It's hard to shop for a PC when you don't know what to call it. Lenovo's inexpensive all-in-one is part of its consumer desktop line, so that would make it the IdeaCentre C300, but at only $450 it's part of the company's value line, too, which would give it the designation of Lenovo 3000 C300. Lenovo part number 3012-1AU? Forget it. We'll just stick with C300, even if it does make a Google search for the computer turn up Mercedes cars ... and even though using the $450 model makes us wish Lenovo had sent the $549 configuration instead. We can't say without hands-on testing, but we might call that machine something else altogether. Desktop of the year, maybe.

The C300 is a nettop, like the eMachines EZ1601 and Asus Eee Top ET1602 -- the Intel Atom CPU, 802.11b/g WiFi, and other components of a netbook built into a desktop LCD monitor. The latter is not a touch screen like the Eee Top's, but it's larger than both Asus' and eMachines' displays at 20 inches, with 1,600 by 900 resolution.

Indeed, the screen is so spacious and sharp it's a shame the silicon behind it is no better than the notoriously lame GMA 950 integrated graphics of Intel's 945G netbook chipset -- suitable for blackjack and Bejeweled but not fast-paced motion games (although DVDs and QuickTime 720p videos looked smooth), or for minor touch-ups but not in-depth image editing, let alone video editing.

Two buttons at bottom right of the front panel control brightness. As with the eMachines, we found ourselves wishing for one more notch or brightness level to make white backgrounds really dazzle, but it was a minor gripe at worst.

Two USB 2.0 ports and an SD/MMC/MS flash-memory-card slot are on the left of the display, with a DVD±RW drive on the right. Four more USB ports, an Ethernet port, and a lone PS/2 connector for the keyboard (the supplied mouse is a USB model) are at the rear, as are microphone and headphone jacks and a FireWire port.

There's also a user-accessible panel covering the C300's single DDR2 memory module, offering the RAM upgrade possibility that's missing from the sealed-envelope eMachines. (The standard 1GB is the most that Microsoft will let vendors sell Windows XP Home Edition with; Lenovo offers 3GB and 4GB configurations with 32-bit Vista Home Basic and Vista Home Premium, respectively.)
The one-piece PC measures 14.1 by 19.1 by 3.3 inches. An easel props the display at an adjustable angle between 12 and 40 degrees of tilt, while a cutout in the bottom bezel provides a pass-through for cables or a carrying handle when moving the 14-pound system. While most of the C300 is the glossy black we've grown used to on dozens of desktops, the base is decorated with a sort of Ye Olde Paisley Wallpaper pattern that provides a kicky touch.




Dreaming of Dual-Core
The Lenovo's 1.6GHz, one-core Atom processor with 512K of Level 2 cache is a familiar netbook component, although technically it's the desktop Atom 230 chip rather than the battery-power-optimized Atom N270 seen in most netbooks. Also part of the generic netbook recipe are its 1GB of RAM and 160GB hard drive, though the company does earn points for providing a 7,200-rpm Seagate drive instead of a 5,400-rpm model.

The DVD±RW burner, of course, is not found on any netbook; Lenovo provides CyberLink's Power2Go CD/DVD burning software and Corel's WinDVD player to make the most of it. The only other bundled software is the trial version of Trend Micro's Internet security suite; the C300 is the first PC we've seen in a long time that comes with neither Microsoft Works nor the trial version of the Microsoft Office productivity package. (Hint to buyers: Download the free, Office-compatible OpenOffice.org, or explore online apps like Google Docs.)

Netbook-class hardware yields netbook-class performance, meaning the C300 is perky enough for Web surfing, e-mailing, and routine productivity work but not built for demanding applications. The system racked up a PCMark05 rating of 1,687 (CPU 1,494; memory 2,375; hard disk 5,569; graphics 665) and 3DMark06 score of 94, and rendered Cinebench R10's sample scene in a leisurely seventeen and a half minutes.

The provided PS/2 keyboard and USB optical mouse are fairly generic pieces. The mouse has two primary buttons and a scroll wheel (no thumb buttons or other extras), while the keyboard has audio volume controls and a stiff typing feel.



We like the C300 pretty well, but say the same thing about it we said about the ET1601 -- that any PC fit for desktop duty needs at least 2GB of memory, and that an all-in-one with just 1GB is arguably a poorer choice than a notebook with 2GB or 3GB for the same price. This time we add two caveats, however. One is that the Lenovo's 20-inch screen is the best we've seen among bargain systems; compared to the 18.5-inch eMachines, it's that much harder to trade for a 15- or 16-inch economy laptop.

The other is that you can order the C300 with more than 1GB. Specifically, Lenovo part number 3012-2DU is a $549 rig with a full 4GB of memory, a fat 640GB hard drive, and the rarely seen dual-core Atom CPU -- the Atom 330 with 1GB of Level 2 cache and Intel's Hyper-Threading Technology that lets two cores pretend to be four. It's still no screamer (the clock speed is the same 1.6GHz), but the doubled Atom and quadrupled RAM and hard disk make the 2DU a much better candidate for Windows Vista Home Premium (and presumably Windows 7 after October 22). And as a bonus, the deluxe model also has ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4530 graphics -- a value rather than gaming-vanguard video solution, but still miles beyond the grisly GMA 950.

It adds up to the best $99 upgrade we've heard of -- a nettop that promises true desktop capability rather than mere Web-kiosk convenience, and a machine we'd love to get our hands on. Is anybody at Lenovo listening?