Lenovo ThinkCentre Towers Feature Thin Designs

Lenovo is launching two new ThinkCentre towers, the enterprise entry-level M70e and an A70 for “growing businesses looking or a boost in processing, memory and graphics,” the company said in a blog post.

With both PC towers, Lenovo reportedly, against popular convention, sweated the small stuff, taking into account the ways that enterprise users interact with their PCs, and how not just inches and pounds but millimeters and fractions could be shaved from the design, according to the 3 Aug blog post.

“We grouped together frequently accessed controls near the top of the PC where they are easy to reach, whether the PC is placed on the floor, on a desk, or in computer furniture,” M70 designer John Swansey shared on the blog. “The indicator lights and power button are on a panel angled toward the [user], and the power button is shielded from accidental use by an elegant chrome ring. USB and audio ports are placed conveniently next to the DVD drive at the top of the machine where they are visible and accessible. The red-striped DVD drive eject button, borrowed from our ThinkPad heritage, is easily noticeable.”

Slim and efficient

Lenovo designers also used a smaller motherboard and rearranged internal components to together save 14mm from the width of the M70e, making it 20 percent smaller than previous ThinkCentre desktop models. The chassis was reportedly thinned, to lighten it on the scale, and improved thermodynamics are said to offer improved heat dissipation and lowered power consumption.

“To do this, we redesigned the motherboard and added an extra fan and side vent,” Cory M. Grenier, a product marketing manager for Lenovo’s ThinkCentre M Series, wrote on the blog. “As a result, the M70e runs almost 10 percent cooler than previous models.”

It also uses 15 percent less power than older models and contains 35 percent post-consumer recycled plastic.

The new ThinkCentres come in small form factor or tower designs. Both offer Intel Core2Duo, Pentium and Celeron processor options, while the M70e has the additional option of an Intel Core2Quad. Users can also choose between Nvidia GeForce FX380 Quadro or Intel integrated GMA X4500 graphics,  paired with DDR3 (double-data rate) memory up to 4GB. Hard drive options run up to 500GB on the A70 and up to 1TB on the M70e, but both models offer gigabit Ethernet, DVD burners and ThinkVantage tools for preventing the loss of data.

Now available, the M70e features a starting price of $559 (£353), while pricing for the A70 begins at $379 (£239). Lenovo was the fourth-ranking worldwide provider of PCs during the second quarter of 2010, following shipments of 8.3 million units, according to estimates from research firms Gartner and IDC.