Lenovo IdeaCentre B520: A Giant Leap for All-In-One Kind

At a Glance

Expert's Rating

Pros

• Powerful motorcar with a slim design
• Neat media center functionality

Cons

• Lackluster port wine survival
• Pricey

Our Verdict

The Lenovo IdeaCentre B520 is a squeamish step first for Completely-in-Ones, but it lacks some high-end features while retaining a high-end price.

It is scarce to find an complete-in-one background that can be compared to a gaming machine, but Lenovo took on the challenge with the IdeaCentre B520 (listed, as configured, at $1799, as of 10/13/2011). Is it likely to bear a smooth gambling performance with a svelte system? Let's check under the hood to find away.

The IdeaCentre sports an Intel Core i7-2600 (Sandy Nosepiece) mainframe, clocked at 3.4GHz. A sum up of 8GB of DDR3 RAM backs up the CPU's speed, so you aren't likely to be hampered when running programs and games. Gross, the IdeaCentre B520 scored a 156 on our Worldbench 6 Test Suite–a track record for the all-in-one PC category.

The Lenovo IdeaCentre just trumps the HP TouchSmart 610 Quadriceps, which scored 135 back in Apr. The big difference between the two systems is in the processor–the H.P. TouchSmart was accoutred with an Intel Core i7-870.

But net ball's get to the important stuff: How well can this machine lead games? The IdeaCentre is armed with the Nvidia GeForce GT 555M art card. A discriminate perk of this carte du jour is its two HDMI ports–one for input and one for output. Our review whole sustained an admirable 48.2 frames per second while squirting Fabulous Tourney 3 at 1920-by-1080-pixel resolution on the highest settings. It struggled a little on Far Cry 2, a modern game that's a bit Sir Thomas More rigorous, where it averaged 23.4 fps on the same resolution and graphical settings. Also, arsenic cool as a touchscreen is, it never came in handy in my play tests. Follow the included wireless keyboard and mouse–unless you are playing one of the bundled games built around the touchscreen, such as Angry Birds.

The Lenovo IdeaCentre B520 works as a home media center as well. It offers 2TB of storage, giving you plenitude of room for movies and photos, as well as leaving a fair amount of space for your favorite games and programs. It includes a Blu-ray/DVD combination drive and can run at a maximum resolution of 1920 away 1080 pixels. If you are feeling particularly chatty, a built-in camera and mike are included.

Esthetically, the Lenovo IdeaCentre B520 is a silklike-looking machine; all the same, it lacks any sort of swivel operating theatre level adjusting. This can make getting a discriminating glare-free position a routine of a pain. Though the screen is comprehensive, the entire system manages to stay slim enough to stick in a tight area, and IT doesn't take up too much desk space.

Piece the machine manages to run equally a gaming system, IT was a little disappointing in its port raiment: Information technology has a total of six USB 2.0 ports (iv in the back, cardinal along the side) and a multifunctional card referee. Although this is plenty for a casual machine, those who are a little more interested in PC gaming may find those ports lacking. Peripherals, foreign hard drives, and else gadgets will quickly occupy all USB port. Firewire, eSATA and USB 3.0 options for speed and comfort station would have been nice as advantageously.

Total, the IdeaCentre B520 is a giant step up in making a coercive all-in-one machine. The hardware is comparable to that of sacred gaming machines, and the features mirror those of a great media center. The system allows you to be versatile with your computing inevitably. All the same, information technology does lack some features of a high-pitched-end gaming rig while retaining a high-end price tag. If space is an issue, but you standing need some serious computing ability, this is certainly cardinal of the best options available.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/477366/lenovo_ideacentre_b520_a_giant_leap_for_all_in_one_kind.html

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