A budget all-in-one with a touchscreen

I’ve always thought that great all-in-one desktop PCs were the best deal in consumer technology. With these machines, you get a display, a computer, peripherals, and plenty of ports for a very reasonable price. That’s why I rushed to buy the M3 iMac when I was building my home office setup late last year. However, the iMac isn’t the only excellent AIO PC you can buy — there are plenty of Windows 11 systems that are worth considering. For those on a budget, the new Lenovo IdeaCenter AIO with its AMD Ryzen 5 chipset and a $850 price tag might be the best option.

After spending over a week with the IdeaCenter AIO, I’m sure it can handle basic tasks. My primarily web-based workflow wasn’t a problem for this all-in-one computer, and it even handled photo editing in Affinity Photo, Adobe Lightroom, and Photoshop well. With that being said, I’ve tested plenty of great laptops that are capable of destroying the IdeaCenter AIO in benchmarks and real-world performance. You’re certainly not buying this 27-inch IdeaCenter AIO for the power, and that’s okay.

If anything, my problem with the IdeaCenter AIO isn’t the computer’s performance — it’s the built-in display. You’re looking at the display of an all-in-one computer all the time while you’re using it, so compromises are borderline unacceptable in this area. Unfortunately, the 27-inch IPS display is only 1080p, and pixels are totally visible at that resolution and size. It’s hard to call this a bad deal because the price is so attractive, but I’d consider paying more for a better machine if you can.

About this review: Lenovo loaned us an IdeaCenter AIO for the purposes of this review. The company had no input in this article and didn’t see its contents before publishing.

Budget AIO

Lenovo IdeaCentre AIO (AMD, 2024)

Just what you need for basic tasks

Lenovo’s latest IdeaCenter AIO is an all-in-one PC that hits a sub-$1,000 price point. It’s a solid system that will be enough for most people, and ports are both hidden and easily accessible. However, there are some puzzling choices here, like a touchscreen paired with a stand that won’t tilt enough for you to make great use of it. 

Pros

• AMD Ryzen 5 feels snappy inside this system
• Port selection and location is excellent
• Design is sleek and looks better than what you’d expect at this price point

Cons

• The 1080p resolution really isn’t enough on this large of a display
• Touchscreen isn’t as useful due to the stand’s limited range-of-motion
• Included peripherals will probably need upgrading

Pricing, specs, and availability

The Lenovo AIO (27ARR9) is a mid-tier, all-in-one PC that can be configured with AMD Ryzen 3, Ryzen 5, or Ryzen 7 processors. The two lowest-tier models have AMD Radeon 660M Graphics, while the Ryzen 7 is paired with Radeon 680M Graphics. My review unit was configured with the AMD Ryzen 5 chip, 16GB of RAM, and the touchscreen version of the 27-inch display panel. This configuration will retail for around $850, depending on available sales and where you buy it from. It’s available from Lenovo directly or from third-party retailers, like Best Buy.

Design and ports

Lenovo impressively hid the PC and its ports in this tiny chassis

The Lenovo IdeaCenter AIO doesn’t have a ton of personality, looking more like a workstation machine than a home computer. However, it’s made well and matches the Lenovo design language we’re used to. Considering how small the IdeaCenter AIO is — the computer measures just 24.08 x 7.55 x 18.62 inches — you might be shocked that there’s an entire computer inside. I’ve seen monitors with bigger desktop footprints than the IdeaCenter AIO, and the compact form factor is certainly part of the appeal.

The “computer” internals are stashed inside the stand, which still manages to not look absurdly thick. The stand is flat, with a ribbed texture that adds a bit of flavor to the somewhat boring gray plastic finish. On the right side of the stand, you’ll find the power button and a switch for the webcam. On the left side, there’s a headphone jack and a USB-C port. While the design isn’t groundbreaking, it’s a simple and sleek solution that won’t clutter up your desk.

The majority of the ports are found at the rear center of the IdeaCenter AIO’s stand. This is the perfect place to hide ports, because cables are completely invisible while using the PC and can be easily routed down to your desk, router, and power outlets. The selection is good, too, but I still wish manufacturers would be more consistent in their USB ports. There’s one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port on the back, but the other two Type-A ports are just USB 2.0.

There are two HDMI ports, and one’s an input. That’s genius, because it means you can use the 27-inch display built into your AIO PC for something else. This HDMI input is HDMI 1.4, while the output is HDMI 2.1 TMDS. Finally, there’s an Ethernet port to round out the I/O offerings.

The IdeaCenter AIO includes a keyboard and mouse, and that’s impressive considering the price. However, you should still expect to replace those with better ones of your own. The keyboard is giant with a lot of key travel, but it’s very mushy and not very satisfying to type on. It’s like you get all the drawbacks that come with a bulky mechanical keyboard and none of the benefits. The mouse is very barebones with middling ergonomics and an unsatisfying click.

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Display

Even though it’s a touchscreen, this panel is really underwhelming

I’m not usually a display snob, but I think the Lenovo IdeaCenter AIO’s worst quality is its screen. The size is fantastic — the 27-inch panel is actually an upgrade from my 24-inch iMac — but the display quality isn’t up to par. The resolution is just 1920×1080, and while that might be fine for a smartphone, it’s simply not high enough for a 27-inch monitor. I can easily pixel-peep this display, making out the individual pixels at a normal viewing distance. To be fair, my 24-inch iMac is a 4.5K all-in-one, so the difference is especially jarring for me.

Color accuracy and brightness isn’t much better. Lenovo claims that the IdeaCenter AIO supports 99% coverage of the sRGB color gamut, and in our independent testing, we actually recorded full coverage. While the IdeaCenter AIO outperformed Lenovo’s claims in sRGB coverage, the display is underwhelming in the other gamuts.

This panel covers 74% of NTSC, 78% of AdobeRGB, and 84% of DCI-P3, per our test results. Unsurprisingly, this means that you won’t want to use the IdeaCenter AIO for any kind of work that requires color accuracy. However, this is far from the worst we’ve seen, and it’s fine for an $850 all-in-one computer. The resolution is assuredly the biggest problem here.

The same story goes for the IdeaCenter AIO’s brightness, which is rated at 300 nits. We recorded 277.9 nits in our tests, and this is near the margin of error. The brightness should be fine, since all-in-one PCs are used indoors, but it could be better.

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You may have noticed that I didn’t mention the Lenovo IdeaCenter AIO’s touchscreen. That’s because it really isn’t all that useful. This computer has such limited tilt that using the display with your fingers just doesn’t make sense in any situation. I love form factors like the Surface Studio 2, which are flexible enough to make a touchscreen feasible. The Lenovo IdeaCenter AIO has a bad form factor for a touchscreen, and I wouldn’t buy it if you are looking for a touchscreen AIO specifically.

Performance

This AMD system-on-a-chip is up to the challenge

With an AMD Ryzen 5 chipset at the heart of the Lenovo IdeaCenter AIO, we know that it’s not going to blow us away in terms of performance. As I mentioned earlier, there are plenty of laptops that will outperform this all-in-one PC. There’s no point to running graphics-heavy benchmarks like 3DMark or Cinebench on the IdeaCenter AIO, because no one buying this computer will have that kind of workload. Instead, people looking at the Lenovo IdeaCenter AIO probably do a lot of web-based tasks, or use productivity suites like Microsoft 365.

For benchmarks, I ran Geekbench 6, PCMark 10, and Crossmark — all productivity-first tests that simulate the kind of workflows the Lenovo IdeaCenter AIO is made for. For comparison, I threw in the results of the HP Envy Move, an Intel-based AIO PC that costs about $50 more than the IdeaCenter AIO. Additionally, there’s the M3 iMac, but that machine costs significantly more than the IdeaCenter AIO.

Unsurprisingly, the IdeaCenter AIO performed the worst out of our tested all-in-one PCs. However, it hung with the HP Envy Move in the tests. The IdeaCenter AIO beat the HP Envy Move in PCMark 10 but lost in Geekbench and Crossmark, and both Windows AIOs were destroyed by the iMac.

With that being said, the important thing to note is not how the Lenovo IdeaCenter AIO performs in benchmarks, or when it’s up against premium machines like the iMac or the Lenovo Yoga AIO 9i. Instead, it’s worth noting that the IdeaCenter AIO handled my daily workflow with no apparent limitations. That includes productivity work in Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, writing and researching in browsers, and photo editing in Creative Cloud apps and Affinity Photo. For people that work primarily in a browser or in apps that aren’t performance-heavy — that’s most PC users — the IdeaCenter AIO is perfectly fine.

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Should you buy the Lenovo IdeaCenter AIO?

You should buy the Lenovo IdeaCenter AIO if:

• You need an all-in-one Windows 11 PC for under $1,000
• You primarily work in a browser or use apps and software that aren’t demanding
• You can live with a low-resolution screen

You should NOT buy the Lenovo IdeaCenter AIO if:

• You have more money to spend on a better AIO
• You need more processor and graphics power
• You can’t live with the unimpressive display

The takeaway from this review should be that I was able to work completely from the Lenovo IdeaCenter AIO without running into any limitations. Sure, my workflow isn’t insanely demanding — my most intensive tasks include photo editing, occasional video editing, and extreme multitasking — but neither are the PC workflows of most people. If you want a simple home office computer that includes everything you need for around $800, the IdeaCenter AIO may be your best option. There are plenty of compromises here and there’s definitely room for upgrades, but casual users might be able to overlook those thanks to the price.

Budget AIO

Lenovo IdeaCentre AIO (AMD, 2024)

Just what you need for basic tasks

If you need an all-in-one computer for your home or office workspace, and only have $1,000 to spend, the Lenovo IdeaCenter AIO is a great value option. However, there are more premium options out there with better displays and build quality, both in the Mac and PC worlds.