The 31.5-inch Lenovo Yoga AIO 9i is an Editors’ Alternative award winner amongst all-in-one desktop PCs (disclosure: this reviewer purchased one), but it surely prices nicely greater than $1,000. In case your funds falls considerably south, Lenovo sells the IdeaCentre AIO 27 ($849.99 as examined), a succesful if not colossal homework and internet browsing station with one main flaw: We’re on file that full HD (1,920-by-1,080-pixel) decision is just too fuzzy for a 24-inch desktop, so it is positively subpar for a 27-inch display screen. If you cannot afford the Yoga AIO, we advocate a 24-inch system, just like the HP Envy Transfer or the pricier Apple iMac M3.Configurations and Design: From Pillar to Publish The IdeaCentre AIO 27 is out there in AMD and Intel flavors. Our check unit (mannequin F0HQ001EUS), $849.99 at Lenovo.com or Newegg, incorporates a six-core AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS processor with Radeon 660M built-in graphics, 16GB of reminiscence, a 512GB NVMe solid-state drive, and a 1080p IPS contact display screen with a 100Hz refresh fee.
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(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
An additional $120 enables you to improve to a Ryzen 7 7735HS with improved Radeon 680M graphics and a 1TB SSD, however AMD items aren’t obtainable with the sharper 2,560-by-1,440-pixel display screen of upscale Intel configurations. (The $1,049.99 flagship has a Core i7-13620H CPU.) Even that panel is strictly financial system class subsequent to the 4,480-by-2,520 Retina show discovered within the 23.5-inch Apple iMac M3 (begins at $1,299).Clad in darkish Luna Grey plastic, the IdeaCentre has a 7.6-by-8.5-inch base from which a corrugated border-wall pillar rises to carry the display screen. You will not discover any peak adjustment or pivot to portrait mode, however you get 20 levels of tilt (-5 to +15). The system stands 19 inches excessive and 24.1 inches large. The left aspect of the pillar (not the show) has a USB 3.2 Sort-C port and an audio jack; the correct edge holds the facility button and a sliding shutter change for the webcam.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
The again of the pillar has extra ports: HDMI-in to make use of the display screen with a recreation console, a Gigabit Ethernet jack, two retro USB 2.0 ports, one USB 3.2 Sort-A, HDMI-out to attach an exterior monitor, and the AC adapter connector. The IdeaCentre’s wi-fi connectivity is retro, too, with Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 as a substitute of extra present variations.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
Lenovo’s Home windows 11 Residence system comes with McAfee LiveSafe and Microsoft 365 trials pre-installed. It additionally features a wi-fi keyboard and mouse with a mini RF dongle plugging right into a USB 2.0 port. (The peripherals do not assist Bluetooth or USB cable connections.) The system carries a one-year mail-in guarantee.Utilizing the Lenovo IdeaCentre AIO 27: As Generic as a Black-and-White Barcode Lenovo’s wi-fi mouse takes one AA battery and has an inside compartment to stash the USB dongle; the keyboard makes use of one AAA battery and has pivoting toes that give a slight typing tilt. The mouse exhibits a vanilla ambidextrous design with a clickable scroll wheel however no browser Again or Ahead buttons or adjustable decision; its clicks are flimsy and hole however comfy. I just like the keyboard’s slight twist on the same old 104-key structure. It has a vertical as a substitute of horizontal cursor management group between the first keys, the numeric keypad, and a double-size Delete key. Its top-row operate keys deal with settings similar to quantity and microphone mute. The keyboard’s typing really feel is shallow and low cost however not disagreeable, and I can preserve a good (and quiet) tempo with it.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
The webcam can transcend the same old 1080p (16:9 facet ratio) decision by capturing 2,592-by-1,944-pixel (4:3 ratio) photographs and movies, however each are blurry and blotchy with washed-out colours, among the many poorer video-call pictures we have seen shortly. Home windows Digital camera’s Studio Results embody automated framing, however the portrait-light, eye-contact, and background-effects choices had been grayed out after we tried them. Ahead-firing sound appears to be coming from the pillar beneath the display screen. It is not ultra-loud however enough for music listening or film viewing, paying homage to AM radio however nice sufficient. There isn’t any bass to talk of, however instrumentals are clear, and you may dimly make out overlapping tracks. Dolby Entry software program presents imperceptibly totally different music, film, recreation, and voice presets and an equalizer. As we mentioned, we contemplate full HD (1080p) decision simply effective for a 14-inch laptop computer however too scanty for a desktop show; on a 27-inch display screen, it makes it doable to see particular person pixels or fuzziness across the edges of letters and detracts out of your enjoyment of what is not actually a foul panel.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
Brightness and distinction are good, and colours are fairly nicely saturated, although they do not pop like poster paints or an OLED display screen. Viewing angles are broad, although white backgrounds are grayish when seen off heart. All instructed, there’s nothing incorrect with the show {that a} bunch extra pixels would not repair.Testing the Lenovo IdeaCentre AIO 27: Thrifty Desktops Compete The one different 27-inch AIO we have examined recently is the business-oriented HP EliteOne 870 G9 ($1,029 as examined). It has a 1440p show, as does the carry-handle-equipped HP Envy Transfer. The $799.99 Dell Inspiron 24 AIO has the identical humble decision because the IdeaCentre 27. Ditto for the Acer Aspire C24 ($649.99 as examined).
Productiveness Assessments We run the identical common productiveness benchmarks throughout each cellular and desktop techniques. Our first check is UL’s PCMark 10, which simulates quite a lot of real-world productiveness and workplace workflows to measure general system efficiency and provides a storage subtest for the first drive.Three different benchmarks deal with the CPU, utilizing all obtainable cores and threads, to fee a PC’s suitability for processor-intensive workloads. Maxon’s Cinebench R23 makes use of that firm’s Cinema 4D engine to render a fancy scene, whereas Geekbench 5.5 Professional from Primate Labs simulates in style apps starting from PDF rendering and speech recognition to machine studying. Subsequent, we use the open-source video transcoder HandBrake 1.4 to transform a 12-minute video clip from 4K to 1080p decision (decrease occasions are higher).Lastly, we run PugetBench for Photoshop by workstation maker Puget Programs, which makes use of the Inventive Cloud model 22 of Adobe’s well-known picture editor to fee a PC’s efficiency for content material creation and multimedia purposes. It is an automatic extension that executes quite a lot of common and GPU-accelerated Photoshop duties starting from opening, rotating, resizing, and saving a picture to making use of masks, gradient fills, and filters.
The Lenovo carried out ably, tying the more-powerful-processor’d EliteOne in PCMark’s common productiveness measurement and ending second to it in most of our CPU exams. It is no workstation or videographer’s platform, however completely appropriate as a each day driver and occasional picture touch-up editor. Graphics Assessments We check Home windows PCs’ graphics with two DirectX 12 gaming simulations from UL’s 3DMark, Night time Raid (extra modest, appropriate for laptops with built-in graphics) and Time Spy (extra demanding, appropriate for gaming rigs with discrete GPUs). Two OpenGL exams from the cross-platform GPU benchmark GFXBench 5 stress each low-level routines like texturing and high-level, game-like picture rendering. The 1080p Automobile Chase and extra strenuous 1440p Aztec Ruins check are each rendered offscreen to accommodate totally different native resolutions.
Aside from 3DMark Night time Raid, the IdeaCentre AIO 27 positioned close to the again of a decidedly sluggish pack. These techniques’ built-in graphics roll over and die when requested to sort out demanding visible purposes or play fast-paced video games—the IdeaCentre’s 100Hz display screen refresh fee is strictly for barely smoother video playback, not gaming. Show Assessments As with laptops, we use a Datacolor SpyderX Elite monitor calibration sensor and software program to measure the colour saturation of all-in-one desktops’ shows—what share of the sRGB, Adobe RGB, and DCI-P3 shade gamuts or palettes every display screen can present—and its 50% and peak brightness in nits (candelas per sq. meter).
All 5 AIOs’ screens proved greater than enough for on a regular basis apps, streaming video viewing, and occasional gentle multimedia enhancing, if not prepress shade copy or workstation CGI rendering. All besides the Acer had been satisfactorily vivid, with the Lenovo barely topping its marketed 300 nits.Verdict: Larger Is not All the time Higher We attempt to not decide under-$1,000 PCs too harshly. The IdeaCentre AIO 27 is in no hazard of getting a four- or five-star evaluation, however it could fee a solidly helpful three stars if not for its subpar webcam, which subtracts half a star. This desktop will get the job finished in a den or household room, however until you are hell-bent on a 27- as a substitute of 24-inch show, you are able to do higher.
The Backside Line
Lenovo’s big-screen IdeaCentre AIO 27 is a thrifty all-in-one desktop that desperately wants a higher-resolution show and a greater webcam.
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About Eric Grevstad
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I used to be picked to jot down the “20 Most Influential PCs” characteristic for PCMag’s fortieth Anniversary protection as a result of I bear in mind all of them—I began on a TRS-80 journal in 1982 and served as editor of Laptop Shopper when it was a 700-page month-to-month. I used to be later the editor in chief of Residence Workplace Computing, {a magazine} that promoted utilizing tech to make money working from home 20 years earlier than a pandemic made it customary apply. Even in semiretirement in Bradenton, Florida, I can not cease taking part in with toys and telling individuals what gear to purchase.
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