Printed from www.pcpro.co.uk
Business PC winner
Lenovo ThinkCentre A58
Verdict
Lenovo's ingenious engineering is partnered with decent components for a tempting and practical business system
Review Date: 16 Nov 2009
Price when reviewed: £332
Overall Rating
Alternative products
VeryPC Broadleaf
A small, efficient PC that strikes a keen balance between its green credentials and raw performance
Gateway DT10G
A spacious and upgrade-friendly case, with some powerful components inside. It's a touch too dear, though
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Comparison
| Product |
Very PC Broadleaf
|
Lenovo ThinkCentre A58
|
Gateway DT10G
|
| Details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Part Code | Broadleaf | 770579G | DT10G |
| Review Date | 22 Oct 2009 | 16 Nov 2009 | 4 Sep 2009 |
| Price ex VAT | £686 | £380 | £544 |
| Price inc VAT | £789 | £437 | £625 |
| Overall rating |
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| Performance |
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| Features & Design |
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| Value for Money |
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| Warranty | |||
| Warranty final | 5 yr return to base | 1yr on-site | 1yr on-site + 2yrs parts |
| Basic specifications | |||
| Total hard disk capacity | 320 | 320 | 320 |
| RAM capacity | 292.00GB | 2.00GB | 2.00GB |
| Screen size | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Processor | |||
| CPU family | Intel Core 2 Quad | Intel Pentium | Intel Core 2 Duo |
| CPU nominal frequency | 2.83GHz | 2.33GHz | 3.00GHz |
| CPU overclocked frequency | N/A | N/A | 3.00GHz |
| Processor socket | LGA 775 | LGA 775 | LGA 775 |
| HSF (heatsink-fan) | Intel low profile cooler | Lenovo proprietary | Intel stock cooler |
| Motherboard | |||
| Motherboard | Lenovo proprietary | ECS Q45T-AM | |
| Motherboard chipset | Intel Q45 Express | ||
| Conventional PCI slots free | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Conventional PCI slots total | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| PCI-E x16 slots free | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| PCI-E x16 slots total | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| PCI-E x8 slots free | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| PCI-E x8 slots total | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| PCI-E x4 slots free | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| PCI-E x4 slots total | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| PCI-E x1 slots free | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| PCI-E x1 slots total | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Internal SATA connectors | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Internal SAS connectors | 1 | 0 | |
| Internal PATA connectors | 1 | 1 | |
| Internal floppy connectors | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Wired adapter speed | 1,000Mbits/sec | 1,000Mbits/sec | 1,000Mbits/sec |
| Memory | |||
| Memory type | DDR2 | DDR2 | DDR3 |
| Memory sockets free | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Memory sockets total | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Hard disk | |||
| Hard disk | Western Digital Caviar Blue | Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 | |
| Capacity | 320GB | 320GB | 320GB |
| Hard disk usable capacity | 292GB | 292GB | 283GB |
| Internal disk interface | SATA/300 | SATA/300 | SATA 300 |
| Spindle speed | 5,400RPM | 7,200RPM | 7,200RPM |
| Cache size | 16MB | 16MB | 8MB |
| Hard disk 2 make and model | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Hard disk 2 nominal capacity | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Hard disk 2 formatted capacity | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Hard disk 2 spindle speed | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Hard disk 2 cache size | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Hard disk 3 make and model | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Hard disk 3 nominal capacity | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Hard disk 4 make and model | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Hard disk 4 nominal capacity | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Drives | |||
| Optical drive | Lite-On DH-16A6S | HT-DT-ST GH40F | |
| Optical disc technology | DVD writer | DVD writer | DVD writer |
| Optical disk 2 make and model | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Optical disk 3 make and model | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Monitor | |||
| Monitor make and model | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Resolution screen horizontal | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Resolution screen vertical | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Resolution | N/A x N/A | N/A x N/A | N/A x N/A |
| Pixel response time | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Contrast ratio | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Screen brightness | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| DVI inputs | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| HDMI inputs | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| VGA inputs | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| DisplayPort inputs | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Rear ports | |||
| USB ports (downstream) | 8 | 6 | 10 |
| eSATA ports | 1 | ||
| PS/2 mouse port |
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| Electrical S/PDIF audio ports | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Optical S/PDIF audio output ports | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Modem |
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| 3.5mm audio jacks | 5 | 3 | 6 |
| Graphics card | |||
| Graphics card | Intel X4500 | N/A | |
| Multiple SLI/CrossFire cards? |
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| 3D performance setting | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Graphics chipset | Intel GMA X4500HD | Intel X4500 | Intel GMA 4500 |
| Graphics card RAM | 256MB | 512MB | |
| DVI-I outputs | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| HDMI outputs | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| VGA (D-SUB) outputs | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| DisplayPort outputs | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Number of graphics cards | N/A | 0 | 0 |
| Additional Peripherals | |||
| Speakers | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Speaker type | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Sound card | N/A | Realtek HD Audio | Intel HD Audio |
| Peripherals | N/A | N/A | None |
| Case | |||
| Chassis | N/A | ||
| Case format | Mini ITX | Micro ATX | Midi tower |
| Dimensions | 220 x 215 x 114mm (WDH) | 312 x 358 x 101mm (WDH) | 180 x 440 x 352mm (WDH) |
| Power supply | |||
| Power supply | Lite-On PS-5281-01VF | Delta DPS-300AB-39 | |
| Power supply rating | 280W | 300W | |
| Free drive bays | |||
| Free front panel 5.25in bays | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Front ports | |||
| Front panel USB ports | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Front panel memory card reader |
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| Mouse & Keyboard | |||
| Mouse and keyboard | N/A | N/A | Gateway mouse and keyboard |
| Operating system and software | |||
| OS family | Windows 7 | Windows Vista | Windows Vista |
| Recovery method | Recovery disc | Recovery partition | |
| Software supplied | Pecaboo | Lenovo ThinkVantage Suite | |
| Noise and power | |||
| Idle power consumption | 33W | 82W | 33W |
| Peak power consumption | 76W | 97W | 54W |
| Performance tests | |||
| Overall application benchmark score | 1.37 | 1.14 | 1.48 |
| Office application benchmark score | 1.94 | 1.12 | 1.56 |
| 2D graphics application benchmark score | 1.40 | 1.33 | 1.58 |
| Encoding application benchmark score | 2.05 | 1.08 | 1.31 |
| Multitasking application benchmark score | 1.69 | 1.03 | 1.49 |
| 3D performance (crysis) low settings | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 3D performance setting | N/A | N/A | N/A |
