Lenovo B550 23 inch All-in-One Desktop
via Amazon
Black Lenovo B550 (57327084) is a beautiful looking mid-2014 model 23-Inch All-in-One desktop with a 10-point Full HD touchscreen that supports multiple gestures, a powerful Haswell i5-4460 processor, 8GB memory, 1TB hard drive, superb graphics and immersive sound with Dolby Home Theater.. So it is an AIO designed for the best home entertainment experience but is suitable for school and office use as well. It is a powerful computer with great technical specs and features at a fair price and the great thing about it is it is so easy to upgrade, without even needing any tools.
Lenovo B550 has the 4th generation Intel Core i5-4460 quad core 6MB Cache processor at 3.2 GHz speed (3.4 GHz with Turbo Boost), 8 GB DDR3 RAM SoDIMM at 1600MHz, 1TB hard drive at 7200 rpm rotating speed and the latest Windows 8.1 operating system to go with the responsive touchscreen. You have the tool-less upgrade option for memory and hard drive (RAM can go up to 16GB and HDD can be a max of 2TB) but both are generous amounts for multitasking capability and being able to store all your files in one place and the SATA hard drive runs at 7200rpm spindle speed unlike most PCs that come with HDDs at 5400rpm. The i5-4460 processor was released in quarter 2 of 2014 and appears to be an energy efficient Haswell processor that delivers good performance in anything you do and visuals, it is well suitable for advanced gaming but you’ll be a little restricted with the Intel HD 4600 integrated graphics card.
23 inch Active Matrix TFT Color LCD touchscreen is a Full HD- 1920x1080 pixel resolution IPS- In Plane Switching display (178 degree- wide viewing angles) with 3D Vision support, 16:9 widescreen cinematic aspect ratio and Intel HD 4600 graphics. The touch function supports 10-point capacitive multiple intuitive gestures and offers flexibility and accuracy. The 4600 graphics card is up to 60% faster than the standard Intel HD 4000 due to the number of execution units and architectural enhancements, so while you’ll be able to play some of the more recent game titles, this won’t be at higher settings- you would need to upgrade to a discrete graphics card if you’re an avid gamer. Having said that the Intel graphics card and all that B550’s screen offers are great for other multimedia purposes. You have rich and immersive sound with Dolby Home Theater v4 and through the integrated JBL stereo speakers. 720p HD webcam seems to be nice to have for Skype chats for fun and web conferences for work.
Smart and elegant black Lenovo B550 All-in-One weighs 20 pounds with measurements of 22.83 x 16.77 x 4.21 inches. The island style modern AccuType keyboard that is unique to Lenovo computers is both ergonomic and comfortable and allows smooth and accurate typing. You have the 10-key numpad on the side for easy number crunching and a wireless optical mouse that is reported to feel nice and comfy in your hand. It is nice to not have any clutter on your desk with everything being in the screen and the keyboard and mouse being wireless and you have the option of installing the computer on a wall as it is VESA mount compatible. Connectivity options include DVDRW Optical Drive, IEEE 802.11bgn WiFi wireless, Gigabit Ethernet with RJ-45, Bluetooth 4.0, 6-in-1 card reader, 2 x USB 2.0 ports, 2 x USB 3.0 ports, HDMI in/out, Audio Line In/ Line Out and Security Slot.
Conclusion: Lenovo B550 is a fast and powerful AIO desktop PC with a 23 inch Full HD frameless touchscreen, a Haswell Intel i5 processor, ample storage space, plenty of memory for multitasking, modern and current connectivity ports, amazingly clear sound and decent quality webcam. Windows 8 is still not the first choice of many computer users but having the 10-point multitouch display that is optimised for Windows 8 changes the whole experience for anyone. It is also not a very light computer with 20 lbs weight but this is a desktop and you probably won’t need to move it around a lot and remember there is a lot put in such a small space, including a DVD Drive. One of the best things about this AIO is that it is so easy to upgrade by simply sliding the back cover. Customer reviews on different websites seem to be very positive with some happy customers that purchased the Lenovo B550. Beautiful modern design and great power and performance!
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