14 DAY TRIAL // All-in-One personal computers are a favorite amongst those end-users that want both horsepower and compactness, but the biggest issue with them is their price. Since they have to cram a great many chips and parts inside a single, thin enclosure, they usually end up much more expensive than a desktop with comparable performance. This makes 'affordable' AiO quite rare. Still, they are not nonexistent and, at the very least, Lenovo just offered another one known as the IdeaCentre B305.
The IdeaCentre B305 was initially showcased in may but its maker didn't exactly get around to shipping it until now. Unlike many systems of its kind, it is powered by a CPU from Advanced Micro Devices instead of Intel and, more importantly, is not as out of reach, price-wise, as the majority of other AiOs. Indeed, even compared to the company's own IdeaCentre A310, the B305 is quite accessible, if not outright cheap, at least in its base setup.
At the heart of the configuration lies an AMD Athlon II X2 236e central processing unit, compatible with AM3 sockets, whose clock speed if of 2.7GHz and whose cache memory is of 2MB. This CPU is backed up by 2GB of RAM and the ATI mobility Radeon HD 5450 graphics. The PC also boasts a 320GB hard disk drive and a DVD recordable optical unit. As for the display, it measures 21.5 inches and, predictably, has a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels.
All in all, the Lenovo IdeaCentre B305 should make waves on the mainstream segment, especially since its price tag starts at only $699. Of course, consumers that don't mind parting with some extra dollars can select better components, with the upper price limit being of $949. The official listing can be found on this page.