Lenovo's latest addition to their all in one PC line is the A740, after spending a great deal of time with it, I have nothing but good things to say about it.
Features and Design:
Measuring in at 27-inches, this model is the thinnest in its class at 4mm in thickness. Design was of particular importance with the A740, with Lenovo calling it "fashion forward" with a single-piece aluminum backing that runs all the way to the bottom of the stand. The A740's 27-inch display with a viewing angle of 178-degrees and a resolution up to WQHD 2560 x 1440, so the screen definitely isn't a slouch. The touchscreen is pretty responsive, and is ultimately a nice feature to coincide with Windows 8.1. If you're a fan of Windows 8 or not, the touch controls make the UI a lot more intuitive to use. Under the hood, the PC is features 2gigs of NVIDIA GeForce GT840A GDDR5 RAM, 8gigs of DDR3 RAM, and a new 4th gen i7 Intel processors. The A740 is a pretty speedy machine, and thanks to the GeForce, a lot of your games will be able to run on it as well, even though you won't be able to max out your settings. Connectivity is fairly extensive, with Bluetooth and 802.11 WiFi both being offered, as well as NFC and an optional TV tunor for those who want the unit to double as a small smart television. Storage options will include up to 1TB of hard drive space, and video ports include HDMI-in. Topping it all off is Dolby Home Theater version 4 audio and JBL speakers. The speakers are nice, but since the sound comes from the back of the system for the most part, the sound will be muffled a bit depending on where you place it at. At first glance you can tell that this is a well put together machine.
Quality and Performance:The A740 is a bit tougher to review than a traditional gaming laptop or desktop, because this computer isn't specialized in any way. This isn't a gaming desktop, this is an all around PC that has solid performance in a lot of different areas. The big screen especially makes this PC perfect for watching movies or viewing YouTube videos. When you take this into account when you move into the gaming department, the A740 will struggle with the more demanding games. Although, it will run casual games just fine, like the Sims 4. I was able to play the game at a consistent framerate of over 45FPS, and this with the visuals cranked up to moderate levels. The A740 is not a slow computer at all, in fact it kept up with almost everything I threw at it. The internals are the make up you would find in an Ultrabook, rather than a powerful gaming laptop, and I don't have a problem with that. There's one of Intel's ultra low voltage Haswell Core i7-4558U 2.8GHz dual core processors, 8GB's of RAM, NVidia GTX850a graphics, and a 1TB HDD with an 8GB SSD. I've never been a huge proprietor of touch screen desktops, but the A740's screen was a joy to use. It's a full 10 finger multitouch panel, and that aforementioned hinge that lets you use it in "table mode" is quite the advantage for touch usage. Want to hook up another device to that beautiful display? There's an HDMI-in port on the left side of the A740's base, which worked flawlessly with my PS3 and PS4. The JBL speakers that are built offer good enough sound for everyday use, but I still found myself using wireless headphones for music and movie watching. Lenovo also bundled an external DVD writer, which connects via USB and works just fine if you ever need to read or write a CD/DVD. There's also built in NFC, WiFi AC, Bluetooth 4.0, a 6-in-1 card reader, 1080p webcam, & 4 USB 4.0 port, so it's all packed in.
Final Thoughts:
The A740 is a great All-in-One PC for the everyday user. If you're looking for a hardcore gaming computer, look elsewhere. The computer simply does a lot of processes well, without overachieving in any specific area.
+Wonderful TouchScreen
+Solid Internal Specs
+Impressively Slim Design
-$1800 Bucks is Asking a Lot
S&S Rating: 8/10 @whatsPlay
