Lenovo ThinkCentre A61e Small Desktop Personal Computer

The Bottom Line

Lenovo's ThinkCentre A61e is a new generation of small business desktop that delivers good performance on extremely low power consumption. This makes it a strong chocie for those looking for an energy efficient machine, but the features make it only an average overall system.

Pros

• Very Low Power Consumption
• Relatively Low Cost

Cons

• Lacks FireWire Port
• Limited Expansion Choices

Description

• AMD Athlon X2 BE-2350 Dual Core Desktop Processor
• 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 Memory
• 160GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive
• 16x DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Burner
• ATI Radeon X1200 Integrated Graphics
• Gigabit Ethernet
• Six USB 2.0 Ports
• 10.8" x 9.5" x 3.2"
• Vista Business, ThinkVantage Suite, RecordNow!, WinDVD

Guide Review - Lenovo ThinkCentre A61e Small Desktop Personal Computer

One of the big selling features of the ThinkCentre A61e small desktop system by Lenovo is its power usage. Their advertising claims that it can conceivably run off solar power. While this may be possible in some areas under the right conditions, I doubt that it would really be possible. So, how does this system use so little power? It comes down to their choice in processor.

The ThinkCentre A61e uses the newer AMD Athlon X2 BE-2350 dual core processor. This is a new core design that was based off the older Athlon 64 X2 cores but uses a smaller die size and lower voltages. This lets it perform quite well without using too much power. The drawback to this processor however is its performance. It does not quite meet up to the performance levels of the higher rated AMD desktop cores currently available. Still it does perform quite well at general purpose applications such as those used in a business system.

Even though the ThinkCenter A61e is really aimed at business looking to reduce their power conumptions, they have finally updated their business line of computers. Previously they would always include a CD-RW combo drive, but they break that traditional by including a dual layer DVD burner. This makes it much more attractive to general consumers. Admittedly, the 160GB hard drive is a bit small for a consumer system.

The biggest drawback to the ThinkCentre A61e though is its expansion capabilities. The system does have six USB 2.0 ports, but it lacks FireWire used by many camcorders for digital video. The half-height card slots also limit what cards can be installed.