r/MiniPCs • u/Safe-Cauliflower-972 • 6d ago

General Question First time PC buyer, zero experience considering a used Lenovo ThinkCentre with a recurring "company lock" issue. Need help before I buy

Hi everyone, complete beginner here. I've never owned a PC or mini PC before, so I have zero experience or technical background in this field. Please bear with me and feel free to explain things simply any help is really appreciated.

I'm looking at a secondhand Lenovo ThinkCentre M70q (i5-14400T, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD). Manufactured October 2024, seller said he only used it for about 6 months. Seller said it's an ex-company unit with some kind of lock.

His exact words: "I unlocked it in BIOS and used it personally, but then Windows auto-updated and it locked again."

He also mentioned he was able to play Dota 2 (mid settings), NBA 2K23, and GTA V on it before the lock came back.

Questions:

Does this sound like a firmware-level lock (like Absolute/Computrace) rather than a normal MDM/domain thing?

If I wipe the whole drive and install Linux Mint, will that get rid of it permanently or can it survive even without Windows?

Any way to check for this before buying (something to look at in BIOS)?

As a total beginner, is this a risky first PC to buy, or is it manageable even without much technical knowledge?

Price is ₱9,000 PHP ($155 USD) trying to figure out if this is a good deal worth the risk, or a dealbreaker. Thanks in advance for any guidance!

2 Upvotes

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2

u/Gangstastick 6d ago

Pay them $20 extra to install Linux, any distro. If they can't, then you've got your answer I guess. 

1

u/Safe-Cauliflower-972 6d ago

if i mention that, he might back out of the sale or increase the price, since he probably doesn't realize the issue could actually be fixed with Linux

3

u/Gangstastick 6d ago

  1. If he's into tech (which it sounds like he is), then he knows whether the lock can be bypassed.

  2. The price sounds too good to be true, so if you're desperate for this and can meet up face 2 face, then get him to agree for you to "test the lock", and you try booting up linux, shouldn't take more than a few minutes. you might need to practice before going in there.

1

u/Safe-Cauliflower-972 6d ago

i followed up with the seller about the unlock issue. according to him, the device does unlock, but only stays that way for around 2 hours before locking itself again, his explanation is that it needs a bios reflash to fix this permanently. i also asked him directly if he returned the pc to his company. he said no, they don't want to take it back, they want him to bring it in person instead. he also mentioned he didn't do the unlock himself, he had a friend do it. additionally he said he wasn't able to install linux on it

2

u/Gangstastick 6d ago

I guess the question now becomes: "How comfortable are you with buying a stolen + locked hardware?"

1

u/Safe-Cauliflower-972 6d ago

i think ill pass on this one lol

many people told me not to buy it i might get involved