All in One desktop?

little_miss_messiah

Hi
OH has got it into his head he wants a lovely all in one touch screen desktop for the lounge. TBH its not a bad idea as we dont have much room in there and this desktop is sat in the half done loft conversion which hopefully is soon to be our bedroom - i do not want a PC in our bedroom!!!

Just wondered - is there a catch/trade off for the convenience and good looks?

Also - we are usually late-adopters (no flat screen TV here) - what should we be looking for besides from big numbers - any recommendations? (Can;t afford a Mac)

Thanx for any advice

rdpro

Dell Inspiron One (but I might be biased ) http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspiron-one-19?c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&~ck=mn

Only fixed one so far, and that was damaged in transit. The downsides are upgradeability - they are an absolute sod to take apart! They're basically a laptop motherboard behind a screen, so no big graphics cards, etc.

If you go this route, ensure you max out the memory to 4gb now (by haggling it)

rdpro

oh and regardless of what you choose, stock up on damp j-cloths now - sticky mitts and touchscreens...

Russel245

rdpro wrote: »

Dell Inspiron One (but I might be biased ) http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspiron-one-19?c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&~ck=mn

Only fixed one so far, and that was damaged in transit. The downsides are upgradeability - they are an absolute sod to take apart! They're basically a laptop motherboard behind a screen, so no big graphics cards, etc.

If you go this route, ensure you max out the memory to 4gb now (by haggling it)

That is quite nice!

If you're looking at all in one systems however, I would take a peak at laptops too, you could always have a laptop and plug an additional keyboard or mouse into it, or even get a tablet laptop.

So far as what to look for: I don't think the spec of the machine will matter too much unless you plan on gaming or doing video/photo editing on it. I wouldn't worry about the screen too much either. Just go on size.

One thing to look out for though, is an extended warranty. Products in the lower end price bracket, specifically netbooks have quite high failure rates in their second year so having a warranty may save you a fair bit of cash.

trish_insight_tech

There is one big trade-off, near enough no expandability :-(

For a gamer like me, that fact pretty much puts me straight off right away, but if you're mostly going to be using it for web browsing, videos, email etc, that isn't really such a big issue.

The Sony Vaio L-series machines are pretty nice, and they've got a nice big glossy screen (I've been pining after one for a while, but I really can't justify buying one when I've already got a desktop and laptop!) and fairly decent specs, plus it's got wireless built in. Whatever all-in-one you get, I'd suggest you make sure is has wireless as it's very difficult to add later, and if you don't have it you'll need messy wires trailing all over your living room!

amcluesent

>Thanx for any advice<

What about an iPad? Ideal sofa surfing, email, news, games, iPlayer etc.

missile

I have a sony all in 1, great for space saving. I don't like touch screen, but you might want to look at HP? My local John Lewis have a good range on display and helpful staff.

JasX

little_miss_messiah wrote: »

Just wondered - is there a catch/trade off for the convenience and good looks?

Its basically a laptop without the portability, overpriced/lower value hardware compared to a desktop, not upgradable or repairable without alot of hassle.

little_miss_messiah

Thanx to all - food for thought!

We do actually have a Toshiba lappy which has been gathering dust almost 3 years - it was a dear one (£800) at the time but strangely no wireless in it - would it be worth getting this titivated instead?

amcluesent

>would it be worth getting this titivated instead?<

I'd say so, yes. I cheered up 2006 vintage HP laptop by installing Vista afresh (the latest Windows OS for which drivers were available) and replacing the disk with a 64Gb SSD. No waiting for a slow disk makes it fly! Even if your Tosh won't take an internal mini-PCI wi-fi card, USB dongles are less than a tenner on t'Bay.

Donnie

little_miss_messiah wrote: »

Thanx to all - food for thought!

We do actually have a Toshiba lappy which has been gathering dust almost 3 years - it was a dear one (£800) at the time but strangely no wireless in it - would it be worth getting this titivated instead?

Sound old. Let us now the full model number.