All-in-one PCs

peterworks

Ye Olde Bowler
Might be a 'light blue touch paper and stand back' subject but...
My trusty Windows 7 17 inch laptop is starting to struggle slightly. I intend to keep it going for as long as possible but am now casting my eye around for a replacement.
I have seen 'All-in-one' PCs available and, with my failing eyes, the bigger screens are much better. My big concern is that age old problem of heat dissipation. Because of lack of space, getting a tower, etc, is not viable.
I wondered what experience or thoughts people might have about them.
 
Heat will be less of a problem than with a laptop, so if you get a reputable make that shouldn't be a concern.
 
I have a couple of HP EliteDesk 800 PCs - they're tiny and easily screw to the back of a monitor if necessary.
Seem fine for what I do, quiet and not a lot of heat. I don't do anything really intensive though.
 
That is essentially what they are - the guts of a notebook PC allied to a massive screen. A friend of mine has a couple of them. Fine if you have no need to upgrade parts.
 
Just be aware that you will be used to the laptop with portability and maybe using WiFi. If you really never move it and already have an Ethernet connection to it, no problem.
 
I think Mike meant moving laptops around and using WiFi.

If something fails, your all-in-one pc may become an all-is-gone pc, that is my worry.
 
I was least convinced by that bit. With my failing eyes, small screens seem better, also low down, so I don't have to raise my nose and squint down it at just a portion of a large screen through varifocals. One reason I gave up large screened desktops some fifteen years ago.
 
quint down it at just a portion of a large screen through varifocals.
Could you not get some el cheapo single focal length specs just for computer use? I tried varifocals once and couldn't get used to reading through a letterbox as you describe above, so bi-focals and an intermediate pair for computer.
 
Having seen all-in-ones at my friend's (expense no object), I rather like them (much less clutter than a "conventional" PC, much larger screen than a notebook, but much less portable!). Not that I would have one though, I'm much more cost sensitive.

However, with notebooks having HDMI outputs and Bluetooth, wouldn't the best of both worlds be to "dock" a notebook to a smallish TV (say 32"), with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse?
 
Could you not get some el cheapo single focal length specs just for computer use? I tried varifocals once and couldn't get used to reading through a letterbox as you describe above, so bi-focals and an intermediate pair for computer.
Tried that, don't like changing glasses to move from laptop to tv.

When I had two pairs of glasses, last, in the last millenium, I had to tell my students that I had a choice, see what I was writing, or see them, but there was no way I could do both.
 
However, with notebooks having HDMI outputs and Bluetooth, wouldn't the best of both worlds be to "dock" a notebook to a smallish TV (say 32"), with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse?
Nettop PCs also have HDMI and Bluetooth and usually come with VESA mounting bracket to hide them on the back of the monitor and a whole range of CPU choices from low power Celerons to i7. I have an ASRock Beebox but I wouldn't recommend it as the SATA cable arrangement is badly thought out and putting the WiFi aerials inside a metal cage gives predictably appalling WiFi performance.
 
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