Lenovo IdeaCentre Horizon 27 Review: Our First Table PC

By Thomas Soderstrom
published

The latest all-in-ones look a lot like huge tablets, right? An internal battery adds portability to Lenovo's 27” IdeaCentre Horizon, but is this cool concept still functional as a desktop, or does the push toward mobility sacrifice too much performance?

Results: 3DMark And PCMark

Although it's armed with a discrete GeForce GPU, the IdeaCentre Horizon is decidedly limited to mainstream gaming. With that said, the performance of its low-power dual-core host processor doesn't help the large all-in-one's 3DMark score, evident from the Physics sub-test.

PCMark similarly exposes the performance deficit of the IdeaCentre's 5400 RPM notebook hard drive. The competing XPS, which isn't portable, benefits from a 3.5" disk and a solid-state cache.

The fairness of this comparison largely depends on what you want from an all-in-one PC. Lenovo is using a low-voltage CPU, an entry-level GPU, and a laptop hard drive in the interest of making its integrated battery useful. Dell charges $1000 extra, employs faster hardware, and sticks to a more conventional desktop paradigm, where you keep your PC in one place, plugged in to the wall.

Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
21 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Pyree
    Would be nice if they have truth or dare.
    Reply
  • majudhu
    This explains the "for those who do" part
    Reply
  • sgadadish
    My only question is why not Haswell?? with all it's benefits for mobility where are the portable with the processor...
    Reply
  • stupiduser
    As reported on Slashdot IT - "defence agencies of key Western governments such as Australia, the US, Britain, Canada and New Zealand have banned Lenovo gear from being used in sensitive areas, because of concerns that the Chinese vendor has been leaving back doors in its devices for the Chinese Government."

    I wish Tom's would aim their incredible testing abilities at these types of claims. I would like to know if MY Lenova is making me vulnerable.
    Reply
  • az0937
    http://forums.overclockersclub.com/
    Reply
  • az0937
    http://technologygian.blogspot.com/
    Reply
  • Crashman
    11250051 said:
    Try using this for any length of time as a table pc and your neck and back will be in knots. Not enough gpu power to really make it interesting for gamers but i can see this in industrial, medical applications, schools etc. I can see apu's being used in this application at a much lower price point.
    You're right, if we treat this as a huge tablet or an IPC, it looks pretty good. Thanks!

    Reply
  • rcald2000
    I'm a help desk technician and I'll tell you one thing that I've learned about mobile graphics cards in all-in-one PCs; they are a very bad idea. Just yesterday I had the pleasure of troubleshooting a 4-5 year old Dell all-in-one, which had a problem with the video going black for thirty seconds at a time. I of course attempted to upgrade the video drivers, and found out that neither Dell nor nVidia had ever updated the drivers. I believe the computer originally shipped with Vista 32 bit but was advertised as being Windows 7 upgradeable. I base this opinion on the reviews that I read about the machine, and also on the fact that it had both a Windows Vista and Windows 7 logo sticker on it. Dell's site didn't have any drivers newer than 2009 and nVidia's own auto video driver detection application couldn't identify the video card. In conclusion, I think using a mobile video card in a like this size is lame. But I do applaud Lenovo for trying out new ideas. I would have more faith in the form factor if a company like Samsung was behind it. Also, I should mention that I'm typing this very review on my Lenovo X230.

    Lenovo X230
    i7 ivy bridge processor
    16 GB RAM
    500 GB 7200 rpm drive
    HD4000 integrated graphics
    * connected to one external Dell UltraSharp U2412M 24" monitor.
    Reply
  • Ed Chombeau
    Retired; and need big screen to see ; would take it on car travel but airline travel?
    Reply
  • Crashman
    11250051 said:
    Try using this for any length of time as a table pc and your neck and back will be in knots. Not enough gpu power to really make it interesting for gamers but i can see this in industrial, medical applications, schools etc. I can see apu's being used in this application at a much lower price point.

    11285869 said:
    Retired; and need big screen to see ; would take it on car travel but airline travel?
    It's about as long and wide as an oversized carry-on bag. Which means you may get it past the gate, or not, depending on how strict the airline staff is being at that gate. And you'd want something to protect the screen.

    Reply