Lenovo Launches Low-Cost ThinkCentre Desktops

"Desktops have flatlined," said Stephen DiFranco, vice president and general manager, consumer and commercial channels AG, for Lenovo. "Prices have stabilized and there is money to be made. There's been talk of desktops going away, but they still haven't."

According to Lenovo, the low price of the ThinkCentre desktops will help drum up interest among solution providers and customers who are looking for value when making hardware purchases.

Both the A58 and M58e are built with customization in mind. Each of the ThinkCentre desktops can be equipped with keyboards that have external fingerprint readers for easy password management. Further customization can be achieved by choosing either an Intel Core 2 Quad or Intel Core 2 Duo processor and up to onboard Direct X10 graphics support.

"I'm happy to see the ThinkCentre desktops," said Jay Tipton, CEO of Technology Specialists, a Fort Wayne, Ind.-based reseller. "It will let me bundle the desktop with a monitor and come in under $600. That's an attractive price point."

Memory can also be tailored to individual solutions, with up to 4 GB of RAM and support for up to 1 TB of storage in each of the ThinkCentre Desktops.

The ThinkCentre desktop line is designed to be environmentally friendly, with select EPEAT Gold-rated models and models that already meet Energy Star 5.0 criteria, which take effect in July of this year.

"There is still a market for computers that have no reason to leave the office," said DiFranco. "Desktops have been a mainstay of Lenovo's business and are sold around the world."