Computer maker Lenovo announced the latest addition to its flagship M Series desktop PC line, the ThinkCentre M78, which is designed for medium and large businesses and features the latest AMD A-Series Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), up to 32GB DDR3 memory and Lenovo’s RapidBoot HDD Accelerator for faster boot up times. The M78 will be available starting this month through Lenovo business partners and the company’s Website, with pricing starting at approximately $449, according to a Lenovo press release.
Other productivity features on the M78 include support for up to three independent monitors so users can run multiple programs simultaneously. The desktop, which is available in a traditional tower or small form factor, can transfer data with four native USB 3.0 SuperSpeed ports, USB port disablement to defend against data theft and Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2 with enhanced data protection to help keep proprietary work files safe.
“Professionals in medium to large businesses need dependable, productive and secure desktops to meet the day-to-day rigors of workplace demands,” Su Lijun, executive director, global desktop marketing, Lenovo. “We built the ThinkCentre M78 to last, equipping it with great performance, security and energy-saving features in one device.”
The company has also included a host of energy-efficient features and components to the ThinkCentre M78, which meets multiple certifications for energy efficiency and environmental considerations, including Energy Star 5.2 compliance, an Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) Gold rating and compliance with the Cisco EnergyWise energy management architecture. The M78 also carries a UL Environment Gold rating and can use an optional, highly efficient 80 Plus Platinum power supply unit (PSU).
In addition to new hardware, Lenovo is also shoring up its secure cloud computing offerings, a key component of Lenovo’s product portfolio, with the acquisition of Stoneware, which already has several strong, highly innovative cloud products – including webNetwork and LanSchool – that serve millions of users primarily in education and the public sector. The Stoneware team will remain in Indiana and Utah and will continue to sell both webNetwork and LanSchool.
Stoneware has 67 employees, located in either Indiana or Salt Lake City, Utah. As part of this agreement, it is expected that all U.S.-based Stoneware employees will join Lenovo. The company said it would use the expertise gained through the acquisition to add new technologies and accelerate its capabilities for both commercial and consumer cloud offerings, particularly the ability to provide secure content across multiple devices in education and government.