Lenovo ThinkCentre A50

Photograph by Rick Rizner

In true Henry Ford style, the ultrasmall version of the ThinkCentre A50 is available in any color you like, as long as it's black. But the unit doesn't suffer from this limited color scheme: the 11-inch-wide, 3.75-inch-tall case looks stylish and fits neatly into tight spaces. On the front of the case are two USB 2.0 ports as well as microphone and headphone ports--a nice touch for people who like to listen to music while they work. Dedicated music control keys on the excellent keyboard simplify controlling the tunes without impeding regular work. The keyboard also has seven rapid access keys that provide shortcuts to destinations such as My Documents. You can program these keys if you like, but labels are engraved onto the keyboard bezel.

To open the case, press two buttons on the side; the top cover pops up and tilts back. The front part of the case--along with the hard drive and the optical drive--then tilts forward, giving you full access to the system for upgrading.

There's room inside for expansion, too: Our review model had one open PCI slot, on a riser card. Because the riser card's mounting assembly is removable, installing the card is simple: You pull out the riser, insert the card, and then reinsert the whole thing into the case. You can access and remove everything in the case--including the hard drive (a 40GB PATA model on our review unit, though the motherboard includes a SATA controller) and the optical drive (an 8X DVD/24X CD-RW combo drive)--without tools. The latter is an Ultrabay drive, which many Lenovo notebooks use, simplifying drive sharing among compatible systems. The drive is not hot-swappable, however: To remove it, you have to shut down the system and open the case.

With a 3-GHz Pentium 4 and 512MB of DDR400 RAM, the system achieved an adequate WorldBench 5 score of 78--somewhat slower than the marks posted by the Dell OptiPlex SX280 and the HP Compaq Dc7100 Ultra-Slim Desktop, both of which had faster CPUs. On the other hand, the Lenovo is less expensive, at $1295. And if you customize your system, you can upgrade to a 3.4-GHz Pentium 4.

Our review model came with a 17-inch IBM ThinkVision L170m LCD monitor, which fits comfortably on top of the case. The L170m was one of the few LCDs accompanying a small system in our ten-model roundup that came with built-in speakers. They produced sound easily good enough for listening to music, though they lacked bass and didn't sound great when handling a DVD movie soundtrack. Text appeared sharp and easy to read on the LCD screen, but colors looked a little muted.

The ThinkCentre A50's sensible compromise between small footprint and adequate expandability will suit some small-business and home-office users.

Photograph by Rick Rizner, John Goddard

Photograph by Rick Rizner

Photograph by Rick Rizner