Bake-Off: Desktop PCs With Value

LENOVO'S THINKCENTRE M57 ULTRA SMALL DESKTOP
The M57 came to us with an Intel Core 2 Duo e4600 vPro CPU at 2.4 GHz, 2 GB of RAM, built with the Intel Q35 Express chipset. It was loaded with Windows Vista Business and came with a 150-GB hard drive. It's priced at $846, putting it in the mid-to-upper range of desktop pricing in this performance range.

On Geekbench, it rang up a score of 2514. The M57 consumed 42 watts of power during a normal workload. The 76 degrees of heat it threw (at its vent) were only a couple of degrees warmer than room temperature, and we remain impressed by the thermal engineering Lenovo has shown all year in both its desktops and notebooks.

The M57 did, however, produce a slight hum—not enough to register 50 db but enough to notice in a silent room. That was only one of two areas where the desktop lost points. (We recommend 4 GB for PCs that run Windows Vista.) In the end, though, those were minor issues.

We loved, however, the M57's form factor. Built at 10 1/2 inches by 9 inches by 3 inches, the desktop uses a ridiculously small footprint for its class; it's also built so that the LCD can easily fit on top of it. Lenovo has also been mounting strong efforts to keep its systems eco-friendly. Here, too, it succeeds.

The M57 would fit well in a variety of different deployments, including retail locations, where it would be in eyeshot and earshot of customers (think insurance agencies or public libraries, for example); or where space is at a premium.

We feel with the M57 Ultra Small Desktop, Lenovo provides leading value for a business desktop and it takes first place in this comparative review.

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