Lenovo Essential C200 Touchscreen Review

Main Menu

HardwareBistro Search

Login Form

Support Us!

Product: C200
Manufacturer: Lenovo
Supplied by: Lenovo
Price: 587USD/RM1799
Launch Date: Apr 2010

After the review on Lenovo IdeaCentre B500, today we are going to continue another All-in-One desktop from Lenovo; Essential 200. The major unique selling point of Lenovo Essential 200 is the 18.5" touchscreen which is suitable for leisure usage and it is much affordable than B500 due to its entry specifications. Let us deep dive this interesting All-in-One touchscreen desktop together without further delay.

Company Profile

Lenovo is a Chinese-based MNC computer vendor which produces desktops, laptops, workstations, servers, storages, IT software and other IT related hardware/software. In year 2005 Lenovo completed the acquisition of IBM's Personal Computing Division, making it a new international IT competitor right after HP and Dell; the third-largest personal computer company in the world. Lenovo product families are greatly enhanced with the ThinkPad series as ThinkPad is one of the most trustable portable laptop in the world.

Currently Lenovo is the fourth largest vendor for personal computer after HP, Dell and Acer but it is still remain as the largest PC seller in China. Some of the major Lenovo's product families are ThinkPad, IdeaPad, ThinkCentre, IdeaCentre, ThinkStation, ThinkServer and so on. Yang YuanQing is the CEO of Lenovo Group and their core offices are currently located at Morrisville (USA), Beijing (China) and Singapore.

Features

• Room to play. Style to boot
Lenovo C Series all-in-one PCs are ideal anywhere space is limited. Apartment. Kitchen nook. Kid's room. The tower, speakers, screen, microphone, DVD player and camera are merged into one slim, sophisticated unit with fewer cords for less desktop clutter.

• At ease
Effortless setup and use. With fewer cables and integrated components, C Series all-in-ones are a cinch to set up and use out of the box. Easily adjust the screen angle with one hand on select models. Lenovo C315 even comes with a convenient remote control for select PC functions1.

• Worry-free PCs
We take a lot of the anxiety out of PC ownership. System corruption? No worries. With the touch of a button, Lenovo OneKey Rescue lets you restore your system and recover valuable data.

• Easy access
Spend less time hunting for what you need and more time playing. Frequently used ports and slots-like USB ports, card readers, a DVD player and microphone and audio jacks-are conveniently located on the front panel of H Series desktops. And the power button is right on top.

• A nice touch
Select C Series all-in-ones include fun, easy touch-screen technology. Single-touch screens let you log in via a series of screen touches, including by touching a photo of your choice. With our multitouch C315 model, simply move your fingers around the widescreen to access a world of entertainment, including exclusive touch-optimized multimedia applications for photos, videos, music, games and more2.

• Picture it
Enjoy TV, movies, games and more, TV tuner with remote control4, Blu-ray Disc player5, Stereo speakers and 5.1 surround sound6, Vibrant high-resolution graphics7, C Series widescreens with 16:9 aspect ratio

• Expand the fun
Plenty of ports and slots let you connect your favorite devices to your PC. Transfer music, photos, videos and other data with ease. Use the HDMI port on select H Series desktops to connect your PC to your TV. And much more!

• Fast WiFi
Enjoy a fast Internet experience from virtually anywhere in your home. Lenovo H Series and C200 desktops include the latest 802.11 b/g/n WiFi technology with up to twice the range and up to 5 times the speed of older wireless technology8.

• Stay in touch
Lenovo's high-sense Web cam9 is perfect for video-chatting with friends and family over the Web, taking photos and recording videos10. New technology delivers clear pictures, smooth image movement, sharp colors and improved viewing in dark conditions.

Specifications

Package & Content

Lenovo Essential C200 comes with a sturdy packaging box and a handle is provided for user to carry it around in a much easier way. The Lenovo Essential C200's packaging is much simple than IdeaCentre B500 for keeping the cost as low as possible since Lenovo Essential C200 is an entry system.

In term of accessories, there are wired keyboard, wired mouse, AC adapter, power cord, installation CD and couple of user's guides. TV Turner is not bundled for Lenovo Essential C200 but it is offered as an optional item (please verify with local retailer or Lenovo). Unlike normal desktop, All-in-One desktop requires lower power consumption hence Lenovo Essential C200 comes with a 19V 3.82 AC-to-DC adapter.

Since Lenovo Essential C200 is an entry All-in-One system, it does not come with Bluetooth keyboard and mouse but just a pair of wired keyboard and mouse. This is not really a deadly problem since user can upgrade it anytime but we do prefer a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse for matching its stylish and modern concept. FYI one year on-site warranty is given for Lenovo Essential C200 which is pretty standard.

A Closer Look on Lenovo C200 Touch Screen All-in-One

As we mentioned previously in the review of Lenovo IdeaCentre B500, Lenovo Essential C series All-in-One desktop is a practical and affordable series. It will be definitely fun with the touchscreen feature on Lenovo Essential C200 for leisure and light usages; owning an affordable touchscreen system is no longer a dream.

In general touchscreen LCD is definitely much expensive than normal screen hence screen size of Lenovo Essential C200 is restricted to 18.5" for keeping the cost low. Intel Atom D510 processor (1.66GHz) is used on Lenovo Essential C200 while other equipped components are 2GB DDR2, 320GB HDD and switchable graphics (Intel GMA3150 or NVIDIA ION).

Lenovo Essential C200 comes with 18.5" LCD screen which support up to 1366 x 768 resolution (16:9 format) and we believe Lenovo is going to increase the screen size when the time is right. On top of the LCD screen, Lenovo Essential C200 comes with a 0.3MP camera which is pretty sufficient for light video call or webcam applications.

All the indicators, access buttons and function keys of Lenovo Essential C200 are located right below the LCD screen. On the right hand side there are power button, brightness adjustment controls and display on/off switch while HDD, Wifi and panel statuses on the left hand side. 2 x 2W speakers are located at the bottom of the LCD screen.

Here is the L-shape stand to support the whole Lenovo Essential C200 and allows users to tilt Lenovo Essential C200's monitor up and down about 30 degree. However this L-shape stand increases the depth of Lenovo Essential C200 from ~ 45mm (chassis's depth) to ~ 120mm (stand's depth); not really a problem since it can be placed on any desk.

Some of the uncommon ports at located at the rear panel of Lenovo Essential C200; power input, PS/2, LAN (Gb) and three USB 2.0 ports. We have no idea why Lenovo still spends their resource to have a PS/2 port for keyboard as most of the keyboards since few years ago are already in USB format; anyway USB keyboard is supported by Lenovo Essential C200.

The overall dimension of Lenovo Essential C200 is 384 x 460 x 168 mm (H x W x D). 168mm is the L-shape stand's depth not the chassis depth; the right depth is just 45mm. Lenovo Essential C200 is having pretty light compare with other All-in-One desktops; ~ 7.8kg. The air vents on top of the Lenovo Essential C200's rear panel is used to dissipate the heat in a much efficient way.

Here are the left and right panels of Lenovo Essential C200 where the left panel comes with access ports of 2 x USB 2.0, audio jacks and a multimedia card reader which supports most of the common memory card (MS/MS Pro/MMC/SD/SCHC) while the right panel is a tray type of DVD RW drive; not problem to play a mini disc as well.

The specifications of Lenovo Essential C200 are different from one country to another so it will be good to verify with the local Lenovo retailer before making any purchase. In Malaysia Lenovo Essential C200 is equipped with Microsoft Window 7 Starter 32-bit. Lenovo Rescue System and Power2Go are two of the Lenovo bundled software .

Here are the feature comparison between all these Lenovo All-in-One desktop systems; "Tick" is applicable to all models, "dot" is only available for selected models while "minus" is not available at all.

Installation, Testing & Performance

Same with Lenovo IdeaCentre B500, Lenovo Essential C200 does not require any rocket science setup; only involve very minimal cable connections and no Bluetooth pairing is required since Lenovo Essential C200 does not come with Bluetooth keyboard or mouse. The most basic setup of Lenovo Essential C200 involves power cord & AC adapter, mouse, keyboard and LAN or Wifi. That is for the hardware/physical setup and no software setup is required except the seal breaking setup for the first boot up; pretty simple and straightforward.

Test Bed:

Processor: Intel Atom D510 @ 1.66GHz
Chipset: Intel Atom Host Bridge & NM10
Memory: 2GB DDR2
Hard Drive: 320GB SATA HDD
Graphic Card: Nvidia ION or Intel GMA3150
Optical Drive: DVD Writer
Monitor: 18.5" Wide HD LED
Speaker: 2x 2W
Casing: All-In-One
Mouse: Lenovo Wired Bluetooth Mouse
Keyboard: Lenovo Wired Bluetooth Keyboard
Mouse Pad: SteelSeries QcK+
HeadSet: SteelSeries 3H
Operating System: Window 7 Starter 32bits
Router: TRENDnet TEW-639GR
Ambient Temperature: 27 Degree Celsius

Here is the Window Experience Index (WEI) rating for Lenovo Essential C200; scoring 3.0 which is limited by the graphic card. Anyway there are the huge performance gap between Lenovo Essential C200 and Lenovo IdeaCentre B500 in most of the aspects (CPU, Memory & Graphic) except HDD. This is expected as Lenovo Essential C200 is targeted for entry usage although it is featured with touchscreen.

Attached screen shots are the CPU-Z and GPU-Z; two popular tools to exposure the details of the hardware. Something we would like to highlight here is the memory where Lenovo Essential C200 is equipped with DDR2 not DDR3 which is wrongly populated in the "Memory" tab but it is shown correctly on "SPD tab" for CPU-Z. CPU-Z and GPU-Z are able to detect both of the integrated graphic cards of Lenovo Essential C200 correctly; Nvidia ION (305M) and Intel GMA 3150.

Lenovo Rescue System 3.0 is a single tool that allows user to do the system backup, system recovery and create recovery disc; a common software for Lenovo system. "Driver and Application Installation" is a Lenovo "AI" tool for user to install all the required drivers and applications with one simple click.

Two specific touchscreen tools are included for Lenovo Essential C200; Lenovo VeriTouch and EETI HID eGalax Touch. Lenovo VeriTouch is a touchscreen control software while EETI HID eGalaxTouch is a calibration tool for doing all the calibration and linerizaion.

After all the physical hardware and setup explanation, now it is time for us to show you the benchmarking results of Lenovo Essential C200. The scores for PCMark05 and PCMark Vantage for Lenovo Essential C200 are quite standard for entry system; definitely not for performance till intensive gaming.

Next will be the CPU benchmarking where Sisoftware Sandra and Everest are used to find out the CPU capability of Lenovo Essential C200. Intel Atom is a pretty entry processor which is used to fulfill those budget or space constraint users. Anyway the performance of Intel Atom D510 is quite close to Intel Core duo T2500 or Intel Pentium 4 2.8GHz.

Here are the memory benchmarking results of Lenovo Essential C200. The results are pretty reasonable and acceptable for a DDR2 system; scoring 4162MB/s for Memory read and 3035MB/s for Memory write.

Same with the Window Experience Index (WEI) rating, the HDD performance of Lenovo Essential C200 is having the closest performance to Lenovo IdeaCentre B500. This is understandable since both of these systems are using same type of HDD interface; SATA so the performance will be slightly the same.

As usual we have been testing Lenovo Essential C200 for couple of weeks for daily usage and we are pretty satisfied with its performance. The performance of HDD and memory are still upgradable but it has to be done manually unless the local retailer does offer such upgrade; warranty will be voided if this is not recognized by Lenovo. Window 7 Starter is the bundled Microsoft Window OS for Intel Atom processor in order not to overstress the system performance hence it is better to stick with it. The sensitivity of Lenovo Essential C200's touchscreen is quite responsive but you may have to get familiar with it especially for first time user.

Here is the official commercial video for Lenovo Essential C200; have fun!!!

Verdicts

Overall Lenovo Essential C200 meets the expectation for an entry and budget touchable All-in-One desktop where it is able to fulfill most of the daily applications but not for intensive works like video rendering, heavy photo editing where Lenovo IdeaCentre would be the better choice for that case. If we were not mistaken Lenovo Essential C200 is the cheapest All-in-One touchscreen desktop in the market at this moment where it is just priced less than 600USD and if you are looking for a modern and stylish tll-in-One touchscreen desktop then Lenovo Essential C200 should be in your considering list.

Pros:

+ Stylish design & charming Looking
+ Space saving with All-in-One form factor
+ Switchable graphic; Nvidia ION or Intel GMA3150
+ Affordable price with less than 600USD

Cons:

- Only suitable for entry usage
- Bluetooth is not integrated

Thanks to Lenovo for providing this sample for us to review.