The packa ge
Because what’s inside counts just as much as the exterior beauty
Lenovo’s Ideacentre case leaves it open for the most muscular internal package
The guts of an all-in-one machine are equally as important as its screen, particularly given that upgrades aren’t really on the table; the latest generation of 21.5-inch iMac even takes away the option of bumping up its memory, replacing what was previously the RAM access panel with a ventilation slot. Thankfully nothing on offer here is particularly lacking in numbers, and everything feels slick and capable in use.
In terms of brute force, Acer’s effort is the most lacking. It uses a mobile Core i5 processor, slowed down to 1.6GHz on each of its four cores, and doesn’t offer up any graphical acceleration beyond Intel’s built-in offering. This is for light work, not play or pros. The iMac uses its additional space for a touch more power, with a desktop Core i5 providing the processing and, necessarily given the resolution it’s being asked to drive, dedicated graphics in the form of AMD’s mid-range Radeon Pro 555. You won’t be gaming hard, but it’s a capable combination.
Lenovo’s capacitous IdeaCentre case leaves it open for the most muscular internals on test. There’s an Core i7 processor, certainly the highlight and strong enough to cope with whatever you’ll throw at it, backed by the GeForce 940MX – a mid-range mobile graphics card – and Dolby Audio from the internal speakers. Everything carries 8GB RAM by default, along with 1TB of hard-drive storage (not flash) – though quite why Apple plumped for a 5,400rpm drive, which slows down loading, is a question for which we don’t have a good answer. The next model up in the range has a Fusion Drive with combined HDD and flash – much faster.
It’s worth arguing that the OS is a big part of the package too. There’s nothing wrong with Windows 10 Home, but if you want to work in the clean, cool macOS environment you’ll need to plump for the iMac – and you can extend it, thanks to Boot Camp, to run Windows 10 if that’s essential. Neither of the other machines can offer this flexibility.