HP ProDesk 400 G3 SFF vs. Lenovo ThinkCentre Edge 72 Tower
Comparison and Differences
Differences between HP ProDesk 400 G3 SFF and Lenovo ThinkCentre Edge 72 Tower
If you are looking for a more modern desktop, then you should go with the HP ProDesk 400 G3 SFF which was released in 2016. The Lenovo ThinkCentre Edge 72 Tower is older and entered production in 2012.
If you are looking for the smaller form factor the HP ProDesk 400 G3 SFF is the right one for you. It is smaller than the Lenovo ThinkCentre Edge 72 Tower 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 HP ProDesk 400 G3 SFF as it is running a newer generation CPU. This is not to say that Lenovo ThinkCentre Edge 72 Tower 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 HP ProDesk 400 G3 SFF is using the faster 2133 MT/s RAM. The Lenovo ThinkCentre Edge 72 Tower 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 HP ProDesk 400 G3 SFF as it has the ability to run 32 GB of RAM. The Lenovo ThinkCentre Edge 72 Tower can do a bit less at max 16 GB. Most of the times, this should be sufficient for the majority of users.
Ports
In total the HP ProDesk 400 G3 SFF has 8 USB ports. The Lenovo ThinkCentre Edge 72 Tower is inferior in this regard and packs 6 USB ports. In any case, if you miss USB ports, you can always purchase a USB hub. 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 HP ProDesk 400 G3 SFF has a DisplayPort. The Lenovo ThinkCentre Edge 72 Tower does not have one? Don't worry though, nowadays video adapters are cheap and you can get almost any combination of conversion types.
None of the models has an HDMI port. If your monitor supports only the HDMI interface, you will need to buy an adapter. Such adapters are cheap so nothing to worry about.
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 Edge 72 Tower is better equipped as it comes with 3 SATA slot(s), while the HP ProDesk 400 G3 SFF has 2 slot(s).
M.2 SSD interface allows you to transfer data with higher speeds compared to the old SATA interface. Unfortunately, neither the HP ProDesk 400 G3 SFF, nor the Lenovo ThinkCentre Edge 72 Tower 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
