Lenovo IdeaCentre A300 Desktop Review
It’s pretty obvious that Lenovo is the design-conscious consumers with the goal A300. It is also obvious that the company has more than a little removed from Apple in the design department. The PC’s 21.5-inch screen is not capable of much more like an iPhone/iPad without adding a Home button on a page. The white, slender frame and Bluetooth peripherals complete the Mac-like appearance. However, the A300 has to manage the best-looking non-Mac-made all-in-one PC we’ve seen, but also a fair bit different look than the current generation iMac. A TV tuner sweetens the system also entertainment capabilities. But as far as features and performance are concerned, the A300 lags well behind its competition AIO in this price range.
First we talk about aesthetics, because the system seems to be the strong suit. The shiny, silver trimmed 1080p screen looks about half an inch thin size, but it is not this system just wow-inducing element. A chrome arm (both swings and tilts), connects the screen to the flat, inch-thick white, glossy, that the lower part A300 is home to the other components. The screen is connected to the PC on the right side, as the center anchored against. And the base instead of a simple rectangle is an off-kilter trapezoid that is wider on the right than the left.
The asymmetrical design and slim profile are certainly striking, but not without some sacrifice. Most importantly, the system has no optical drive that can come as a shock directly to the buyers of Lenovo as the company’s product range page pushes CD/DVD-based software such as Office and Quicken on the way to the checkout. The limited space led to use also Lenovo laptop internals for this desktop PC, a practice that is not unusual AIO machines, but here it leads to performance, although up to the task of video playback, web browsing and implementing Office tasks, significantly lower than similarly priced all-in-one systems, we have seen in recent times.
Before we get the power though, it is worth noting that not disappoint the port selection on the A300. Despite the small size of the bottom section you can find a pair of USB ports, audio jacks and a multi-format (Memory Stick Pro, xD, SDHC, MMC) card reader on the left. The back left corner is equipped with a security slot for locking the system at a desk. Around the back of another pair of USB ports (for a total of only four), as well as FireWire, a TV tuner port, Gigabit Ethernet (802.11g WiFi is also on board) and the network connection. Not surprisingly, given the slim form factor system, the power supply externally.
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The real treat rear port, but comes in the form of not one but two HDMI ports. One is HDMI output, for connecting the system to a second monitor or HDTV, while the second-in HDMI, for connecting the screen to a game console, cable box or other device. The HDMI connections make the system a very attractive option for dorm residents or those who just generally cramped for space. Between the TV tuner, PC and HDMI input, this system could easily serve as the sole HD display device. But as our test results show that only the case if your PC needs light, and do not include a lot of gaming on Web-based titles.
In our Cinebench 10 test, which designed all available CPU cores is a tax, could the A300 Core 2 Duo chip is not up to the Athlon CPU in the Gateway One ZX4300-01e. The gateway is an AIO with the same size screen (and a bigger hard drive, even though no TV tuner), which sells for $ 250 less than the Lenovo system. The A300 has 4858, while the Gateway system managed 5389. To see how the transfers in real-time performance word, we ran to test iTunes MP3 to AAC conversion. The A300 turned our 11 files in 4 minutes and 7 seconds, while the Gateway slipped in at 3:40.
No optical drive and Intel GMA X4500 integrated graphics, to do much more than Flash games with the A300 expected. Again, the gateway system with its ATI Radeon HD 4270, much more powerful, but by no means a powerful gaming system. If you are a gaming-friendly AIO itching, then Lenovo ThinkCentre B500 is the best we have seen so far, although its stealth bombers are aesthetic on the exact opposite of the A300.
In PCMark Vantage, a synthetic test to measure overall system performance, the A300 score of 3565 back behind the Gateway 4457 Demonstration of solid. These differences are not huge, but remember that the Lenovo costs here $ 250 more than the Gateway. For $ 50 more than the asking price of this model, the A300, you can use the larger version of the gateway, the ZX6900, a 23-inch screen, a Blu-ray optical drive and sports a more recent CPU Core i3 what the Gateway almost twice as fast in our tests. There are no words to deny, you make some serious sacrifices for the performance style Lenovo A300 is slim.
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Also not working in the favor of Lenovo is a whole lot of bloatware pre-installed, slow boot times by more than a minute on our test system. The most notable culprit here, however, is Lenovo Idea Notes software, which “provides information about product upgrades, offers marketing, product management and security tips”. The only tip we will from the idea in our time with the A300 saw was a pop-ad for a Lenovo laptop that emerged (blissfully rare) after starting. This software is thankfully off easily with a few clicks, but we were not just with the idea of a just purchased desktop is already nagging you to buy another PC configured excited even before you all plastic packaging from the first one . Lenovo Idea Central software, a pre-installed video and news portal, is also filled with offers for software and peripherals.
If you do a lot of typing, you can actually do take Lenovo to offer to the peripheral. The Bluetooth keyboard and mouse combo that came with the system look good and feel solidly built. But the keyboard feels cramped. And we have similar problems in determining the PC with the keyboard, as we did with the ThinkCentre A70z. It took several attempts, the PC to recognize the keyboard to get before the screen pairing eventually turned up, teach us to enter the pairing code. We had no similar problems with the mouse.
We are sure many people will be impressed by the A300 design. The search for a PC on their white iPhone game will not be disappointed, at least in the style department. And with HDMI in and out ports, this system is a tempting option for those who handle a space-saving PC with a HD screen all entertainment needs. While the A300′s performance does not come close to other all-in-one systems in this price class, it is still suitable for video playback, and productivity tasks with ease (yes, it is of systems that failed the 20 percent less cost ). If you are willing to spend extra for style over substance, then the Lenovo IdeaCentre A300 is a surprisingly advanced PCs we’ve seen. On the other hand, if you are in the Mac-like aesthetics, is also important to note that the initial iMac with its optical drive, much faster processor and Multi-Touch Mouse Magic at just $ 250 more than the A300 will start.
If you like the A300 aesthetics, but they are spending on the search for less, a $ 750 model of the A300 with a smaller hard drive, half the RAM, and no TV tuner at the time of this review is available at Office Depot. The model is also equipped with an older Pentium Dual Core CPU, but it has the same clock rate as the more expensive model. So it is still fast enough for video playback, Web and basic productivity tasks. If you can live without a TV tuner, this model is a better value.
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