Wearing headphones or earbuds all day while working is just plain uncomfortable. This is why it feels so great to turn up the volume on a pair of the best computer speakers or even your laptop when you finally get home after leaving the office or even your favorite coffee shop. But what if you could have that same experience while sitting next to someone without bothering them in the slightest?
Don’t get me wrong, the new ThinkCentre M90a Pro Gen 6 is far from the more consumer-friendly iMac M4 and certainly won’t be for everyone as it’s aimed at professionals and business users. Likewise, this new all-in-one is expected to fetch a high starting price of around $2,500+ when it launches later this year.
Still, the ThinkCentre M90a Pro Gen 6 made me do something I had never thought I would: actually consider an all-in-one computer over a desktop, laptop or even one of the best mini PCs .
Here’s everything you need to know about the innovative Focus Sound technology under the hood of Lenovo’s latest all-in-one and why I think it has the potential to change how we work in the office and maybe, even how we listen to audio on the rest of our devices one day.
Private audio right from your display
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Even with one of the best monitors , their built-in speakers have a reputation for being subpar when compared to the sound quality that you get from a pair of bookshelf speakers or even a soundbar for your PC. This makes sense as you have a whole lot less room for tweeters, drivers and woofers when you need to cram all that into a monitor. However, what if the display itself was also the speaker?
Well, that’s just what Lenovo is doing with its new ThinkCentre M90a Pro Gen 6. Through a partnership with the directional audio company Audfly, the PC maker integrated Audfly’s screen-directed sound technology right into this all-in-one’s display. Without getting too technical, there are tens of thousands of MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) speakers with two audio channels (left and right with Dolby Atmos support to boot) embedded into one of the display’s layers.
Not only does this avoid adding extra bulk to this all-in-one’s display but you’re actually getting better audio quality overall since MEMS speakers can deliver high-fidelity audio. At the same time, as long as you have the display in an ergonomic position (which is easy to do thanks to the ThinkCentre M90a Pro Gen 6’s adjustable height stand), the audio coming from these speakers is in the perfect position at ear level. Now back to what I said before about no longer needing headphones or earbuds in the office.
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Since this is an all-in-one computer after all, there’s a camera bar at the top which in addition to a webcam also houses a number of other sensors, including the one that powers Lenovo’s Human Presence Detection 2.0. Basically, this is what turns the screen on when you approach the computer and shuts it off and locks your computer when you step away from your desk — another great thing to have in an office environment.
These days, every computer you can buy has some form of AI baked into it. Whether that’s for noise cancellation, altering your background or keeping you in frame when you’re on a video call or for something as simple as power management for getting the most battery life out of your laptop. All great to have for sure but the way in which the ThinkCentre M90a Pro Gen 6 uses AI impressed me the most so far.
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AI is used for presence detection; at Lenovo’s booth, I saw what’s pictured above whenever someone else walked by the screen. However, this AI is also what allows this all-in-one’s Focus Sound tech to send audio from the computer to you and to you alone.
During my hands-on time with at CES, a Lenovo rep played videos on the screen while the company’s Executive Director of Worldwide Commercial Portfolio and Product Management, Tom Butler literally stood next to me and told me that he couldn’t hear a thing from the ThinkCentre M90a Pro Gen 6’s in-display speakers. Sure enough, when I stepped over to the side by only a few feet, I too couldn’t hear the audio coming from its speakers.
Obviously I’d have to call one in for more thorough testing in both a home and an office environment but in the brief time I spent with this all-in-one, it really piqued my interest. More so than the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 with its rollable screen and even the Lenovo Legion Go S , despite the fact that it’s the first handheld gaming PC running SteamOS that isn’t from Valve.
Not your average all-in-one
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Now this wouldn’t be an article about the ThinkCentre M90a Pro Gen 6 if I didn’t walk you through the rest of the specs and features. Powered by an Intel Core Ultra Processor, this all-in-one can also be outfitted with an optional NPU and your choice of a Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E or even a Wi-Fi 7 network card. Its 27-inch, 1440p display has “near edgeless” bezels and also a 120 Hz refresh rate which you’ll be able to take advantage of with a Nvidia RTX 4050 laptop GPU.
Port wise, you get one USB4 port, one USB-C port, three USB-A ports, DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.1, an SD card reader and basically everything else you could need. Besides the iconic red ThinkPad control knob for tweaking settings in its on-screen display menu, there are easily accessible ports on the side of the ThinkCentre M90a Pro Gen 6.
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Now here’s the kicker besides its personal audio that made me completely rethink all-in-ones: the included stand is sleek and height-adjustable but you don’t have to use it if you don’t want to. The ThinkCentre M90a Pro Gen 6 is VESA mountable so you could install it on your existing monitor arm or stand if you don’t want to completely redo your desk setup .
A new frontier for built-in speakers
Built-in speakers have historically gotten a bad wrap but with Audfly’s Focus Sound tech, you may not feel the need to pick up a pair of computer speakers or even a soundbar for your desktop computer. The same could be true for those clunky-looking headsets with a gooseneck microphone or even a pair of AirPods if you want a more modern example.
I know the ThinkCentre M90a Pro Gen 6 and the audio tech inside is aimed at professionals but when I saw it in action, my mind went to a completely different place. Say you and your partner are working from home. Now imagine a his and hers workstations setup where you could both have your own music or videos playing without bothering one another. Now that would be cool.
Gazing a bit farther into the future, I could see this audio tech ending up in Lenovo’s laptops sooner rather than later. Next would be tablets and from there, your smartphone. No more blaring music from smartphone speakers in public. Instead, it would be directed right to you and to you alone.
Visiting Lenovo’s booth was one of my highlights of CES this year and I made it a point to do so as out of all the other PC and hardware makers, Lenovo is still keeping it weird, in the best way possible.
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