Lenovo Kicks Out First Consumer Desktop

The novice-friendly K210 will use your face for a password, open its case with the click of a button and brighten the screen based on how far away you are.

Having broken into consumer notebooks with the launch of the IdeaPad series back in January, Lenovo followed suit with the launch of its first globally available consumer desktop on Monday. The IdeaCentre K210 desktop will introduce a variety of novice-friendly features like an easy-access case for upgrades and screen that adjusts brightness based on how close a user’s face is.

Although an Intel Core 2 Quad processor inside and optional upgrade to ATI’s Radeon 2600 XT GPU promise the K210 will be no slouch, Lenovo has mainly focused on ease of use with the new machine. VeriFace technology, for instance, will recognize a user’s face using the integrated webcam and eliminate the need for passwords, while BrightVision will use the same webcam to dictate how bright the screen is based on distance.

To make the machine easier for non-techies to open and operate on, Lenovo included a “chassis open” button that does away with screws to pop open the case easily and quickly. The company also developed a buckle design to hold in the modem, graphics and sound cards, making them easier to swap out. And if anything goes awry, the company’s OneKey recovery offers a quick way to bring your system back to the way it was in a pinch.

Available immediately online and in select retail stores, the K210 starts at $379.99 with a mail-in rebate. Accompanying monitors with built-in webcams are available in 19- and 22-inch variants, which run for $229 and $299 (after rebate) respectively.