All in one pc vs replacement tower- advice please

chocolatepennyfarthing

PC about to die, been out looking for a replacement today and am confused. Could purchase a replacement tower with a reasonable spec (4gb, 500mb & 1.3 processor for about £380 ). However have seen the new touchscreen all in one's, same spec for about £850, a lot more money but seems a lot more wow. Trying to decide if they are worth the extra? Has anyone used one if so would really like to hear your opinion.

Would also like to know any recommendations on tower unit (have decent monitor, keyboard and mouse already).

Pinkypants

As always it all depends on what you would like it to do.

Games, web surfing, video editing, photo editing. etc..

Lets us know it's purpose.

If its just for web surfing and word processing and spreadsheets, then any modern cheap pc you buy will do the job.

chocolatepennyfarthing

Thanks, it is a family pc mainly used for homework, shopping/browsing, emails and office. Use Itunes and store photos. Not used for serious gaming or downloading.

System

where is it going to be? the touchscreen can be handy for doing the odd thing and selecting tunes etc but the majority of the time you are using the keyboard/mouse anyway, especially if you are sitting at it... depends if you value the looks/wow of an all in one or whether a decent tower with your current setup and 500 quid in your pocket is more appealing!

closed

about to die?

all in ones can be troublesome, expensive, and hard to repair - just a laptop with a big screen.

Ectophile

Personally, I'd go for a slim tower or other compact PC, with a separate monitor.

That way I can replace/repair/upgrade each bit separately. If my monitor goes wrong, I replace the monitor and keep the PC. If the PC goes wrong, or just becomes too old and slow, I replace the PC and keep the monitor.

GunJack

the main reason that all-in-ones sell is that people (who in the main, don't appreciate the technical aspects) think wow..... they are over-priced, prone to overheating and therefore breaking, and are built in such a way that repairing them if/when something goes on them is a bl00dy nightmare...wouldn't touch one with a bargepole...

Lum

Unless you are seriously constricted for space in your house, get a tower.

All in ones are overpriced, completely propietry, often use laptop parts that are expensive to replace, or proprietary parts that you can't replace, rendering the whole thing useless.

For this extra money and hassle you get a device that might look stylish in the shops but in reality looks like a cheap knockoff of an iMac.

Maybe a good idea if you have to cram it into a student dorm or something, but honestly a tower or a laptop will always be a better choice.

Mr_Toad

Have a look inside a new tower system.

Most are full of nothing but fresh air. Some, like those sold as games machines, have separate graphics cards but many have a motherboard that has built in video, sound, network, wireless etc. so other than the power supply, HDD and DVD/CD drive.

If you are planning to fill it with additional 3" HDDs or other hardware then fine but for most people who simply use what they buy out of the box then you need to think if you want a box full of mainly nothing taking up space when you can get either a small footprint PC available at all price points or an all in one.

My own PC is a tower but it has four removable HDD cadies so I can swap disks in and out for development and testing. It also means that the drives are portable and can be given to others to for testing.

bluesnake

you may find that moving your hand and arm repetitive over a screen is tiring, especially if it is a large screen.

I had an A3 graphics tablet and after a few hours my arm muscled ached quite bad.

Think of the chap in "Minority Report" with his arms stretched out waving all day, just tiring.

You can often purchase a 22" non touch screen for about £100 via hotukdeals.

Lum

Mr_Toad wrote: »

Have a look inside a new tower system.

Most are full of nothing but fresh air. Some, like those sold as games machines, have separate graphics cards but many have a motherboard that has built in video, sound, network, wireless etc. so other than the power supply, HDD and DVD/CD drive.

While this is true, the point is about the ability to repair and replace things as the system ages.

Ultimately, for most "normal" home computer users, modern PCs have reached a point that an upgrade should pretty much never be necessary. The last two versions of Windows have not increased hardware requirements and there really isn't much they could do that would require this. Same with MS Office, web browsers etc. Anyone with a computer made after the awful Pentium 4 era can still do everything they need to today.

At least until it gets filled with spyware or a piece of hardware breaks.

IMO this is the real reason why PC sales are slowing, not because tablets are the future!

So do you want a system that can be easilly worked on in 5 years time when the monitor conks it, or a system where you'll have to replace the whole thing at that point.

bluesnake wrote: »

you may find that moving your hand and arm repetitive over a screen is tiring, especially if it is a large screen.

Ahh yes, nobody really picked up on the touchscreen thing. For desktop use, IMO, touchscreens are really bad ergonomics. I'm old enough to remember light pens and keeping your arms outstretched to poke and prod at a screen will make your arms ache.

The alternative is to lie the screen flat on your desk, but then you will be looking down the whole time you use the system and this is really not good for your neck.

Whichever PC you go for, read my guide to disabling all the touchscreen crap in Windows 8