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We applaud Lenovo for taking a risk on the distinctive-looking IdeaCentre A300 all-in-one desktop. This system and its unique design are available currently for $849, a discount from its original $1,099, making this a relatively competitive PC among other midrange all-in-ones. Like Apple and its MacBook Air laptop, Lenovo had to sacrifice the optical drive to achieve the IdeaCentre A300's look. You can also find faster, traditional-looking all-in-ones for a few more dollars, although the IdeaCentre A300 is not without a few tricks of its own. We recommend this system to those shopping for a midrange entertainment desktop who value their hardware's looks over its features-to-dollar ratio.
Connecting the display to the base with an adjustable arm has certainly been used a previous all-in-one designs, most notably by Apple with its "lamp"-style iMac G4 from 2002. Unlike that venerable system, the display on the IdeaCentre A300 has a relatively limited range of motion. You can't tilt or rotate the display beyond around 50 degrees from side to side, and about 10 to 20 degrees of tilt, which means the design's benefits are mostly cosmetic. We think it looks fine. Others may disagree.
To achieve the unique design, Lenovo has compressed the guts of the computer into the horizontally situated base unit. Despite a flat-lying base, the IdeaCentre A300 only takes up about 8 inches of front-to-back desktop real estate, roughly the same as that of an average all-in-one with a back-mounted support arm. Input ports ring the left and rear edge of the Lenovo's base, and the included wireless Bluetooth mouse and keyboard help minimize cable clutter and preserve this system's glossy white, shiny chrome aesthetic.
| Lenovo IdeaCentre A300 401810U | HP TouchSmart 300-1120 | |
| Price | $849 | $899 |
| Display size/resolution | 21.5-inch, 1,920x1,080 pixels | 20-inch, 1,600x900 pixels |
| CPU | 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 | 2.7GHz AMD Athlon X2 235e |
| Memory | 4GB 1,066MHz DDR2 | 4GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM |
| Graphics | 64MB (shared) Intel GMA X4500 HD | 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3200 |
| Hard drives | 500GB, 5,400rpm | 750GB, 7,200rpm |
| Optical drive | NA | dual-layer DVD burner |
| Networking | Gigabit Ethernet; 802.11n wireless networking | Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n wireless |
| Operating system | Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) | Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) |
HP's TouchSmart 300-1120 poses reasonable competition for the IdeaCentre A300. Although the Lenovo's screen does not offer touch input, both come in on the smaller end of the screen size range for this price. Acer's 23-inch Aspire Z5700 series represents the other end of the range, and you can find it for as low as $899.
Not everyone wants a large-screen all-in-one, though, especially if you're shopping for a countertop PC. In exchange for the smaller screen size, we expect more features or faster performance, and the Lenovo doesn't quite deliver on either front. Some of those limitations come from the Lenovo's design. The compact chassis doesn't have room for an optical drive, which means watching DVDs, disc burning, and disc-based installs are out unless you invest in an external drive of some kind. The IdeaCentre A300 has a small, slow, hard drive for its price as well, although we suspect that's also a function of its compact design that relies on smaller, slower laptop parts. That explains why this desktop has a mobile Core 2 Duo chip, for example, which in turn is partly responsible for its slow performance.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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Rendering multiple CPUs | |
Rendering single CPU |
The Lenovo comes in dead last across our performance benchmarks, which should send a clear signal that you should stay away from this PC if you're shopping for a budget productivity all-in-one. We were happy with its ability to play HD video content from a variety of Web-based sources, so it's at least beefy enough for its intended purpose. We also had no complaints about general usability. You can play music, open a Web page, and then switch out to watch a video file with no trouble, all of which is to say it's not slow to where you'll be irritated performing day-to-day tasks. You just don't have to look too hard for a faster all-in-one PC in this price range.
In addition to its ability to play video from the Web on this PC, Lenovo also incorporates both an HDMI input and a separate HDMI output jack. HDMI input has become one of our favorite all-in-one features, as it lets you use the system as a self-contained entertainment hub by inputting the signal from a cable box, a game console, or a standalone Blu-ray player. Because of the horizontal base unit, you can even likely stack this system on top of an external video component to keep the footprint small (just don't block any component exhaust vents). As the only video output on this system, the HDMI-out port will let you attach a second monitor, or even connect to a TV if you're so inclined. We'd suggest that a traditional DVI output would be more useful.
