All in one PC's

[Andy Green]

Does anyone have one of these?

I use a laptop, not had a desktop for years, I like the convienience and they are quieter.

I'm wondering whether to upgrade to an all in one, are they noisy, do thay sit right on the desk, I write software for a living so spend a lng time in front of a computer.

(one reason I like the laptop is I can pick it up and move if I need to)

Andy

[Frank Skilbeck]

Andy

The all in ones I've seen are basically laptops with all the components built into the screen. Apart from the screen size and style aspect I don't think you gain a lot, you get then power of a laptop without the portability, plus with a separate desktop you can easilly upgrade the components if you wish.

If it's screen size you are after might a laptopn docking station with a separate screen be a better idea.

[Ian Jones]

Hi Andy,

Laptops are not intended for long periods of use and I'd be more concerned about posture than anything. So continued use of a laptop would be best with a docking station/KVM.

An all in one on with a decent stand (a lot do not have a satisfactory range of adjustment), keyboard and mouse could be a step in the right direction. If you are thinking of one that doubles as a tablet then there's the problem with the dual functionality - a screen that gives decent desktop use is often too large/heavy for convenient mobile use. I don't think that the AiO market has matured sufficiently to get my interest yet.

Personally I still use mobile computing for just that and a workstation for long periods of work.

Bradford Univeristy advice

NHS Choices advice

Hope this is useful.

[Greybeard]

We have had a Dell all-in-one for about three years and it works as well as our pc or lap-top whilst minimising cables and clutter. It cannot be upgraded in the way that a pc can, but then who up grades a pc after a couple of years. Much better to work with than a lap-top for thereasons Ian points out.

[MikeS]

I don't know. I am the fence with this one. Over the years there has been a decline in pc based machines.

For many years I have bulit pc's for friend, customers and was a true pc gamer upgrading my own pc playing games such as unreal tournament through to UT3. I was a avid fan of IL2 and played this through to IL2 1946. Now I have moved away from the rat race of having to upgrade everything just to play the latest games.

In my house we have moved to laptops and other apple devices. I still have a PC but it only gets used for video work nowadays. I use a laptop to use Phoenix rc on and now have an Xbox which does all I need.

For me I would go with a laptop as in the long run it will work out cheaper.

Mike

Edited By MikeS on 08/04/2013 10:42:00

[Ultymate]

I have the luxury if you like of both a laptop and a desktop, I do a lot of photo editing and the screens on laptops are just not up to scratch for the job. . I do use my laptop for tethered photo shoots but seious editing gets done at my desk. One final note desktops are a lot quieter than they used to be and can be specced up to whatever your needs demand.

Edited By Ultymate on 08/04/2013 10:52:14

[Barryorbik]

Andy, I bought a Toshiba LX830 all in one just before Christmas running Win 7 and I find it much better than a laptop for desk based use, as it has a 23" high definition, LED lit touch screen, so when I eventually jump to Win 8 it is ready for the full experience. It also has a built in DTV tuner, so you can watch/listen to TV whlst browsing the BMFA classified etc.

Barry

[Andy Green]

Thanks guys, I went to PC World this evening for a look, nothing abouve an i3 on display - looking for an i7.

Barry how much noisier is it compared to a laptop.

I currently use a twin screen set up, its the main PC that needs an upgrade, I usually buy a hisger spec laptop, just wondering about an AiO.

A

Edited By Andy Green on 08/04/2013 22:59:58

[Pat (rActive) Harbord]

Have you discounted an iMac? A bit pricey perhaps but work superbly. My 27" i5 quad processor with 32Mb ram is still great after 2 years. I run all the usual high end design software in macOS and sims/games etc on a virtual machine instance of winXP under VMware fusion.

we plan to change out our machines on a 4-5 year cycle so don't bother upgrading internal components, just try to find the sweet spot on the £/performance graph each time we purchase.

[Andy Green]

I have looked at an iMac they are loveley,

I do use a MacBook for my iPhone. iPad development, but 80% of my time is spen on Windows development.

I know you can dual boot or run parallels, byut the Mac isn't really suited for Windows dev. (Keybord mainly)

Andy

[Greybeard]

I’m running a twin screen pc running Win 8 on an i7 3.4GHz Intel processor with 24Gb of memory. It’s quick and quite, much quieter than my laptop. My wife uses an all-in-one and likes it too much to change it. I have recently got rid of my lap-top since I no longer need its portability and the tablet went the same way. Does that help?

[001]

I bought a bottom of the range PC (HP) about three years ago and cannot hear it at all even in the early hours.

In contrast the fan on my wife's horrible Packard Bell laptop, when it cuts in, sounds like a Boeing 707 taking off about a mile away!

[Robin Kearney]

Andy it might be worth a bit of research around how noisey they are. I've a i7 iMac (appreciate your comments above about macs) and under normal circumstances - web, email, word etc. It is pretty much silent. I dont think the fans spin at all until the CPUs are asked to do quite a lot of work. However, when they do spin up it is quite noisey. Large compilations, running virtual machines are the sort of things which cause it to turn the fans on.

I'd assume a PC would be similar, so depending on how much you stress the CPU will depend on how noisey it becomes, I certainly get annoyed with the fans if they are on all day - which they rarely are - but it is noticable. And of course, unlike a tower style machine the fans are by the very nature of the case, right in front of you!

r.