General Usage
The A720 that we received came loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium, but all new A720’s will come with Windows 8. Once you are loaded into the desktop you can explore a little bit. Remember this is a touchscreen, although Windows 7 really is not made for touchscreen devices. Lenovo has loaded the A720 with two touchscreen apps. The first is the IdeaTouch 4.5 software. This is more or less a touch-enabled launcher that you can customize with your favorite apps. The second is Lenovo Vantage Technology or LVT. LVT is again a launcher that has little cards that allow you to launch different applications. Out of the two I am more of a fan of the IdeaTouch 4.5 software.
Inside of the IdeaTouch software you will find a few different touchscreen games and apps. Some of the more popular games include Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja. All of the games played great on the system and you can even tilt the screen down to make it like a tabletop device (surface anyone?). This makes playing games like Air Hockey a lot of fun as you can have players on each side of the screen. Tilting the screen also allows you to be most comfortable when using the Piano app. The touchscreen is very responsive and I did not encounter any issues when using it. Remember it is 10-point multi-touch and supports gestures.
The A720 is made to be an ultimate media machine and it is well suited to do so. Using the TV tuner and Windows Media Center I was able to watch live TV on the A720. The HDMI in allows the same thing if you are using an HD cable box. Moreover if you have game consoles or media devices that use HDMI you can connect them to the A720 and it will really become the center of all the media in your house. The included Blu-ray drive means you can watch your favorite movies in full HD without any issues. The 27-inch display is not that bad either, especially if you have the A720 in your bedroom or dorm room. It really can be used as both a TV and computer monitor. The speakers on the A720 are nothing to write home about, but for general usage they are good. If you are going to be doing any gaming or watching movies I would suggest buying a set of speakers.
Using the A720 is a normal PC I really did enjoy the larger screen, especially when writing. I wrote this review as well as quite a few other on the A720 and I really enjoyed it. The Intel Core i5 inside the unit was powerful enough to get my daily tasks done and there really was not much the A720 couldn’t handle. The included keyboard and mouse, while they look good they are sort of boring and lack the sleek design and quality of the actual A720 unit.
As far as normal PC games not the touchscreen games I played games like Payday: The Heist, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike: Source and many more. All of the games played pretty well, although do not expect new games to be able to be played a maximum resolution or great quality settings.
