Lenovo Thinks Small with A55 Desktop

By Geoff Duncan Published January 29, 2007

Lenovo has rolled out its ThinkCentre A55 SFF desktop tower (SFF stands for "small form factor—get it?), hoping the combination of a tiny footprint and userr-friendly features will overcome any hesitancy about going with a svelte design. The new A55 tower is 64 percent smaller than Lenovo’s conventional desktop systems, and 25 percent smaller than its conventional small desktop.

"We are seeing an increased adoption of small form factor desktops in settings such as healthcare, education, financial institutions and call-centers," said Tom Tobul, executive director, desktop marketing, Lenovo. "Adding the ThinkCentre A55 Small Form Factor desktop PC to our ThinkCentre line gives small-to-medium business users access to the best engineered PCs in a small, full-featured design. These PCs give users the latest innovations like the new Windows Vista operating system and our innovative ThinkVantage Technologies in a compact form."

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Lenovo plans to ship the A55 SFF with Windows Business and Windows Home Basic pre-installed, but customers will have the option of odering systems with Windows XP Pro or XP Home instead. The A55’s will ship with Core 2 Duo processors, and will reportedly include Intel’s 946GZ Express chip set, Intel’s GMA 3000 integrated graphics, either 667MHz or 533 MHz DDR memory, and hard drive capacities ranging from 80 to 500 GB. Other details are scarce, but we think it’s safe to say USB 2.0 and Ethernet will be on board; Lenovo will also include its ThinkVantage technologies (including Rescue and Recovery and Client Security System) to help businesses integrate the systems and get customers out of tight spots.

Lenovo plans to offer the ThinkCentre A55 SFF in early February at prices starting at $579 without monitor; if you’re looking for an inexpensive way to get into Vista but don’t have a ton of space for a new system, these may be worth a look.

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