all in one computer

debitcardmayhem

Cisco001 wrote: »

Don't buy all in one. Waste of money.
Not portable
expensive to fix when anything go wrong
cannot be upgrade.

i suggest you buy a monitor with small desktop or laptop.

I agree, why an AIO ? Oh and Currys not a good idea

that

How old is your grandson?

susi

Thank you all, he is 11 years old and just started secondary school. We thought an all in one as he has limited space in his bedroom and thought it would be better than a laptop as its for his homework and hoped that in his room he wouldn't get distracted but we are open to all advice, thank you

that

susi wrote: »

Thank you all, he is 11 years old and just started secondary school.

buy him a second hand laptop, and if you want to be very generous (more than me) a big screen OR Second hand Dell desk top.

£500 is too much for a desktop, unless a large chunk of that money is on a graphics card for gaming. £500 in a new laptop will get you something new and ok-ish, but often not great, better off buying an older business model (more robust and better build quality). From either second hand choice there will be change. As others say, do not buy the all in one. If you grandson tends to destruct the indestructible, then Desktop. Do not buy the ssf - small form factor either.

AlSto

General advice;

Don't buy anything without a solid state drive fitted, unless you can fit one yourself or know someone who can.
Don't buy anything that isn't user upgradeable. In other words, you don't need to disassemble the whole thing if you ever need to change the storage medium in case of failure.

Think about it's possible usage over the next five years before purchase, so that you can buy something suitable in the first place.

What is the criteria? Touchscreen? Large screen? Portability? Possible game playing at some point or does he already have a games console or suitable PC in the house?

These were an excellent buy for a portable unit; https://www.blackmoreit.com/be-dell-latitude-e7240--i5-cpu--4gb-ram--128gb-ssd--12-touchscreen-laptop.html

Though now they only have Grade B units left.

So you might be able to fit two separate units within your budget.

fred246

I have just made a PC for my daughter for Christmas. Mini ITX system in Antec VESA case which hangs on a monitor so ends up like an all in one. Only fan is a Noctua so it's silent. 24 inch monitor. Total power consumption including monitor under 40w. Sounds great playing through her Bluetooth speakers. The star though is the Samsung Pro 860. The transfer speeds are phenomenal. Cost £550 in total. She should have it for years as long as mini ITX keeps going. Not sure if any companies make anything like it. Case is quite tight for space.

DoaM

I replaced the HDD in my laptop with a Samsung EVO 860 ... still a phenomenal leap in performance over spinning disks. (Power on button to login screen is now ~6 seconds; used to take more than a minute. Of course the fresh install of Windows will also have helped, but the biggest contributor was the SSD).

that

AlSto wrote: »

now they only have Grade B units left.

Case scratches are ok, but screen blemishes and/or bubbles? Not that sure any more now the Grade A have gone, and would expect a bigger discount.

CardinalWolsey

Definitely go down the laptop route. That means initially he can do his homework and other web browsing on the laptop in a communal space at home e.g. at the kitchen table, and as he grows and matures can look to move the laptop to his bedroom.

Also, don't set the grandson up with Administrator rights - create him as a secondary user so that he can't install other software (an Administrator, such as Mum or Dad, would need to come and grant approval if he wants to install something) - this will help protect from malware etc.

susi

Thank you everyone, we need to rethink now and go and reserch some more. Thank you all