Lenovo ThinkCentre A61e review

We don't normally review business desktops here at CNET, the reason being that we try to stay focused on consumer products. Still, every once in a while we find a PC designed for the business world that also has crossover appeal as a home office system. Lenovo's new ThinkCentre A61e qualifies as just such a PC, especially given its small size, echoing that of the Mac Mini and other recent, small-scale desktops. Unfortunately, Lenovo's new $799 ThinkCentre does not share the Mac Mini's versatility, either in features or performance, the latter perhaps a casualty of this system's energy-conscious design. We commend Lenovo for giving large-scale IT buyers an environmentally-considerate alternative with this system, but if you were envisioning a one-off purchase for personal use, Apple, HP, and Dell all offer better options.

The ThinkCentre A61e is only the most recent entry in the growing trend of scaled-down desktops. Apple's Mac Mini, Dell's Inspiron 531s, and HP's SlimLine as well as newcomer Enano are just a few of the recent systems we've covered in this category this year. All trade some or all of their expandability for smaller chassis. The Mac Mini is the smallest of these systems, with the Inspiron taking up the most space. At 3 by 10.8 by 9.2 inches, the ThinkCentre A61e lands in the middle, at about twice the overall volume of the Mac Mini. Given the ThinkCentre's corporate roots, it doesn't quite have the aesthetic polish of those other systems, but its small size minimizes any offense you might take to its utilitarian looks.

It might be fair to say that when you think small computers, the Mac Mini is the first to come to mind. We don't love the newest model, however, and as such, we think the Dell Inspiron 531s makes a better stat-by-stat comparison. Consider pricing here, as well. The ThinkCentre A61e we reviewed costs $799. The Dell is just $659.

With the Business version of Windows Vista, the ThinkCentre does get remote desktop capability. That's a useful business feature, depending on your needs, but if you're looking at these systems from a combination business/home user standpoint, remote desktop access doesn't offset the Dell's faster performance, its larger hard drive, or its Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capabilities. You get wired Gigabit Ethernet with the ThinkCentre A61e, of course, but that's the only networking connection that came with our review system.

And it's not just Dell that trumps the ThinkCentre A61e on performance. We found a variety of similarly priced and less-expensive systems that trounced the ThinkCentre on our benchmark tests. Even a $500 eMachines system was faster across the board. We attribute this slowdown mostly to the ThinkCentre's slow CPU and only 1GB of RAM. The ThinkCentre's Athlon BE-2350 CPU does come from AMD's power-efficient line, so in large deployments (and in businesses where PC performance doesn't matter), we imagine that a company would save money on power bills. But if you buy just one, the power consumption savings aren't enough to justify such a performance hit, and you can get much faster systems for less from other vendors.

Like the other small-chassis PCs, the ThinkCentre A61E also makes compromises in its expandability to achieve its small size. The tool-free case on this system is easy enough to get into, and you can even separate the computer into two different pieces (we suspect for quick part-swapping by IT departments). Once you're inside, you can switch out the laptop-style memory and the hard drive, and that's about it. That's more than the Mac Mini, which gives you no internal access, but unlike the slightly larger Dell Inspiron 531s and HP's SlimLine desktops, you get no half-height expansion card slots for making upgrades. Lenovo does offer options for an ExpressCard slot and a media card reader, but both are available only by special bids for corporate buyers.

Of course, when you get a corporate PC, you also get a variety of software tools designed to help your IT department manage that system. For individual users, they're generally less useful, although some of Lenovo's software actually has some handy features. Lenovo's ThinkVantage suite works as a sort of secondary program menu, giving you easy access to various utilities and programs, including the bundled DVD and audio software. It's no replacement for Windows Media Center (which is absent from Vista Business), but it's at least convenient to have them wrapped together. This suite also features quick links to various system tools, which mirrors similar applications we've seen on PCs from other vendors lately. Lenovo also has an update application for making sure all of your software remains current, as well as a Vista-independent recovery program in case you need to start from scratch.

Lenovo's warranty for this system is standard for the industry, with one year of parts-and-labor coverage, upgradeable to three years or more. Lenovo also offers toll-free phone support 24-7 in the U.S., and a variety of system specific support resources on the Lenovo Web site.