior SATA III interface. For comparison, the SATA III interface has max speeds of 6Gb/s, while the PCIe 3.0 x4 will support speeds up to 32Gb/s!

Power Supply

Looking at the Power Supply Unit (PSU) of the two models we don't see any differences. For either of them you get a maximum power of 180 Watts. However be careful, many models have more than one power supply option. When buying your computer, it is a good idea to get a version with the most powerful PSU. This will potentially allow you to upgrade to a more powerful GPU for example.

Motherboard

Dell_Vostro_3070_motherboard.jpg motherboard layoutLenovo_ThinkCentre_E73_Small_motherboard.jpg motherboard layout