Lenovo debuts "fit anywhere" Q700 home entertainment PC
By Donald Melanson 
posted Aug 12th 2009 5:01PM
posted Aug 12th 2009 5:01PM
Looking for something in between a nettop and a full-fledged, sometimes HTPC? Then you might want to consider Lenovo's recently announced Q700 system, which the company describes as the "perfect fit" for anywhere in your home. That's apparently assuming you have some less-than-demanding computing needs, however, as the Q700 is currently only available with a Pentium Dual-Core E5200 processor, along with 4GB of RAM, a max 640GB hard drive, a built-in DVD burner, and the usual integrated Intel X4500 graphics. It does pack an HDMI out, TV tuner, and plenty of other media-friendly features, however, not to mention a starting price of just $499 and a form-factor that lets it be neatly tucked away in your home theater rack. Hit up the link below to get your order in, or a closer look if you're still undecided.
[Thanks, David]
[Thanks, David]
No ION = FAIL
it is pretty disappointing to not see a 9400M
how well does a X4500 handle 1080p?
I too am wondering about 1080p. If it can handle it this looks to be a perfect replacement for my original xbox w/ XBMC.
Price ain't too bad either though I think $400 starting would be the real sweet spot...
Totally agree, Intel gfx = fail. Replaced with Nvidia or AMD/ATI gfx, this would be a pretty good buy. The TV tuner is only useful if it is cablecard compatible. Otherwise this offers very little over a home built HTPC. Even this form factor is now easy to achieve in a DIY build.
No Blu-Ray = FAIL.
Absolutely NO customization options = fail.
Looks like this thing is fail central. Way to go, Lenovo.
@Dan
How well does X4500 handle 1080p? It doesn't. Its not "video accelerator", more like "video codec" that puts all the job on CPU. If CPU can handle it, it will play back nicely. But CPU usage will be high, very high, or unbearable and you won't receive pleasurable experience.
SKIP this thing and wait for either Lenovo S12 or Acer Aspire Revo or any other Nvidia Ion toy if you want to be able to watch movies, not only read text and work with office docs.
Yep, major fail...
using mathematical signs in sentences to replace words = grammar fail.
even the direct translation
...NO customization options equates to fail.
doesn't make sense.
got you now GRAMMAR POLICE
I'm a dirty cop who doesn't play by the rules. Get into it.
Less than demanding needs?
I guess a dual core pentium is upt to way more than just less than demanding!
Of course it wont beat an i7 rig, and the graphics are - as always - a joke, but for "brute computing power" this is more than enough.
Question is just: are pentiums still the power suckers they used to be?
You're welcome to shove an i7 in your HTPC, but I've always been pretty happy with using my nehalems in a server instead of in my HTPC box....
A Dual core Pentium is a marketing name, it is a Core 2 Duo with less L2 cache. The E5200 will overclock to 3.5Ghz easily. My HTPC has been running with an E2160 and has had no problems with HD video and runs very cool so can be passively cooled.
I was thinking the same thing. Pentium Dual Core =/= Pentium D. Pentium Dual Core = a Core 2 Duo with less cache.
I think I'll hold out, and see what that little Dell has to offer.
The movie and music icons on the left slde of the Lenovo webpage look familiar.
weird when you go to features tab its advertised as having ddr3 ram and 640gb HD. But when you view the models its listed as ddr2 ram and up to 1TB
From the site:
"The Q700 is designed to double as your personal computer, home theater, sound room and **gaming console** in a décor-friendly tower no larger than a DVD player."
....
Gaming Console... right... maybe if you're using a NES emulator...
You'd be surprised how many people would use this as an NES emulator and think it was the coolest thing ever. Old people have low standards.
This can easily do up to PS1/N64 Emulation, probably Dreamcast.
A media device with integrated Intel graphics....yet again. *sigh*
But is it silent ...
that is my only concern. The system is caple of full HD, but the heat may make the fans run loud. Also, does the Intel X4500 allow for overscan tweaking using sliders; like the Nvidia cards do?
Fit anywhere it's a failing name. Come on now, girls are just going to snob it.
I'm thinking this would be a nice WHS instead of a HTPC.
Exactly what I was thinking. Doesn't look like you can add a second hard drive though which is a deal breaker.
Yes and no, imho. Part of WHS's secret sauce is the folder duplication across multiple drives for redundancy. I guess if you regularly backed it up to an external drive or something, and didn't keep crucial data on it, it would make a nice WHS-based media server.
I think the eSATA port on the back is more than sufficient to host an external hard drive or raid enclosure to cover the redundancy you want.
Why would you pay $500 plus the cost of the software to turn this into a WHS box when you can get one of these for $300 including the WHS license: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16859105503
Silly.
@Chip
Well I'll take a dual-core Pentium over a single core Atom for starters. You don't get the economies in power but it can handle quite a bit more abuse (multiple streams).
To answer your question I never said I would. I merely stated it looked better suited to WHS than HTPC. In fact you have pretty much agreed with me in your other posts. And as with almost all other devices to date the street price will most likely be quite a bit lower than the MSRP.
Again with the intel gfx fail?! uhg...
swing and-yet-another miss.
should be fine unless you install a BR drive, really. i have a 2 year old system with discrete but meh graphics and it plays anything i throw at it fine
Last time I checked the X4500 does hardware accelerated h264 decoding so it will handle 1080p as long as your player uses hw accelerated directshow filters/decoders.
I'd prefer ion based but it's far from an utter fail for that reason.
Never mind they don't specifically say HD on the end so it may not.
Dell is releasing a similar product: http://gizmodo.com/5336054/dell-inspiron-zino-hd-eat-it-mac-mini
I'll wait for that and see what's under the hood. The CPU is fine for a HTPC, but it NEEDS to be paired with a good GPU to make that work. Too bad Lenovo doesn't get it.
For almost the same money, you could get a MacMini with Core2Duo and 9400M. Lenovo needs to step up. This will probably choke on 1080pmkvs and will be noticeable slow ripping/encoding.
The x4500 w/ a 2.5ghz dual core will play all 1080p content just fine.
Even with software that isn't GPU accelerated.
Sure your CPU utilization will be VERY high, but if you run the right software, that goes down to 30% or so even with Blu-Ray.
And by "just fine" I mean NO frame drops and perfect audio, etc. I don't know where you guys are getting otherwise; obviously this thing won't game worth a CRAP but the X4500 runs cool and lowers the overall cooling requirements for the system resulting in the ability to build NEAR silent machines.
Try that with a higher-end nVidia or ATI card.. good luck getting good cooling in a small form factor.
You can certainly get better quality overall video from an ATI or nVidia solution; with overall better PQ, but some of the info in this thread is CRAP from people with zero experience with this hardware.
A Nvidia 9300 or an ATI 4200 can be passively cooled quite easily. The Zotac 9300 mini-ITX motherboard is very popular for tiny HTPC builds because it gives excellent video quality in a tiny (physical and thermal) footprint. The hardware acceleration in the X4500 is shoddy at best, and a DISTANT third in the race with ATI and Nvidia. The only reason for Lenovo to include that part in supposed "HTPC" is because they are cheap or lazy.
Needs Bru-Ray.
Needs bluetooth for home theater long distance friendly keyboards. I also agree that the graphics are weak. I picked up a last gen 1.83ghz C2D Mac Mini for $349 that would hang with this. You can get current gen 2.0Ghz C2D Mac mini refurbs for $499. It's nice to see Lenovo attacking this demographic but they need to compete harder than this.
microsoft 4500GMA can handel blue ray, and all other media formats perfectly.
you would be surprised at how much load it takes off the cpu in blueray
Wish it's shorter.
Makes me think there will several more versions of the Q700; Core 2 processors, DDR3 with better graphic options? Think I'll wait and see.
All I want is a set-top/HTPC box that can fit in my media canter. It's only purpose will to be run XBMC or Boxee. I love XBMC on my Xboxv1 but it simply can't handle 1080p or any HD Videos, H.264, etc.
WTF is so hard to make one of these so-called HTPCs with a built in Blu drive? At least offer a premium model that contains a Blu drive to offset the price for the drive for those who want it.
Each time one of these POS boxes come out claiming to be a true HTPC are missing this key issue. My ass is still waiting for a slim ps3 or a HTPC-in-a-Box with a Blu-Ray drive.
FAIL
I just ordered one of these to replace an aging HP slim PC that was never all that quiet to begin with and has been getting louder and louder for weeks (crappy cooling fans). I have a 720p 50" set, so standard 480p DVD playback is fine for me - I have zero interest in blu-ray. I do record HD programming via my HDHomeRun, so I'm hoping it plays back smoothly on this machine. Mostly, however, I'm looking forward to having an HTPC that's virtually silent.