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Lenovo took the all-in-one PC idea one step further with their IdeaCentre A720, which earns our TopTenREVIEWS Bronze Award. You can adjust the screen to be used in any position, even parallel with the table – making it feel like large tablet. The A720 is designed for Windows 8 and has a third generation processor, a decent graphics card and plenty of RAM to run almost any program you want.
Lenovo created their A720 with Windows 8 in mind. The touchscreen makes it easy to move tiles around, navigate multiple windows at once and customize your homescreen. The i7, quad-core processor coupled with 8GB of RAM let you multitask with multiple windows open at once without slowing the system down. We found that even resource-heavy programs such as World of Warcraft and Adobe Premiere Pro started up in a matter of seconds.
You will find a 1TB hard drive inside this touchscreen PC, but it only runs at a speed of 5400 rpm. The next step up would be 7200 rpm, which we would have expected with such a powerful system like this. One benefit of this lower hard drive speed is that it does save energy. There is also an option to upgrade to a static-state drive (SSD), up to 64GB. These SSD drives have no moving parts and start up more quickly than traditional hard drives.
What we love about this all-in-one desktop PC is its screen clarity. The 27-inch, high-definition screen has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, and with the NVIDIGA GT630M graphics card, games and Blu-ray movies will have a clear picture quality and deep, rich contrast and colors
The standout feature of this desktop PC is its touchscreen. You can use the 10-point, multi-touch system to control the screen and manipulate its applications. If you want to change it up and play some air hockey (included with the computer), you can fold the screen down so the whole thing sits on its base hovering just above (and parallel to) the desk or table. This basically makes it a 27-inch HD tablet. This is perfect if you want to play around with some drawing applications, draft some model homes or play games with the family. We did find the actual screen less smooth than smartphones or tablets, and it seemed to attract even the smallest amounts of grease from our fingers. We ended up cleaning fingerprints and smudges on the screen often.
Compared to other all-in-one PCs, there are a few added benefits to this system. There is a 6-in-1 media card reader and HDMI IN and OUT ports. The A720 has a TV tuner, a 720p webcam and a Blu-ray drive. However, there are only four USB ports, so you may be disappointed if you plan to hook up several peripherals to this system.
We found the audio system to be just a step up from cell phone speakers. While the speakers never sounded washed out on highs, we could never hear bass. And even though Lenovo includes an audio application, all you can do is tweak the volume and change the frequency. The included speakers are adequate, but if you want really good sound for music or movies, you will be better off buying additional speakers for this computer.
Lenovo offers a one-year warranty on its A720 PC. There is a vast how-to manual included with the computer, but you shouldn't need it with the wizard that walks you through the setup. You can chat with a representative on the webpage or give Lenovo a call or email. In our experience, the live-chat option is the quickest way to get a hold of anyone.
Lenovo has created a great piece of hybrid technology in the A720. It's an all-in-one PC with a little bit of tablet mixed in. There are a few bells missing – we'd love to see more USB ports – and it lacks a strong audio core, but hooking up your own speakers can solve this issue. It is Windows 8 ready, has 8GB of RAM and a third generation processor, so you can expect to experience unimpaired computing.
