Are all in one PC's any good?

onejontwo

As I have a 1GHz 12 year old PC running windows xp, I thought it would be a good time for an upgrade. So looking through the different towers I came across several touch screen all in ones. Now I don't want to spend too much as I only use it for web browsing e-mails etc so effectively a light user as my daughter has a laptop. So instead of replacing the tower I'm considering an all in one but I would like some advice please as to whether they can do all the things a desktop pc can do and are they any good and reliable?

flicks

I have had one for a while and (touchwood), it has been very reliable. It's getting on a bit now but it's still doing the job.


I think the main concern is that like a laptop, I can imagine upgrading it's innards won't be particularly easy.


I think if you can get one at the right price it's worth a go as they are very space saving.

henm2

onejontwo wrote: »

As I have a 1GHz 12 year old PC running windows xp, I only use it for web browsing e-mails etc so effectively a light user as my daughter has a laptop.

Instead of getting a new computer just replace the XP op system with either Linux Mint 17 xfce or the Lubuntu based LXLE (32 bit version) http://lxle.net/ and give your existing computer a new lease of life. 4 different desktop layouts for LXLE including one which is similar to XP and all the programs you will need free.
Remember to back up all your existing important files such as photos etc.

RumRat

.... Or you could go down the Tablet route.

NiftyDigits

onejontwo wrote: »

As I have a 1GHz 12 year old PC running windows xp, I thought it would be a good time for an upgrade. So looking through the different towers I came across several touch screen all in ones. Now I don't want to spend too much as I only use it for web browsing e-mails etc so effectively a light user as my daughter has a laptop. So instead of replacing the tower I'm considering an all in one but I would like some advice please as to whether they can do all the things a desktop pc can do and are they any good and reliable?

A tower and separate monitor is better and cheaper. You'll only use the Touch Screen now and again.

If you have a large screen TV with HDMI, you can even consider a laptop and then couple it with the TV for when you want a larger screen.

All in Ones tend to be overpriced.

JasX

It depends what you're looking for, all in one PCs are generally regarded to have all the disadvantages of a laptop

-Higher upfront cost vs a conventional PC of similar spec
-Difficult/expensive to repair as you can't simply swap out/in replacement standard hardware components
-difficult/impossible to upgrade for the same reasons
-Heat issues diue to their compact size

...but with none of the advantages of a laptop

-portability
-internal battery to help with power interruptions and avoid the need to be permanently wired into the wall

If it still suits you taking that into account up front fine but personally I avoid them

almillar

You'll get less for your money than you would with a tower. You're paying for that nice integrated computer. You're making upgrades, apart from RAM and hard drive (and CPU if you're very lucky) impossible. If you've never taken the old computer apart, this may not matter to you...

UncleZen

I like the idea of an all in one, but I didnt buy one because if one part malfunctioned the whole thing would have to go back. But then you could apply the same logic to a laptop. I didnt say my reasoning was logical or rational. In the end I got a mini tower from pcspecialst thats just slightly bigger than a CD, low power consumption, quiet as a mouse and slightly cheaper than an all-in-one.

Anthorn

Generally, all-in-one computers are more expensive than towers and again generally suffer from slow processing speeds due to their processor being mainly concerned with multi-media.

For what you are going to use it for there is another option and that is a mini PC connected to your TV which could be the cheapest alternative. Here the primary consideration is a monitor connection on your TV which corresponds to the video out on the mini PC. Or you could just use HDMI but you would have slightly less video quality.

In the case of a mini PC strapped to the back of your TV using the VESA mount another primary consideration is trailing monitor and mouse wireless cables, i.e. male to female USB, since you would be using a wireless keyboard and mouse and the signal generally doesn't go through the TV.

onejontwo

UncleZen wrote: »

I like the idea of an all in one, but I didnt buy one because if one part malfunctioned the whole thing would have to go back. But then you could apply the same logic to a laptop. I didnt say my reasoning was logical or rational. In the end I got a mini tower from pcspecialst thats just slightly bigger than a CD, low power consumption, quiet as a mouse and slightly cheaper than an all-in-one.

Sorry for the delay in replying, I've been away for a week, I like the idea of a mini tower but are they any cheaper than a normal tower with the same benefits and if so any recommendations as I used to use microdirect but I believe they've gone bust!

NiftyDigits

onejontwo wrote: »

Sorry for the delay in replying, I've been away for a week, I like the idea of a mini tower but are they any cheaper than a normal tower with the same benefits and if so any recommendations as I used to use microdirect but I believe they've gone bust!

Mini PC are generally more expensive and more limited than a normal PC. So unless space is at a premium or you are not concerned as to the cost, stick to a normal PC.
A Mini Tower is something else altogether. Just a smaller version of a normal PC tower.