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Lenovo announces IdeaCentre A520, B340 and B345 all-in-ones running Windows 8
If yesterday was the day Lenovo unveiled its new Android products, today's the day it turns its attention to Windows 8: in addition to announcing a slew of laptops, the company introduced three IdeaCentre all-in-ones, all slated to go on sale in October when Windows 8 launches. Of these, the flagship is clearly the A520, with its tilting 23-inch screen that can lie nearly flat. Included in that press release, though, you'll also find details about the B340 / B345, a smaller, more affordable desktop with a less flashy design. Starting with the A520, it's the little brother to the A720, which we first saw back at CES. Like the A720, it has a screen that can be tilted between 5 and 90 degrees, except this particular model has a smaller 23-inch display (compared with 27 inches for the A720). That 1080p display is of IPS caliber and supports 10-point multitouch. Under the hood, it can be configured with a Core i7 CPU, up to 8GB of RAM, up to 1TB of HDD storage and an optional Blu-ray player. If you need graphics horsepower, though, you might want to skip ahead to read about those B series models, since the A520 will only be offered with integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics. Indeed, graphics might be a good place to start when we talk about the B340 and B345, since the GPU is the one thing that really separates them. Though both will be offered with a 1GB AMD Radeon HD7470A card, only the B340 will be available with a 2GB NVIDIA GeForce 615. Otherwise, you'll find the same key specs on both models: a 21.5-inch (1080p) touchscreen display, with a choice of a Core i7 processor or AMD quad-core APU on the inside. The two are also VESA mount-compatible, and can be configured with optional TV tuners. The A520 will sell for $999 and up, while the B series will start at $599. Again, both will arrive in October, at which point we should be neck-deep in Windows 8 PCs to review. %Gallery-163882% %Gallery-163872%
Lenovo outs IdeaCentre B340 and B540 all-in-ones, H520s and IdeaCentre K430 towers
Ultrabooks might be the belle of the ball at this year's CES, but that doesn't mean you won't see a few desktops thrown in for variety's sake. Lenovo just unveiled a quartet of stationary machines, including two towers and a pair of touchscreen all-in-ones. Beginning with those touchscreens, the IdeaCentre B340 and B540 are essentially the same system, except the former has a 21.5-inch screen and the latter expands to 23. Both have 1080p displays and can be configured with up to 8GB of RAM and 2TB of storage, an optional Blu-ray drive and 3D tech. The only variation in specs, so far as we can tell, is that the 21.5-inch version maxes out with a 1GB NVIDIA GeForce 615M card, whereas for the 23-incher the top-shelf offering is the GeForce GT 650M with 2GB of video memory. Lenovo's also bundled its finger-friendly IdeaTouch software, whose OneKey TV feature lets you toggle between your desktop and TV mode using a picture-in-a-picture. Look for these in June, with an entry price of $699.Shifting gears to towers, the IdeaCentre K430 is aimed at gamers and other users of the powerful sort, with room for up to 32GB of DDR3 memory and either a 128GB SSD or as much as 4TB in HDD storage, with optional twin hard drives arranged in a RAID0 configuration. And, unlike with Lenovo's more mainstream desktops, you'll get a choice of graphics: a 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX660 or, from AMD's camp, a 2GB Radeon HD 7750. Don't need that much muscle? The H520 tower has a compact shape and still accommodates up to 2TB of storage space and 8GB of RAm, along with either a 2GB AMD Radeon HD7570 or a 2GB GeForce GTX630 card. Expect the K430 to arrive in May for $599, and the H520s to follow in June for $499 and up.Sean Cooper contributed to this post.
