Using the Lenovo IdeaCentre D400 and Conclusions
I’ve had the D400 for a few days now. It handles all the functions of a WHS without complaint. It looks quite nice. It is small enough to be located just about anywhere. While not as quiet as some of the alternatives, it is certainly not loud either.
It is not as powerful as the HP X510, but it was not meant to be. If I were doing lots of streaming, on-the-fly-transcoding, or other CPU intensive task I might want or need a more powerful CPU. Of course, extra horsepower means extra cost. A similarly outfitted HP X510 will cost $699 or $859, depending upon the drive configuration.
But when compared to the Acer H340, which is $399 for a 1TB version, the Lenovo is a bit pricey at $499 for the same 1TB version. This is somewhat surprising when one considers that the 2 machines appear to be identical in many respects. Both in hardware and software.
What does that additional $100 get for you? One might say that one machine has more quality components than the other. Or that the support provided by one company is better than the other. These are intangibles that I cannot answer one way or the other. My feeling is that once the D400 is generally available through normal etailers, one will see some price adjustments being made.
In the end, I find that the Lenovo IdeaCentre D400 to be a solid machine with an appealing set of software features and expansion capabilities. The D400, along with the H340, are not in the same class as the latest generation HP machines, but we are not talking apples to apples at that point. That current $100 premium for the D400 over the H340 is tough to swallow. However, if you are a Lenovo fan, and prefer to purchase vs. build, you certainly cannot go wrong with this machine.
