Lenovo IdeaCentre A720

Lenovo's $1,449 IdeaCentre A720 has all the trappings of a next-generation all-in-one desktop. It has a glossy, 27-inch display with 10-point touch recognition. A well-designed hinge lets you turn the screen into a tabletop PC. It even has some touch software you might actually want to use, at least for a while. You'll find that the shine on this system doesn't last very long, though, due to its less-than-stellar touch input and a limited selection of touch-specific applications. This system might be your best bet at the moment if you want a touch-screen PC to upgrade to Windows 8 once it ships. You'd be smarter to wait to see what the full field looks like closer to Windows 8's October launch.

At least for its hardware, the IdeaCentre A720 sounds like it should be one of the most fully realized touch-screen PCs around. It's one of the first 27-inch all-in-ones with 10-point touch input, and its large, adjustable screen -- so adjustable it's one of the only all-in-ones with a screen that can lie down flat -- seems to offer plenty of opportunity for different kinds of single and multiuser applications.

Of the 20 or so touch-specific applications Lenovo has included with the IdeaCentre A720, only one, an air-hockey-like game called Wong, takes real advantage of both the multipoint user input and the horizontal display position. A few other included games, actual Air Hockey among them, also work well on the flat screen, but in general the included touch apps consist of familiar mobile games like Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja, along with some more generic games and some bland utilities. The touch apps work well enough, although the screen itself has a surprising amount of resistance. Don't expect smartphone- or tablet-level accuracy. At least adjusting the orientation of the display is a smooth and easy process thanks to its well-made hinge system.

It's not unreasonable that this system ships with only a small collection of touch-oriented apps. Lenovo is not primarily a software company, after all. The problem is that there's no great way to expand the existing app library. Microsoft is focused on developing that touch-application ecosystem to go along with Windows 8, and it would be a mistake to underestimate Microsoft's ability to see that idea through, but for now the IdeaCentre A720's app selection feels too limited. You must also ask whether another vendor won't have released a better touch-screen all-in-one than this one by the time Microsoft brings its Windows 8 App store to life.

For all of those reasons, Lenovo seems to be jumping the gun with the timing of the IdeaCentre A720's release, at least in terms of its appeal as a touch-screen system.

	Lenovo IdeaCentre A720	Dell XPS One 27	Asus ET2700I
Price	$1,449	$1,599	$1,399
Display size/resolution	27-inch, 1,920x1,080	27-inch, 2,560x1,440	27-inch, 1,920x1,080
CPU	2.5GHz Intel Core i5-3210M	2.8GHz Intel Core i5-3450S	2.8GHz Intel Core i7-2600S
Memory	6GB 1,333MHZ DDR3 SDRAM	8GB 1,600MHz DDR3 SDRAM	8GB 1,333MHZ DDR3 SDRAM
Graphics	1GB Nvidia Geforce GT 630M	2GB Nvidia GeForce GT 640M	1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 540M
Hard drives	500GB, 7,200rpm	1TB, 7,200rpm	1TB, 7,200rpm
Optical drive	Blu-ray player/dual-layer DVD burner combo	dual-layer DVD burner	Blu-ray player/dual-layer DVD burner combo
Networking	Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n wireless	Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n wireless	Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n wireless
Operating system	Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit)	Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit)	Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit)

In other respects, the IdeaCentre A720 hits most of the familiar high points you should expect in a high-end all-in-one, but its touch screen seems to have led to some harsh trade-offs in its basic computing components. The Asus ET2700INKS is a useful comparison here since it lacks a touch screen, but is otherwise similar to the Lenovo system. Unlike the higher-resolution $1,600 Dell XPS One, the Asus and the Lenovo all-in-ones each have a 1,920x1,080-pixel-resolution display and a Blu-ray drive. But for $50 less than the Lenovo, you also get a Core i7 CPU from Asus, 8GB of system memory, and a 1TB hard drive.

The Lenovo's touch screen and elaborate adjustable chassis perhaps make up the price difference with the Asus system in terms of total value, but those features also argue that Lenovo has emphasized touch in the IdeaCentre A720 at the expense of its basic computing features. As I argued earlier, at least right now there's not enough meat to the Lenovo touch experience to justify that trade-off.

Our performance results show that Lenovo is indeed asking you to sacrifice on speed if you buy this computer. Coming in at or near the bottom across on benchmark tests, the IdeaCentre A720 will be noticeably slower than similar all-in-ones regardless of the task. I would forgive the IdeaCentre A720's subpar performance results if it had a lower price or a more compelling set of touch applications; unfortunately, it has neither.

Lenovo does deserve credit for offering a comprehensive set of features for using an all-in-one as a home entertainment device. On top of its Blu-ray and TV-tuning capabilities, the IdeaCentre A720 has an HDMI input, an HDMI output, and an extensive set of front-panel display and volume controls. I would like to see more granular display settings, rather than the simple "video" and "Web" presets, but the volume, brightness, and display signal buttons all make it much easier to use this system for multimedia consumption.

I was also happy with the Lenovo's audio and video output quality. Music and movie sound comes out loud enough through the pair of built-in, downward-facing speakers that it can fill a reasonably sized room. The budget-priced Nvidia GeForce GT 630M graphics chip isn't exactly a beast, but it handles Blu-ray movies with no issues, and it can also run mainstream 3D games like Skyrim at medium image quality and full screen resolution. Skyrim at its maximum image quality wasn't the most playable gaming experience, on the other hand. That smarts a bit given the Lenovo's price tag.

The only other major ding in regard to the IdeaCentre A720's multimedia abilities is its lack of more robust audio output options. The unit has a standard stereo output jack, and can also support 5.1 audio via its HDMI output, but with no digital or even 5.1 analog audio support, connecting this system to a receiver isn't really an option. At least you get respectable data connectivity from a pair of USB 3.0 ports, along with two standard USB 2.0 jacks.

Lenovo's service and support policies hold to the near-universal industry standard of one year of parts and labor accompanied by a 24-7 toll-free tech support number. You can add at-home service and extended warranty coverage if you purchase your system online from Lenovo directly. You will find basic drivers and documentation on Lenovo's support site, but I wish the site gave you more direct access to the product-specific information.

Conclusion
A number of readers have asked me to try the Windows 8 Release Preview build on this system to see how well Microsoft's new interface plays with the IdeaCentre A720's multitouch screen. I'm curious about that as well, but with the prerelease OS and the potential for conflicts with present-day drivers and other software, the results might not reflect the experience of buying this PC now and updating via the final Windows 8 upgrade path. For that reason, I will write about my Windows 8 experience in a separate post, and the results will have no bearing on the score of this review.

That does not mean that the Lenovo IdeaCentre A720 exists in some kind of bubble. Windows 8 is coming in just a few months, and I anticipate several other vendors having large, multitouch-capable all-in-ones at the ready. That coming competition makes it difficult to recommend that you purchase this PC today. I'm also wary of the IdeaCentre A720's value compared with that of other present-day all-in-ones.

Perhaps this system is a good fit if you're taken with its design, and if you have faith that Microsoft will succeed in its push toward touch-focused computing. For everyone else, I recommend that you wait before spending for a high-end Windows all-in-one like this one.

Performance testing conducted by Joseph Kaminski. Find out more about how we test desktop systems.

System configurations:

Apple iMac 27-inch
Apple OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.7; 3.1GHz Intel Core i5 (second generation); 4GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 1GB ATI Radeon HD 6970M graphics card; 1TB 7,200rpm hard drive

Asus ET2700I (Core i7, April 2012)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1); 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-2600S; 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 540M graphics card; 1TB 7,200rpm hard drive

Dell XPS One 2710
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1); 2.8GHz Intel Core i5-3450S; 8GB 1,600MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 2GB Nvidia GeForce 640M graphics card; 1TB 7,200rpm hard drive

HP Omni 27 Quad
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1); 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-2400S; 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 64MB Intel HD Graphics 1000 (embedded); 1TB 7,200rpm hard drive

Lenovo IdeaCentre A720
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1); 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-3210M ; 6GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 630M graphics card; 500GB 7,200rpm hard drive

Sony Vaio L Series
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1); 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-3120M; 6GB 1,600MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 64MB Intel HD 4000 embedded graphics chip; 1TB 5,400rpm hard drive