Advantages: The case dosn't look too bad Disadvantages: Addequate but outdated CPU
significantly lower than Lenovo is 3Ghz upwards. Quite how the ThinkCentre A55 hopes to even try to compete with other manufacturers offering 3-4Ghz CPU's with a price tag of around £50 less is somewhat of a mystery. Having said that, as my mate has proven with flying colours.."there is one born every minute"
The memory installed is on a par with most budget PC's and is supplied with 512Mb DDR II SDRAM. Thankfully memory these days is a relatively cheap upgrade option.
The hard drive installed again is somewhat below acceptable for the price tag. The A55 is supplied with an 80Gb hard drive. Although this size of drive is acceptable, for £400 you would expect something around 100 -120Gb in size.
The graphics card is on-board as is the norm with all budget PC's. The graphics memory is shared with the PC's RAM and is adjustable via the PC ...
Advantages: Slimline, Well Featured, Looks Good Disadvantages: No Firewire, Not thought out properly
ThinkCentre... Think Smarter
IBM?s range of workstations have always been backed up with a long history, after all shouldn?t IBM be the experts, they did ?invent? the PC after all! IBM?s ThinkCentre range represents IBM?s mid-range business workstations, enough power and multimedia capabilities to run the top end office and productivity, whilst keeping costs down to make the systems as affordable as possible. A hidden but equally important part of the ThinkCentres resides inside the computer and installed on the hard drives, these discrete design decisions and software packages that are shipped with the machines. I have recently installed 86 IBM ThinkCentre S50?s at work; this review is my attempt to distil my experiences into words.
WHATS IN THE BOX?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When the box arrives at your door, or in my case three ...
Product Information for "Lenovo ThinkCentre M52 8110" »
Mainboard
Chipset Type
Intel 945G Express
Data Bus Speed
533 MHz, 800 MHz
Monitor
Monitor Type
None
Graphics controller
Type
Integrated, PCI Express - integrated
Graphics Processor / Vendor
Intel GMA 950 Dynamic Video Memory Technology 3.0
Max Allocated RAM Size
128 MB
Digital Video Standard
Digital Visual Interface (DVI)
Audio output
Type
Sound card - integrated
Sound Output Mode
Stereo
Compliant Standards
SoundMAX Cadenza, High Definition Audio, AC '97, SoundMAX with SPX, SoundMAX Cadenza, High Definition Audio, AC '97, SoundMAX Cadenza, High Definition Audio
Speaker(s)
2 x right / left channel
Operating system / software
OS Provided
Microsoft Windows XP Professional, DOS licence
OS Certified
PC DOS, Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional , Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, Microsoft Windows XP Professional, TurboLinux Desktop 10, Novell Linux Desktop 9 for x86, Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS 4
Software
Drivers & Utilities, Lotus SmartSuite Millennium, PC Doctor, Lotus Notes Client, Access IBM, ThinkVantage Rescue and Recovery, Norton Antivirus 2005 (90 days subscription), PC Doctor, ThinkVantage Rescue and Recovery with Rapid Restore, Access Program, Drivers & Utilities
Microsoft Office Ready
Includes a preinstalled image of select 2007 Microsoft Office suites. Purchase a Medialess License Kit (MLK) to activate the software.
Keyboard
Interface
PS/2
Keyboard Name
Preferred Pro Full-size
Mouse
Technology
Optical
Features
Scroll
Interface
USB
Manufacturer's product description
The ThinkCentre M52 comes equipped with ThinkVantage Technologies that help make PCs easier for users to deploy, connect, protect and support. Utilizing the Embedded Security Subsystem, a hardware-based technology that encrypts vital security information, the ThinkCentre M52 provides strong protection against unauthorized access to information.
