• Text Alerts: Sign Up
• Programming Guide
• DealChicken

• FEATURED:
• Moments
• News Tips
• Closings/Delays
• Photos

By Edward C. Baig, USA TODAY

LAS VEGAS - Remember Microsoft's original Surface PC from 2008?

Bill Gates promoted it heavily in one of his last acts as a full-time Microsoft employee. It was a 30-inch, interactive tabletop computer that recognized and responded to objects and human touch - you can still spot them in stores, hotels and other commercial establishments, but they never quite got down to your den or living room.

I can envision a different outcome for the Windows 8-based Lenovo IdeaCentre Horizon Table PC unveiled at CES, when it starts shipping this summer at around $1,699 for a high-end configuration.

Windows 8 sales may be slow to get going, but to give up on Microsoft's latest operating system would be silly. Prowling the exhibits at CES here, you come across plenty of new Windows 8 computers and tablets, even if Microsoft as a company is lying low at this latest tech-fest. And the IdeaCentre is just plain fun.

Lenovo's new consumer-oriented computer, which has a 27-inch high-definition multitouch display panel, could pass for the Surface PC's first born, at least when it is transformed from an all-in-one Windows 8 desktop PC into table mode.

That happens when you lay it flat. Upon doing so, the Win 8 interface is automatically overtaken by what Lenovo refers to as the Aura interface, a touch-friendly environment that provides an ideal scenario for having multiple folks gather round to do their own thing. One person might be admiring photos using the pinch and zoom gestures familiar to tablet and smartphone users. Another might be watching a video. There's ample room on the screen for a bunch of things to be happening, all at the same time. Of course, you are just as likely to be involved in a communal activity, which typically means games.

The computer supports what the industry refers to as "10-finger touch" and a bunch of gestures. You can virtually flick things off the screen. You can spin a circular widget to launch videos, music or different programs.

One such program might be a computerized version of a classic board game such as Monopoly. Or you can try your luck, as I did, at roulette, which seemed like a perfectly appropriate thing to do in the Las Vegas environment in which I experienced some play time with Lenovo's tabletop computer.

Lenovo says there will be customized games and educational apps that are preloaded from companies such as Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, FableVision and BlueStacks. You can fetch others from an online apps store. Available accessories will include e-dice, joysticks and a striker.

For the player, the action is a blend of the physical with the digital - an activity that Lenovo terms "phygital." That's how I was able to play, not particularly well at first, a convincing game of air hockey. The striker was physical, and the puck was virtual.

But the Horizon is not all fun and games. Propped up in Windows 8 desktop mode, you can engage in more traditional PC-like tasks to get some work done or surf the Web, taking advantage of the touch navigation that Win 8 is good at.

Inside, Horizon can be outfitted with a third-generation Intel i7 processor, rich Nvidia graphics and the Pro version of Windows 8. It can have up to 8 gigabytes of memory and up to 1 terabyte of hard-drive storage. You can add an optional 64 GB solid-state drive. The machine has traditional connectors: USB 3.0, HDMI (for connecting to a high-definition TV), and a 6-in-1 memory card reader. There's also a 720p high-def webcam and stereo speakers with Dolby Home Theater sound.

While the computer is not meant to be portable - it weighs about 17 pounds - you might schlep it from the kitchen to the coffee table, say. A two-hour battery can keep it running for a relatively short period. Lenovo plans to sell an optional mount that lets you move the computer around, adjust its height and mount it vertically at a 90-degree angle.

Windows 8, of course, is a major departure from all the versions of Windows that have preceded it. That can be viewed as good or bad, depending where you're coming from, but the changes, especially ones this radical, have to partly explain the disappointing early sales. You hear a lot about the missing Start menu, for example, and Microsoft could have done a better job of explaining the different iterations of Windows 8, the regular version and the RT flavor built for tablets. Not all the early computers take advantage of the things that Windows 8 is best at, notably touch.

But Windows 8 also gives computer makers the flexibility to try new designs, as Lenovo is demonstrating with its new Table PC. My initial impression of the Horizon, based on nothing more than a few minutes of playing around with the computer at a trade show, is very positive. I've seen enough to say that I'm pumped to give it a try at home.