Desktop battle

Desktops? Truth be told, with the deluge of netbooks and high performance notebooks over the past year, one would be forgiven for believing that the desktop is dead. Yet, with the value proposition that desktops provide — more power for less price, bigger screen sizes, and flexibility to upgrade — it’s early days to write this form factor out. With the launch of the budget K210 and the premium Q200 series of desktops, Lenovo’s taking a serious plunge in the consumer desktop space. Will it make a splash in an already crowded market? Let’s find out.

With the K210, Lenovo’s model for the budget segment is anything but budget, with a sturdy looking casing/chassis. In fact, the two-tone colour combination is a refreshing departure from the drab aesthetics of their corporate line-up. It won’t win any design awards though, and will in all probability be relegated to the familiar under-the-computer-table position after a while. Pictured here with an LCD, the actual K210 ships with a 17-in CRT monitor, which is about par given its price, but unusual in 2009 (most customers nowadays prefer similarly priced, albeit slightly smaller, LCD screens).

Under the hood, the K210 is ably powered with the E7200 processor, a fast 320GB hard disk and 1 GB of RAM. Although it's no powerhouse, it can easily handle general tasks, like Web browsing, and even the occasional Adobe Photoshop work. Its integrated Intel graphics are limited to the casual gaming crowd, who don’t require a video card capable of rendering 3D.

The memory isn’t an immediate concern, but I do expect you will load a recent version of a consumer operating system on it, and that’s when the 1GB of RAM will feel mildly inadequate. Upgrading is easy though; with the K200’s tool-less buckle design, which allows you to open up the system and access the innards of the machine in a jiffy.

If you’re comfortable upgrading components, you can add a low to mid-range graphics card from ATI or nVidia for better performance as well. The bundled keyboard is exceptional, and Lenovo’s even provided a convenient button on the keyboard’s upper right-hand corner that provides one-touch access to Lenovo recovery and backup utilities. And get this — the keyboard also includes an anti-bacterial surface that prevents the spread of germs. Kids — this is not an excuse for not washing hands!

The Q200, on the other hand, would make a fine addition to the young bachelor’s pad, with its sleek small-form-factor-design and the undeniable lure of the 22-in LCD monitor. Sure, it represents a slightly expensive investment in these times, but Lenovo’s added a number of goodies that almost make it worth it. For example, along with the 22-in widescreen LCD, you get a Bright Eye Camera, which not only serves the purpose of a 640x480 pixel web cam, but also sounds an alert when you get too close to the monitor, to protect your eyesight — neat touch this.
IdeaCentre K210

The VeriFace face recognition software, seen previously on Lenovo notebooks, helps control access to your desktop, even recording the faces of others who try to access your system. The latter may be useful, but in our tests, the face recognition worked only in very precise conditions, rendering it largely useless and much more a novelty than anything else. The wireless keyboard (anti-bacterial again!) and mouse is included as well, as is an extremely capable ATI Radeon HD 2400 PRO 128MB graphics card for heavy gaming and graphics work.

Lenovo’s first serious entries into the consumer desktop segment aren’t going to go unnoticed. Both systems represent a strong balance of features and expansion options at their respective price points, making them an attractive option for anyone looking to buy a branded home PC.

Quick Specs:

IdeaCentre Q200 (53142AQ)

• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 processor (2.33GHz 1GHz 4MB)
• Operating system: Windows Vista Home Premium
• System graphics: ATI Radeon HD 2400 Pro
• Total memory: 2 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz
• Hard drive: 320GB 7200 rpm
• Optical device: DVD Recordable
• Warranty: One year parts and labour
• Rating: 7/10
• Price: Rs 47,200 (plus taxes) including 22-in HD+ TFT and Lenovo Bright Eye PC Camera (640 x 480 pixels resolution)

IdeaCentre K210 (53131CQ)

• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 Processor (2.53GHz 1GHz 3MB )
• Operating system: Free-DOS
• System graphics: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100
• Total memory: 1 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz
• Hard drive: 320GB 7200 rpm
• Optical device: DVD Recordable
• Warranty: One year parts and labour
• Rating: 8/10
• Price: Rs 24,350 (exclusive of taxes) This includes a 17-in CRT


Graphiti