Hands on: Lenovo goes Wii-like with the IdeaCentre A600

Lenovo is hardly a company you'd expect to be aping the Wii, but that's exactly what it has done with its new IdeaCentre A600. Lenovo's first all-in-one desktop is a 21.5-inch screened Vista-toting Media Center PC on one hand, but has a rather clever remote.

It not only enables you to control every aspect of the PC's operation including mouse work, but can also act as a Wii-style remote.

We played a simple table tennis game using it and, while it's nowhere near the Wii in terms of gameplay, it's surprisingly good fun. Lenovo says it's a 4-in-1 remote control and it uses 'motion drive' to control games.

Again very cleverly, the remote can also be used for VoIP/Skype calling – simply hold it up to the side of your head.

Full HD support

The lightweight keyboard is designed for on-lap use and also has mouse functionality built-in, but seems lightweight to us and could be easily broken or dirtied. Lenovo claims the machine is the thinnest in the industry. It certainly looks the part and can be easily tilted to improve the viewing angle.

There's also Dolby Home Theater sound and a 16:9 Full HD display too. Some territories will have an optional TV tuner (and so PVR functionality using Windows Media Center), while there'll also be a version featuring an integrated Blu-ray drive.

The system is underpinned by Intel's Core 2 Duo processors, up to 4GB of memory and ATI Radeon HD graphics. Lenovo says this is an option, though we can't imagine why you'd want an A600 without it. Wi-Fi is also standard, as is VeriFace facial recognition technology which allows you to use your facial image as the logon password.