Lenovo, one of the world's leading vendors of personal computer systems, has just announced the expansion of its line of desktop computer systems with the introduction of the new ThinkCentre business desktop line, which now includes the company's first ever all-in-one (AIO) desktop PC for the SMB segment.

The ThinkCentre A70z starts at just US$499 and, unlike the latest AIO PCs, which build on the performance of an Atom platform, the new Lenovo AIO PC offers a choice for Intel's Celeron or Core 2 Duo processors, for increased performance and improved features. In addition, the company also announced the introduction of the new ThinkCentre A58e desktop tower, which comes with a slightly lower price tag.

“We’ve heard from a number of IT managers in a variety of industries, from education, to finance to healthcare, and they’ve all told us they need desktops that conserve space, save on energy consumption and are easy to maintain and service,” said Dilip Bhatia, executive director, Worldwide Desktop Marketing Lenovo. “The new ThinkCentre A70z exceeds these needs – not only is it compact, super energy efficient and quick to service, but it’s also high performance and extremely affordable.”

The compact ThinkCentre A70z comes with a 19-inch display, offering a 16:10 widescreen aspect ratio, with a 2.4-inch black frame that also incorporates a DVD burner. As for performance, the system offers a choice for Intel's Core 2 Duo or Celeron dual-core processors, while on the graphics side, the PC also comes with DirectX 10 support. Additional features include six USB ports, two audio speakers, optional WiFi, high-resolution webcam, built-in Skype application for VoIP web-calling and up to 500GB of storage space. Optimized for Microsoft's Windows 7 OS, the system is said to boot in at about 35 seconds, while shut down times are 28 percent faster, according to the company.

In addition to the aforementioned ThinkCentre A70z, Lenovo also announced the ThinkCentre A58e, a tower desktop PC, which also offers a choice for Intel's Core 2 Duo or Celeron processors, as well as up to 320GB of data storage, 2GB memory and DVD burner. With a starting price tag of approximately US$349, the new system also comes with Lenovo's Power Manager, said to help business reduce the electricity bill by 69 percent per year.