Lenovo C320 20 inch All-in-One Desktop PC - Black (Intel Core i3 2120 3.3GHz, 6Gb RAM, 1Tb HDD, DVDRW, LAN, WLAN, Webcam, Integrated Graphics, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit)

We bought this Lenovo C320 for my girlfriend's father who wanted to be able to receive/send e-mails, write the odd letter, surf the Net, shop on-line, store/edit photos and trace his lifetime travels on Google Earth. This review refers to the Pentium, 4GB, 1TB variant we purchased. I was concerned about selecting and installing a PC that would offer adequate facilities, quality and performance at a reasonable cost. I need not have worried as this Lenovo all-in-one PC fitted the bill perfectly. This purchase represented my first "close up" experience of a Lenovo product and I am very impressed. (I had recently installed an HP all-in-one for my sister which provided a benchmark). As I see it here are the pros and cons of the Lenovo C320;

Pros

- Very neat and saves a lot of space over a desktop setup plus the build quality seems good.
- The stand is very stable and solid metal - this is important with a touch screen PC.
- Easier "out of the box" experience as there is effectively only one power cable to connect.
- Plenty of connectivity - 6 USB ports, 4 on the rear and two on the side plus usual router connections and external audio plus a camera card reader etc. Also, you save money versus a desktop PC as most brands (except HP and a few others) don't come with a built in wireless card which you have to buy as an extra or fit a dongle.
- Nice quality keyboard and mouse supplied (but see "cons" below).
- Good audio (mic and speakers) plus camera - the sound output isn't thumping but clear and adequately loud for most environments.
- There are easy access panels on the rear to upgrade the RAM and hard drive if you wish.
- The crowning glory is an excellent touch screen, it is sharp and vibrant and responds well to touch quickly becoming intuitive to navigate.
- Plenty of installed software covering many functions such as screen optimisation, face recognition, system recovery etc. (Remember the version of MS Office supplied is a starter version, as is the McAfee Internet security solution installed, so, remember to budget for upgrading these or install free "alternative" versions).

Cons

- Not sure if it is a pro or a con, but the keyboard and mouse supplied are wired (USB) rather than wireless, although, we prefer these wired versions as they give less trouble and don't need batteries. You can always change them if you like.
- If you are installing this PC in a small space you need to allow an extra 6 inches or so on the right-hand side for the DVD RW drive to eject, but, this is true of nearly all all-in-one PCs.
- Some of the installed software could be seen as "bloatware" but, to me, this can be seen two ways and you can always uninstall anything you don't want.

When pricing the Lenovo C320 elsewhere make sure you compare like with like. There are other versions (still badged as Lenovo C320s) that have a greater or lesser specification - eg. a different processor and RAM size, and a 500GB hard drive rather than the 1TB of this model. Overall, the performance of the C320 with this specification is more than adequate for the purposes I mention at the beginning of this review. Of course, if you are a speed demon, or, into 3D gaming this is not the PC for you, but for many people this machine will be ideal and, in my opinion, represents good quality, value and performance with a minimum of clutter. Recommended.

PS. We teamed this PC up with an HP 6510 multifunction printer which I have reviewed on the relevant Amazon page - I can confirm it works well with this Lenovo PC.

Excellent value for money. Its well built, quick, easy to get going. The word and excel start programmes are permanent and are perfectly adequate for my needs. I've also installed open office so no need to buy Microsoft Office. After 5 weeks steady use I've no complaints at all, its a really good pc.

Excellent apple look a like at a third of the price. screen speed of processor and size of hard drive up with best in class a wireless mouse and keyboard would have been nice. Overall though very good.