Lenovo IdeaCentre B750 review: An extra-wide-screen all-in-one

The Good With one of the only 21:9 screens we've seen on a PC, the Lenovo IdeaCentre B750 offers a ton of desktop space to fill with browser windows and productivity apps. With the right software, Blu-ray and HD movies can play without letterbox bars, and games feel much more immersive.

The Bad The midlevel graphics card, left over from last year, can't push the higher screen resolution and high-end game settings at the same time; bundled media player software oddly doesn't help with 21:9 playback, and the lack of a touch screen feels dated.

The Bottom Line A refreshing new way to look at all-in-one desktops, the Lenovo B750's Blu-ray-friendly, extra-wide display is great for movies (if you add some extra software), and games greatly benefit from a wider field of view. It's different, and fun to use, but it cries out for a touch screen.

Lenovo's B750 all-in-one desktop PC isn't the first system we've seen with a wider-than-normal screen, but it's still a relatively rare animal. And, with a discrete GPU, high-end CPU, and excellent IPS display, it's also a fun alternative to run-of-the-mill all-in-ones, and hopefully something we'll see more of in the future.

The B750 swaps the usual 1,920x1,080 screen, a 16:9 aspect ratio (the same as HDTV screens), for a 2,560x1,080 screen, which works out to 21:9, or the same as many theatrical release films. Technically, the aspect ratio is 64:27, but that's commonly rounded to 21:9. This wider style of display may never become a mainstream trend, but it's a nice change of pace and serves three major goals.

 

First, you can display HD video content, such as Blu-ray movies, without the traditional letterbox black bars you'd see on 16:9 displays. Note, however, that you'll need special media playback software for this.Second, PC games gain a new level of immersion by adding a wider field of view, essentially giving you extra peripheral vision in games that support that 2,560x1,080 resolution. Many of the games we tried, from Call of Duty to BioShock Infinite to Skyrim, worked well, although some will need config file tweaks to force the higher resolution.

Third, the wide desktop allows you to put full apps and browser windows side by side, much as one might do on a multiple monitor setup. For example, putting a Web browser and Word doc next to one another, or a large video playback window and another app.

At $1,449 for our configuration, which included a current-gen Intel Core i7 CPU, a big 2TB HDD, 8GB of RAM, and a Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 graphics card, the B750 feels fairly priced, considering its unique features. My most notable complaints are two-fold: the older video card (Nvidia is up to the 800-series now) suffers from serious frame-rate drops when trying to push the higher native resolution; and the otherwise excellent display isn't a touch screen, making Windows 8 hard to use, and making the entire system feel dated.

 

SPECS COMPARED

	Lenovo IdeaCentre B750	Dell XPS 27	Apple iMac (27-inch, September 2013)
Price	$1,449	$2,099	$2,199
Display size/resolution	29-inch, 2,560 x 1,080 screen	27-inch, 2,560 x 1,440 touch screen	27-inch, 2560 x 1,440 screen
PC CPU	3.4GHz Intel Core i7-4770	3.1GHz Intel Core i7-4770S	3.4GHz Intel Core i5 4670
PC Memory	8GB 1,600MHZ DDR3 SDRAM	8GB 1,600MHZ DDR3 SDRAM	8192MB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz
Graphics	4GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 760A	2GB Nvidia GeForce GT750M	2GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 775M
Storage	2TB, 7,200 rpm hard drive	2TB, 7,200 rpm hard drive	128GB SSD 1TB hybrid hard drive
Optical drive	Blu-ray/DVD/DVD RW combo	Blu-ray/DVD/DVD RW combo	None
Networking	Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth 4.0	Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth 4.0	802.11a/c wireless, Bluetooth 4.0
Operating system	Windows 8.1 (64-bit)	Windows 8 (64-bit)	OSX Mountain Lion 10.8.5

 

Design and features

The Lenovo B750 cuts a different desktop footprint than other all-in-one PCs, just because it takes up so much room. The screen itself measures 29 inches diagonally, but it's an entirely different aspect ratio, so that translates to a shape that's wider and shorter than a regular 16:9 monitor of the same size would be. You won't mistake this for a high-design all-in-one like the Apple iMac or even Dell's excellent XPS 27, and at 32.5 pounds it's heavy enough that you'll want to move it only when absolutely necessary.

 

The wide body requires a wide stand, and the v-shaped base extends nearly the entire width of the system. The stand is hinged in the back, but it can pivot the display only slightly up and down. The body is largely plastic, with a sleek edge-to-edge glass screen overlay that would make you think the display was touch-enabled, even though it's not. However, a row of simple capacitive touch controls sit under the screen on the black lower bezel and can control brightness, volume, and a few other functions.

Bundled with the system are a basic Lenovo wireless keyboard and mouse. The keyboard is slim and angles up at the rear. It includes a full number pad, but I like my space bars a little wider, and the backspace button is too small. The plastic mouse is as basic as it gets; if you want to use the B750 for gaming, I'd suggest a more specialized model with more buttons and a sleeker shape.

 

But the real star here is the display. The giant IPS screen has a native resolution of 2,560x1,080, which is the same vertical resolution as a standard 1080p screen but a horizontal resolution 1.3 times as wide as 1,920. Why would you want that? Productivity is one reason -- you can create two side-by-side windows, each housing a 1,280x1,080 Web browser window or office document. It's not as much real estate as you'd get from combining two 1080p monitors, but not having the physical break between screens as with a dual-monitor setup gives you a seamless view that may be easier to work with.The bundled DVD/Blu-ray software, PowerDVD, didn't seem to have an aspect ratio option that would present the Blu-ray content in a 21:9 format, so I eventually gave up and downloaded ArcSoft TotalMedia, which did allow for this. Note, also, that while watching a Blu-ray on a 21:9 screen is fun and immersive, you are losing some resolution, as the full image, including the black letterbox bars, is 1,920x1,080. In this case, you're essentially zooming in on that image, cutting off the top and bottom, to fill the screen. Still, I'd call it a worthwhile trade-off and a reminder of how ridiculous it is that HD movie content has one aspect ratio (actually several, but one modern primary aspect ratio), while HDTV content has an entirely different aspect ratio.

 

The final reason you may want a 21:9 display is for PC gaming. Fortunately, this system has a discrete graphics card, giving it the muscle to play most current games. That card is the Nvidia GeForce GTX 760, a decent card but one from last year's Nvidia line, since replaced by the 800 series. It's not top-of-the-line but fine for mainstream PC gamers. However, pushing games to the wider 2,560x1,080 resolution, when a game even supported it, caused a notable drop in performance. We had to compensate by lowering the detail level in some games.

The end effect is still very impressive, giving you an expanded sense of peripheral vision in games, which is even more immersive in some ways than playing in stereoscopic 3D, which can have a tunnel-vision effect. Skyrim, the expansive fantasy RPG, worked well, although I had to force the correct resolution in a config file. Metro: Last Light and BioShock Infinite both also benefited from the added field of vision, although their detail levels needed to be knocked back for smooth gameplay.

Seeing this wider screen up close while gaming, I quickly got used to it, making it a letdown to go back to a normal 16:9 display. To take it one step further, I can see how having a curved 21:9 display would be even more immersive, although I'm not aware of any curved 21:9 PC monitors for sale right now.

Audio from the 2.1 speakers was good for internal sound, helped by a rear-firing subwoofer on the back of the chassis, but you'll still want to hook up external speakers if you're DJing a party from your desktop.

 

CONNECTIONS

Video	HDMI in, HDMI out
Audio	Stereo speakers plus subwoofer, headphone/microphone jacks
Data	4 USB 3.0, 2 USB 2.0, SD card reader
Networking	Ethernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
Optical drive	Blu-ray player

 

Connections, performance, and battery

One of the nice things about working with a full all-in-one desktop computer rather than a laptop, tablet, or even hybrid "tabletop" all-in-one is having plenty of room for ports and connections. Here, you get a total of six USB ports, although one is needed for the included keyboard/mouse dongle, as well as both HDMI-in and HDMI-out connections. The former is interesting in case you want to hook up an external source -- a tablet, laptop, game console, or other device -- and just use the B750's display.

 

With what's frankly a pretty robust 3.4GHz Intel Core-i7 4770 CPU, the B750 is a very powerful mainstream/premium desktop. It was faster in some benchmark tests than a couple of our other favorite all-in-one PCs, the latest Apple iMac and Dell's XPS 27. Outside of desktops and laptops built for serious PC gamers, you're unlikely to find anything much faster, especially for under $1,500.

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 graphics card in the system is good for mainstream gaming but a few stops short of the top of the line (and part of last year's 700-series of cards from Nvidia). We tested games two ways -- at the same 1,920x1,080 resolution we use to test other PCs, and also at the higher 2,560x1,080 resolution. At 1,920x1,080, the B750 ran BioShock Infinite at high detail settings at 23.5 frames per second; bumping up to 2,560x1,080 gave us 17.9 frames per second. In Metro: Last Light at both resolutions, a challenging benchmark, the scores were 10.0 frames per second and 7.7 frames per second, respectively.

 

If those all sound too low to play, you're right -- but those are running at high-detail settings. Dial things down to medium or lower, and both of those games, as well as others, including Skyrim, Hawken, and Modern Warfare 3, all play smoothly.

While gaming is a major attraction of this unusual screen size/resolution, it's disappointing that you can't crank game detail levels up. I'd be willing to pay a bit more for a newer, higher-end GPU.

Conclusion

The Lenovo B750 is unusual, and it's not for everyone. But if you're looking to skip the multiple monitor setup while still maximizing screen real estate, it's an interesting way to go. And "interesting" is the operative word here. Games, while requiring a detail/frame rate trade-off, take on a new immersive quality on a 21:9 screen, and movie-watching feels more cinematic.

Even better, with a high-end CPU, a big 2TB hard drive, a decent GPU, and a massive extra-wide display all for $1,449, it's a decent deal if you're looking for a desktop that's a little different without breaking the bank. But beyond the specs and price, I just found it fun to use. With a few tweaks, such as a touch screen and a faster GPU, it could be a hard-to-beat alternative to more common all-in-ones.

Article by Dan Ackerman