Ever heard of Microsoft Surface? — not the Surface tablets but the earlier Large Touch Screen Surface devices from Microsoft — If no, then don’t worry because you aren’t the only one on the planet.
The first Microsoft product named Surface was a giant touchscreen computer which interacted beautifully by touch and even objects but the product soon fell into oblivion.
Why? becasue, WHO can buy a $10,000 PC? Also, it was more of a concept PC and not a practical. As a result, it never went into mainstream.
Lenovo however, has decided to have a go at the idea this time with its amazing IdeaCentre Horizon PC which will try to find a way to your living room. But what is it that makes it a better product than its Microsoft counterpart?
Firstly, its the OS. Windows 8 is amazingly well-optimized for touch use unlike Windows Vista and 7. Furthermore, its customized with ‘Aura’, a multiple-user interface made by Lenovo. Secondly, its the price. Unlike the 10,000 dollar Surface, this one costs way less so while still not a cheap bet, the IdeaCentre Horizon still is worth a buy for people who want a high-tech gaming platform.
What’s different here?
Lenovo is marketing this PC as a ‘tabletop’ PC, most probably because of its design which will allow it to stand in a table-like position. But then it also is marketed as a Gaming PC which leads us to the most interesting aspect of this product.
Just fold the stand into tabletop mode and you’ve got yourself a high-end, multiplayer gaming platform. To make this a perfect gaming product, a lot of renowned game developers such as EA and Ubisoft are already making games optimized for this PC.
To start off, this thing will come preloaded with titles such as monopoly and will even come with joysticks, electronic dice, and air-hockey paddles (I hear some of you shout hurray!).
Lenovo plans to gather all your family members and friends in one place.
The specs
The IdeaCentre Horizon has got monster specs. You can get upto 8 GB RAM, 3rd gen. Intel® Core™ i7 processor and upto 1TB of storage.
The star of the show, the display is a backlit Full HD one with res. of 1920 x 1080 pixels. Its also a 10 point multi-touch touchscreen with 16:9 aspect ratio.
The operating system can go upto Windows 8 Pro in the IdeaCentre Horizon. It comes with a battery built-in but that’s nothing to write about as it offers only 2 hours of extra life to the PC. That’s far from disappointing though because neither will this machine be portable, nor does any other machine this big offers a battery inside it so consider this feature a bonus (at best).
By the way this beast weighs 17 pounds. The more expensive models will use Nvidia GeForce GT 620 graphics chip.
The price and availablity
The base model of the IdeaCentre Horizon starts at $999 (10X cheaper than Surface 1.0). This base model comes with Intel Core i3 processor among other trimmed-down specs. The full fledged version will cost around $1699 – so none of them is cheap but still if you think this is the PC for you, then you should definitely check it out.
And of course, you can turn its display upright anytime and use it as a normal computer but trust me, the IdeaCentre Horizon is way more interesting than your ordinary desktops. Don’t dare to miss the image gallery for IdeaCentre Horizon below.
Here’s what a senior Lenovo executive Peter Hortensius said during its announcement:
“We’ve seen technology shifts across the four screens, from the desktop to the laptop, tablet and smartphone, and yet … there is still room for technologies like Horizon that bring people together.”He’s right. The PC will be available early this summer.
No comments:
Post a Comment