All-in-Ones Finally Grow Up, With Fast Graphics, SSDs, and CPUs

MojoKid writes "Historically, all-in-one desktop systems like the iMac, HP's TouchSmart and similar designs that incorporate a full system on the backside of a monitor, haven't offered performance that was competitive to their full-sized desktop counterparts. Part of the reason is that many of these systems are comprised of low power notebook platform PC components inside thin chassis designs with minimal airflow. However, as mobile platforms have become more powerful, so has the all-in-one PC. Dell's recently launched XPS 27 Touch, with Intel's Haswell mobile processor and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M on board, is an example of a new breed of AIO hitting the market now. The system is based on a 27-inch panel with 2TB of storage, a 32GB SSD cache drive, 8GB of RAM and performance in the benchmarks that keeps pace with average midrange full-sized desktops. You can even game on the machine with frame rates at the panel's 1080p native resolution with medium to high image quality. It's almost like the all-in-one finally grew up."

Comments

What fud

[Billly Gates]

The imac had decent specs for years.

The fact is most pcs sold have value oriented junk as only workstations and alienware bother with nice components. Most enthusiasts and gamers build their systens as a result.

Re: What fud

[Anonymous Coward]

true, but as this post is obviously a dell commercial, truth doesn't matter too much

Re:What fud

[bkmoore]

If it's smaller, then it must be less powerful, right?

Re:What fud

[dfghjk]

"fud" stands for "Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt". It doesn't mean something you disagree with.

Re:What fud

[Anonymous Coward]

What are you talking about? The current iMac has the same low-end specs as this system! (Accounting for the iMac being a 2012 model, and this one being a late 2013 one...). Prior iMacs had the same low-end specs that made it more useful for Grandma than Grandson.

Re:What fud

[buddyglass]

Case in point: It will cost you an arm and a leg, but you can spec out a 27" iMac as follows:

3.4ghz quad-core i7 w/ Turbo to 3.9ghz
32GB 1600mhz DDR3
3TB "Fusion" drive (HDD/SSD hybrid)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX 2GB GDDR5

Some cursory googling suggests the 680MX is the higher performing GPU.

Re:What fud

[Anonymous Coward]

Case in point: It will cost you an arm and a leg, but you can spec out a 27" iMac as follows:

  3.4ghz quad-core i7 w/ Turbo to 3.9ghz
32GB 1600mhz DDR3
3TB "Fusion" drive (HDD/SSD hybrid)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX 2GB GDDR5

Some cursory googling suggests the 680MX is the higher performing GPU.

Not to mention that the Mac isn't struck with 1080p. It has 2560 x 1440 at 27".

Re:What fud

[Anonymous Coward]

Not really... I bought my 2011 21in iMac when it first came out for $1100 with no taxes via Amazon. The GPU while dated by todays standards still has 600 gigaflops of performance. Comparing that to the other all in ones at the time, this was clearly a better value at the time.

Re:What fud

[Anonymous Coward]

And that's why I quit building my own systems. Once it wasn't my full time job it just got too hard to keep with with the version numbers, and which was really the better model. Imagine if Linux kernels worked the same way? Kernel 3.0.1m is better than 3.1s, but neither are as good as Linux Z1.

I suppose due to bugs it could happen, but it would be expected to be fixed, while hardware specs can't be (need more memory, replace it with the better card).

Re: What fud

[Anonymous Coward]

The specs are decent, but modern iMac specs are also good on release. It's not like everything else has been shit prior to this release. AIO computers will be limited because of space, yet this Dell AIO doesn't seem to do doing anything that would herald this as the adulthood of the AIO form factor.

MojoKid, you fail it.

Re:What fud

[hairyfeet]

And likewise you too are spreading the bull, you could also find damned nice PC AIOs you just weren't gonna get one for a bottom of the barrel price at the Wally World. If you'd have went to the business section you'd have found nice AIOs with decent mobile GPUs, decently powerful CPUs, and many with touch support.

You just have to remember that unlike Apple and their "one size fits all" you have choices when it comes to PCs and you can choose any price point from "cheap and lousy" like the few Intel Atom based I ran into, "cheap but okay" like the Bobcat APU ones that are frankly great for receptionists and similar low intensity jobs, and then there is "midrange and better" and finally "expensive but teh hotness" like the AIO workstations which are pretty kicking. This is one of the reasons I've always preferred the PC side of the street, it lets me choose the right tool for a particular job while letting me save the customer money by not buying more than they need.

Re:What fud

[Nemyst]

And that GTX 680MX is still not a high-end card, especially when you're talking about a desktop (which this thing is much closer to). It's about in line with a GTX580 (so two generations out of date by now) for an absurdly higher price tag. You're really paying through the nose to get the styling.

Re:What fud

[mikael_j]

I'm pretty sure this "article" is really just Dell advertising.

Re:What fud

[Billly Gates]

Those are freaking fast for AIO and couldceasily trounce both the xboxone and ps4. Sure they are not 7990s in crossfire by any sense of the mean but those are niche and add $1100 to the cost of the system. For even crysis which is the most demanding game you can get by with a 670 gtx or a 7870 just ine. You could also argue a crossfire 7990s are low end too because my $3000 quadro or firepro is soo much better and can support 32 monitors etc.

Re:What fud

[Improv]

Exactly right. When I started my current job, I had an iMac sitting on my desk; I was initially skeptical, but as soon as I saw the machine specs (as I was installing Linux onto it), I fell in love; it's a very nice machine, and my workplace had spiced it up further by putting a lot more RAM and disk into it. It's one of the most pleasant desktops I've ever worked with (and the resolution is amazing).

Re:What fud

[Billly Gates]

Which is my point.

The author says all AIO are junk including the imac. Not true but sadly close on the pc side. Since you own a shop I am surprised ypu remend such systems as they are a pain in the ass to repair. Shit Apple is gluing things like batteries to the damn case

Re:What fud

[kannibal_klown]

I wonder if there are multiple XPS 27" Touch, as looking at their site shows a 1440 screen instead of 1080.

My main concern with all-in-one's though is how easy they are to do maintenance and the minor part-swap. I'm not a fan of how closed the Apple one is: I don't like having to deal with "stickers" if I have to replace the HD or something. And I have no idea of the Dell is similarly annoying.

I don't need a huge case... but something that I can at least fit my bear-claw hands in when I have to swap a broken part out.

Re:What fud

[hedwards]

I generally build my own desktops because it's the only way of not getting infested with Intel and Microsoft products and still get a decent rig. The selection of desktops that don't use Intel or MS products is pretty limited. But, by building it myself, I can get what I want without having to give money to monopolists.

Re:What fud

[Anonymous Coward]

And that's why I quit building my own systems. Once it wasn't my full time job it just got too hard to keep with with the version numbers, and which was really the better model. Imagine if Linux kernels worked the same way? Kernel 3.0.1m is better than 3.1s, but neither are as good as Linux Z1.

I suppose due to bugs it could happen, but it would be expected to be fixed, while hardware specs can't be (need more memory, replace it with the better card).

that only applies to graphics cards and that's what sites like tom's hardware and anandtech are for. The rest of it really isn't that hard - get an ASUS or Gigabyte M/B slap in the best i7 you can afford, fill it up with ram, add a good SSD, then top it off with a decent PSU and put it all in whatever case looks good to you
.

Re:What fud

[hedwards]

Yeah, I agree. But, to be fair, there are more factors now than back in the '90s when megahertz was the main thing they were improving. AMD doesn't do a perfect job with their processor naming, but they do give you a number to help get an idea of where a particular processor fits in their line of products. Interestingly over the last decade the spread between the number and the frequency has gotten to be rather huge.

GPUs OTOH, I don't think any of the major vendors take that seriously. Trying to figure out why a GPU that has a higher number has lower performance is designed to give people a stroke.

Re:What fud

[hedwards]

The repairability is my main reason for not buying or recommending AIO. Laptops are bad enough, but at least with laptops there's a legitimate reason for it. They need to be small and protable. AIO are kind of questionable as they could just as easily go back to CPUs that lie flat on their side and just change the way that ventilation is done. Set the monitor on top of the CPU and attach clips. There you go. A computer that's very similar to an AIO and a ton easier to repair.

Re:What fud

[TemperedAlchemist]

It's a 680M card. The mobile card line is terribly crippled compared to anything you can put in a desktop.

Re:What fud

[peragrin]

That's just it how often do you actually repair machines?

The average person just buys another one anyway when it stops working. If the average components last 3- 5 years by the time you shell out parts you might as well have gotten a new machine anyways.

Or a car analogy. When your at 300,000 miles and your second engine you might as well give it up and upgrade to something a bit newer.

I used to love to build my own. but I actually value my time. if I charge myself a decent hourly rate for building and OS installation then building it myself isn't cheaper.

Re:What fud

[Immerman]

As a rule, yes. Basically bigger system = better cooling. Airflow, heat exchangers, etc are all very much volume dependent.

Generally speaking (and oversimplified) if you can halve the power consumption (=heat generation) of the CPU, GPU, etc. then you have two options:
1) Smaller - halve the capacity of the cooling system, roughly halving the minimum volume of the device.
2) Faster - double the number or power of chips, roughly doubling the performance at the same minimum device volume.

Of course if your desktop system uses a standard full-sized case and motherboard then there's probably lots of "wasted" space that can be trimmed - basically trading expandability and ease of maintenance for a more compact form factor. Once you're down to an compact motherboard and case though you can't really get much smaller without sacrificing cooling capacity. You could push things a little farther by doing away with upgradable, standards-compliant components in favor of custom-engineered solutions, but that increases costs and probably isn't worth it in most applications - once the cooling system becomes a major portion of the volume your options for further size reductions start being severely limited.

Re:What fud

[jones_supa]

So what? It still makes for an interesting discussion.

Re:What fud

[Anonymous Coward]

This is precisely it. I used to build my own rigs as well and just stopped when my time/value ratio got in the way. My late 2009-iMac is still a screamer for what I use it for, and for one to say they need want a PC that's easy to repair is a bit disingenuous. I've never had to crack-open my iMac. Apple offered to replace my hard drive for free due to some recall a year ago so I did that simply because they offered. That took a day. Big deal. One day out of four years.

Re: What fud

[MojoKid]

Ummm... FUD? You're using that term incorrectly. So where's the fail? If I was trying to create fear uncertainty and doubt it must have been with you.

And we've seen AIOs from many manufacturers for years, which couldn't get out of their own way, in terms of what power users need performance-wise. iMac are a minor exception. They've had somewhat better specs but not SSD caches and 2GB GGDR5 enabled, seriously strong graphics like the new GeForce GT 750M. In fact, as I look at Apple's iMac load-out page now, I see last gen graphics mostly with 512MB configs.

Re:What fud

[Mashiki]

Or a car analogy. When your at 300,000 miles and your second engine you might as well give it up and upgrade to something a bit newer.

Your analogy is bad. If you're on your second engine by 300k miles, you're doing something seriously wrong. Any car engine made in the last 15-17 years can easily get 500k miles before their first rebuild. Before the subframe in the front of my saturn broke(love those salty winter roads here in Canada), my car was already at 550k miles(885k km) and that's not even a record on the Series 1 or Series 2 engines, the 'hand me down' van(it has a 3.8L 3800 series) I got from my grandparents has 680k miles on it. I use it for the winter driving, in fact I'm more likely to replace the transaxle first.

Re:What fud

[Teckla]

The imac had decent specs for years.

Except for graphics, unless you spent a lot more. (iMac owner here.)

Fortunately, Apple seems to be putting decent graphics into the base level iMac now, but that certainly was not the case for years.

Re: What fud

[Half-pint HAL]

And we've seen AIOs from many manufacturers for years, which couldn't get out of their own way, in terms of what power users need performance-wise. iMac are a minor exception. They've had somewhat better specs but not SSD caches and 2GB GGDR5 enabled, seriously strong graphics like the new GeForce GT 750M.

Most PCs in any form factor fifn't have all that until very, very recently!!!

Re:What fud

[Anonymous Coward]

How do you fuck up disinformation? By giving out just "information" instead?

Re: What fud

[Khyber]

"Ummm... FUD? You're using that term incorrectly. So where's the fail?"

You're the fail, as the AC above you never mentioned FUD at all. Moron.

Re:What fud

[Khyber]

" Basically bigger system = better cooling. Airflow, heat exchangers, etc are all very much volume dependent."

Wrong, it's surface area then airflow dependent. Since the heat exchange happens pretty much in a layer 0.0001" on the surface of the heat conducting material, large volume isn't needed, large surface area is.

Re:What fud

[Khyber]

Actually, not even close. The 680M, while supposedly on par performance with a 580 according to notebookcheck (the physical specs on the cards makes me seriously doubt that given the 680M has roughly double the core count and about 300 gflops higher theoretical performance than the desktop 580) is still quite a top-notch mobile GPU.

Terribly crippled? Physically speaking, the 680M is just a typical desktop 670 chip with lower power consumption.

Re:What fud

[Anonymous Coward]

NO HASWELL!!

Re:What fud

[ColdWetDog]

What are you doing? Commuting from Vancouver to Toronto?

Re:What fud

[Immerman]

surface area + room for airflow along surface = volume.

Certainly creative engineering can arrange for increases in thermal transfer per unit volume, but for a given heat exchanger design thermal transfer actually tends to increase sublinearly with volume. For a car-style blow-through radiator for example heat transfer will tend to increase roughly linearly with face "footprint", and substantially sub-linearly with thickness.

Re:What fud

[Osgeld]

even ailenware is junk, we have a stack of them at work trying to cheap out the precisions, and they do nothing but constantly fail

Re:What fud

[spire3661]

i7s should only be used if you have specific purpose in mind that will leverage the hyperthreading like video encoding etc(not gaming). Otherwise it is just wasted money.

Re:What fud

[spire3661]

A GTX 580 STOMPS all over 1080p, which is a reasonable plateau right now. It will do 1440p no problem too. My 570 is two gens out of date, but it still performs at 1080p flawlessly.

Re:What fud

[spire3661]

You had to hand your computer to someone else to swap the hard drive. For some of us that is unacceptable.

Re:What fud

[buddyglass]

The article original article seemed to suggest that the Dell 27" AIO system represents something "new" in terms of AIO's encroaching on desktop performance levels. That's why I pointed out the 680MX in the iMac. It's not a high-end part when compared to desktop GPUs, but it's superior to the part in the Dell system that was the subject of the article.

Re: What fud

[tverbeek]

Considering that the iMacs have been far and away the best-selling AIOs on the market pretty much since the first iMac was introduced, calling it a "minor exception" seems like a bit of tunnel vision. While they've never been the cutting-edge powerhouses that the Power Mac/Mac Pro have usually been, the iMac line has always included configurations with very respectable "desktop-grade" specs, especially as of the dates when new models are released. (The current line-up is about a year old, which might explain why it seems so "last year".) I know plenty of visual-arts professionals who've used iMacs as their primary work machines for years, a phenomenon that has contributed to the persistent (but evidently incorrect) rumors that Apple was abandoning the Mac Pro line as superfluous.

Re:What fud

[UnknowingFool]

Er? If Ford had a recall on your car, would you complain you had to take it to the dealership and hand it over to them? Even if it was for something that you could do, for Ford (and Apple), they have to ensure that the repair was done.

Re:What fud

[Mashiki]

What are you doing? Commuting from Vancouver to Toronto?

I used to drive from Southern Ontario to Indiana every week, did that for years. My grandparents old van on the other hand they took it from Ontario to Florida every year, plus they'd take trips all over Canada and the US in it. My car was on it's 17th year, and the van will be 20 years old in two months.

Re:What fud

[mysidia]

i7s should only be used if you have specific purpose in mind that will leverage the hyperthreading like video encoding etc

Running some virtual machines would fall into this category.

Re: What fud

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly, when you can geit either 2x Radeon HD8970M in crossfire or Geforce GTX780m in SLI in something as small as a 15.6" laptop not having at least one of them as standard equipment in a 27" AIO system is just moronic.

Re:What fud

[mysidia]

The average person just buys another one anyway when it stops working. If the average components last 3- 5 years by the time you shell out parts you might as well have gotten a new machine anyways.

Yes... if you can swap memory chips and hard drive and fans, without too much trouble: I think for most people, that should be enough.

The problem is of course... mechanical hard drives frequently fail, and so do mechanical fans.

Easy DIMM swapping is necessary for memory upgrades.

6GB of RAM might be great today; in a few years, you need 32GB or 64GB.

Re: What fud

[Anonymous Coward]

You see that because iMacs haven't been refreshed since November, 2012.

Imagine that - "last gen" imacs have "last gen" specs.

Re:What fud

[Anonymous Coward]

Er? If Ford had a recall on your car, would you complain you had to take it to the dealership and hand it over to them? Even if it was for something that you could do, for Ford (and Apple), they have to ensure that the repair was done.

No, because that's a warranty repair, it'd be like Dell putting out a recall for systems where the PSU dies withing 6 months and usually takes out every other component so they decide that it would just be cheaper to put out the recall and replace the PSUs in the affected sysem under warranty then have to deal with the added cost of all of those completely fried systems and their pissed off owners.

Doing your own matenence is stuff like cleaning out the dust bunnies, adding or replacing HDDs/SSDs/optical drives, adding an internal TV tuner or a video card.

The car analogy for that is the basic matenence like changing the fluids, clogged filters, blown lights, worn brakes and bald tires, if you had to take your car to the dealership for those easy and cheap to DIY things or void your warranty would you not be pissed?

Re:What fud

[gman003]

Not really.

I use a 660M. It's basically a desktop 650 with a bit of an underclock. The 670MX is basically an underclocked 660, the 675MX is a 670MX with a wider memory bus, the 680M is basically an underclocked 670, and the 680MX is basically an underclocked 680. Now, these underclocks can be rather significant - 25% in some cases. But with the way clock speeds affect power consumptions, that means you're getting 75% the graphics power for 50% the electrical power. Sounds like a good thing, when it comes to laptops.

  Hell, if you're willing to lug around a massive system and drop a few grand on it, you can get SLI laptops - dual 680MX. That's within spitting distance of a top-of-the-line 690. And that's not even getting into the 7xx series, because those are still coming out.

Re:What fud

[UnknowingFool]

Um the OP said this:

Apple offered to replace my hard drive for free due to some recall a year ago so I did that simply because they offered. That took a day. Big deal. One day out of four years.

Re:What fud

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple offered to replace a four-year-old hard drive with a brand new hard drive free of charge. So it took a few hours? So what? Yes, I could have done the work myself, but why if someone else is offering to do it not only for free, but if they screw it up it's on them?! It's a win-win.

What's the problem?

Re:What fud

[hairyfeet]

Actually they do have jobs where they are fucking awesome, and that is places like garages, construction huts, all those places where the dirt and grime are constantly a part of the landscape. Now in THOSE places? Your regular tower is gonna be choked and the fan dead inside of 6 months, laptops tend to either end up missing or something spilled on them, in that case and ONLY in that case do i recommend an AIO, usually the AMD Bobcat based as not only are they AIO but completely sealed and fanless which is something you really want on a construction site.

As far as repairing them? You don't, like the laptops usually i just pop out the drive and chunk 'em, cost too much and the parts are hell to find. But when you consider that the last construction hut job I got they had gone through THREE desktops in less than 9 months from all the dust and dirt getting sucked into them before someone recommended me and now? That AMD Bobcat AIO has been running over 3 years now, letting them take care of inventory, payroll, pretty much any basic office job you can think of that little Bobcat does and because its an AIO if someone knocks the coffee onto the keyboard they can just chunk it, slap on a new one, and they are back in business.

That is why i love PCs Billy, never discount ANY design of PC because 5 will get you 10 there is at least one place where they work VERY well. In the case of AIO warehouses, factory floors, construction huts, service stations, anyplace where grime and dirt are part of the job a sealed AIO makes a hell of a lot of sense.

Re:What fud

[Anonymous Coward]

I remember when Apple ripped off the all in one "computer in a monitor" design from Compaq.

Re:What fud

[rtb61]

DUDE, noise, you want to hear what's coming out of the speakers not noises coming out of the computer. Greater volume allows slower air velocities even to the point of natural non-fan forced flows. Compact things up and either reduce power or increase noise. All in ones with touch screens are greater for fixing to all kinds of surfaces but you have to compromise on power. No that really doesn't affect gaming because you can only game for extended periods in certain positions. So for me, a customised overbed table and full sized recliner chair, so whether it's laptop or an all in one or a desktop makes no difference, on usability. So desktop becomes the choice for cost efficient power and acceptable noise abatement.

Re:What fud

[Anonymous Coward]

The imac had decent specs for years.

The fact is most pcs sold have value oriented junk as only workstations and alienware bother with nice components. Most enthusiasts and gamers build their systens as a result.

Exactly. iMacs have used full desktop CPUs along with having high-end mobile GPUs (at least as an extra-cost option) for a few years now.

Call me when they start using even the highish-mid-range DESKTOP GPUs...

Re: What fud

[Anonymous Coward]

The iMac has had high-end mobile GPUs available as an extra-cost option for a few years now. You're complaining of "last gen 'mostly' 512 MB configs", yet that's because Apple hasn't updated them yet. This Dell just came out - and it is widely rumored that the iMac will be updated next month.

The current iMac does have available a GeForce GTX 680MX with 2GB of GDDR5. Yes, this is now "last gen", but it's still nothing to scoff at. The new Dell only includes the 2 GB VRAM on its highest-end offering, much like the iMac.

Re:What fud

[Anonymous Coward]

And the Dell still uses laptop GPUs.

Which is exactly the point of the people complaining about this article. Claiming that *THIS* is the sign of "All-In-Ones Finally Grow[ing] Up" is ridiculous.

On top of the Dell having a laptop GPU just like the iMac, the Dell has a laptop CPU, while the iMac has been using an desktop CPU for years.

And the iMac has had SSDs as an optional add-on for years, and SSD caching for over a year now.

Re: What fud

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, and the iMac *HAS* had SSD caching for over a year now - the much better "Fusion Drive" implementation, even.

As for the "seriously strong graphics" of the 750M?

According to NotebookCheck, the 750M is:

Depending on clock speed and memory configuration, the GT 750M performs slightly above the GT 650M or GTX 660M. The fastest models with GDDR5 may even match the GTX 670M.

Oh, look at that, the current iMac offers, as its minimum spec on the 27" model, a GTX 660M. And "may even match" the 670M, while the high-end iMac offers the 675MX, with the 680MX as an option. So sorry, even this new Dell doesn't reach the *LAST GEN* iMac that is about to be replaced with something faster.

Re:What fud

[Anonymous Coward]

" Greater volume allows slower air velocities even to the point of natural non-fan forced flows."

Proper thermal design can force that airflow naturally.

And trust me, I'm running LED panels with far more power (and smaller) than even a quad SLI system. The trick is surface area, which can occupy embarrassingly low volume if given proper design. Then one single fan cooling the entire thing, going roughly 750 RPM. Dead quiet.

Typical temps at the junction, nice 75C.

Re:What fud

[SuricouRaven]

Processor helps with VMs, but the limit on how many you can run is usually RAM. I've never seen a 'regular' desktop PC with more than four slots - at 32GB (That's assuming the board will take 8GB sticks), that's still nowhere near as many VMs as the processor can support.

Servers and workstations tend to have a lot more memory slots. Twelve, usually - three channels, four slots per channel, that's as many as a single processor can support. Any more and you need a dual-processor board.

Re:What fud

[mysidia]

Processor helps with VMs, but the limit on how many you can run is usually RAM.

Hey... you can overcommit RAM; on the kind of VMs likely to run on a desktop; it should be fine, just be sure there is some decent SSD storage with high write durability backing the swap cache :)

Re:What fud

[smash]

More to the point, the iMac has been selling with better spec for about 12 + months. GT675 > GT750. Higher screen res, 128GB SSD cache, 8GB or more of RAM in the 2012 model.

Re:What fud

[PlusFiveTroll]

The Dell AIOs I use are pretty easy to work on. A stand and plastic cover come off the back and the main components like the hard drive are easy to reach.

Re:What fud

[Anonymous Coward]

The imac had decent specs for years.

That may be true but it has no software

Re: What fud

[Quila]

And interestingly released right before the Haswell iMacs are expected to come out.

Re: What fud

[Anonymous Coward]

Whether or not AIO's have gotten better does not change the fact that they are still not at the same level as full sized desktop systems. They may have "grown up" but that means my desktop has been on steroids since it was created.

Now give me some of that Dell monies!

Re: What fud

[metaforest]

this

My 2010 iMac 27" Quad keeps up quite nicely with anything I throw at it.... even running PC games in a VM using pass-thru drivers.

Re:What fud

[metaforest]

I can tell you from personal experience that you don't want to put your paws on the top edge of a 2010 iMac 27" Quad for very long when it is churning out some grunt. The exhaust temp can easily reach 70c It is almost too hot to touch. However, the internal temps are all in the 50c - 65c range. (and yes Virginia, there are a lot of temp sensors in the case.)

Something else I have noticed, as we drift through the Indian Summer here: CPU/GPU performance is being carefully limited when ambient temps do not permit full tilt boogie. Oh, and keeping the vents free of dust-bunnies is MANDITORY, unless you like spontaneous self-protection shutdowns.
(pro-tip: when you get sudden shutdowns like the above, it will act like you killed something. You will need to remove AC and wait ten seconds for the SMC to reset. IF this happens, it is time to see someone about sweeping the dust-bunnies out. The 2009+ iMacs are easier to get into than the earlier ones, but not by much.)

Re:What fud

[metaforest]

The only time I have ever heard a 2008+ iMac take off like a 747 is when I forgot to reseat one of the temp sensor cables -- irrespective of the system load. The SMC will go into a safe mode where it turns the fans up to '11' if a sensor fails to report temps. The fan system, when everything is working to spec, is nearly silent. As in you have to put you head against the screen to hear the fans. The internal HD is slightly more audible but only noticeable when something is hammering it with random accesses for an extended period.... (what is that weird, faint rumble?? Oh it's the computer?! Oh it's the internal HD... What process is hammering on the HD? OH! Spotlight is reindexing... I must be up past bed time :} )

Re:What fud

[dublin]

I quit caring (much) about upgradeability and repairability years ago. By the time I need repairs or upgrades, Moore's law has made them folly. I'm there now - I could upgrade my laptop decently for a few hundred, but for about the same price, I can buy a brand new one that's *much* better (capability, modern I/O, lower power/longer battery life, etc.)

Unless you're a heavy duty gamer or video editor, you don't need more than a mid-range CPU or GPU, anyway - it's better to put the money into more RAM and a big, fast SSD - you'll see far more speed gain for the dollar.

This doesn't just apply to computers - I'm weighing buying a new color laser printer because that's actually a little cheaper (even with full duplex) than refreshing drums and fusers in my old one, even though it's lightly used and this is the first time they've been changed. Economically, it makes sense, but it really rubs me the wrong way to toss out a nearly perfectly good printer that could run for many more years. (It's an Oki, and they're flat bulletproof - if I wait for it to actually break, I'll have it forever...)

Usage Enforcer Time

[__aaltlg1547]

Nothing is "comprised of" anything else. The word you are looking for is composed. An computer comprises components. Components compose or "make up" a computer.

If enough people misuse a word long enough, that becomes the new meaning.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[OzPeter]

Nothing is "comprised of" anything else. The word you are looking for is composed. An computer comprises components. Components compose or "make up" a computer.

If enough people misuse a word long enough, that becomes the new meaning.

Oh, the irony!

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[craigminah]

It seems not spelling words correctly, misusing words, and poor grammar are so common our language will be forever changed. I see this on TV shows, magazines, newspapers, etc. The other day they were talking on a news show about how teachers in a school district won't correct mistakes on student's homework so long as they explain why they answered the way they did. I for one am sick of this culture of "nobody's wrong, we're all right, we're all winners." It's not going to help our society and will destroy us in the long run.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[Anonymous Coward]

You obviously don't know that Shavano is an hero.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not going to help our society and will destroy us in the long run.

Just like it destroyed Old English. Not to be confused with Old Spice.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[Anonymous Coward]

If enough people misuse a word long enough, that becomes the new meaning.

http://www.salon.com/2013/08/22/according_to_the_dictionary_literally_now_also_means_figuratively_newscred/singleton/

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[Antique Geekmeister]

I could care less.

[ I actually agree with you you, careless use of language is the careless use of one of humanity's most powerful tools. But I could not resist the opportunity for such irony.]

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[VortexCortex]

I for one am sick of this culture of "nobody's wrong, we're all right, we're all winners." It's not going to help our society and will destroy us in the long run.

Well, that's a false equivalence. You're conflating the "nobody's wrong" anti-aggression/anti-competition feminist agenda with that of communication protocol tolerance. While I agree that competition and even a bit of aggression are healthy components of society -- indeed boys are falling behind in the new non-competitive environments, and even simply challenging them with "betcha can't do X" causes them to perform better than positive reinforcement; Yet teachers are foolishly fearful of fostering competition... I don't agree that communication tolerance is inherently bad. As with anything, moderation is key.

Ever use a search engine? Of course not, you just type the exact URL to the places you want to go every time... Or maybe not? Maybe you think advancements in natural language processing where the meaning is more important than the precise syntax would be neat, eh? I know I do. In fact, many of my machine learning systems have overcome the minor grammatical and spelling errors -- A great benefit since they can still know what I mean even with a bit of noise in the signal.

You must realize the truth. Language is a shitty lossy compression of your thought patterns. Soon we may have wireless inductive thought protocols for direct mind to mind conversation. In the meantime it's the meaning that matters in the message, not the way its messaged. While even a simple neural network with tiny fraction of your processing power has mastered the meaning extraction and all but eliminated halting due to syntax errors, you sit here balking at minor mistakes like a damned dumb BASIC prompt. You've got a fucking brain, stop wasting it!

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[Anonymous Coward]

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/comprise

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[Anonymous Coward]

A classic example of Muphry's Law.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[hedwards]

You make it sound like this is a new phenomena. The fact that so many people even notice suggests that this is not the case. It's only relatively recently that schools were common enough for people to learn to write; as a result most of the ungrammatical language and spelling errors aren't available for perusal. Then there's folks like Shakespeare that couldn't spell to save their life, and editors of their works have fixed most of the spelling errors and unified the spelling choices a bit.

As for not correcting homework, the point isn't to get the write answer, the point is to learn how to think. If they can give a good argument for why their answer is acceptable, then they deserve the points. Once you get out of school the emphasis turns from correct answers to being able to use information. And doing homework that's written to be easily graded right and wrong does not move students closer to that goal.

It also sounds like you've finally figured out that schools don't operate the way that the real world is. Good for you. Unfortunately, you appear to be the sort that did well in school and is bitter because it doesn't really apply to anything else.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[fast turtle]

I actually agree with the teachers that don't correct mistakes on papers. It's not worth the time for the little pay they actually get especially if the student is able to get their point across correctly.

Does it damage our langauge? No for the simple fact that Anglish (U.S. English) only has a mere 35 sounds and when any of the kids I work with use phonetic spelling, I accept it even though it takes a bit longer for me to parse things.

Why I do this is actually straight forward. By encouraging Phonetic Spelling, I don't have to worry that they've broken some assinine rule of spelling anylonger, making it easier for them to learn the language (I work with folks where English is not their first language - 2nd to 5th for some of them).

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[Mr. Slippery]

Nothing is "comprised of" anything else. The word you are looking for is composed.

"3: compose, constitute

"Usage Discussion of COMPRISE

"Although it has been in use since the late 18th century, sense 3 is still attacked as wrong. Why it has been singled out is not clear, but until comparatively recent times it was found chiefly in scientific or technical writing rather than belles lettres" -- http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/comprise

Sorry, but when usage has been established for over two centuries, it's incorrect to label it incorrect.

(I'd still advice using "composed of" or "made up of" in preference to "comprised of", though. )

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[jones_supa]

Nothing is "comprised of" anything else. The word you are looking for is composed. An computer comprises components. Components compose or "make up" a computer.

If enough people misuse a word long enough, that becomes the new meaning.

I could care less! :P

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[Ian A. Shill]

You's trollin.

As for not correcting homework, the point isn't to get the write answer, the point is to learn how to think.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[Immerman]

Honestly I don't really have a problem with spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors; provided they don't interfere with comprehension. Even misuse of homonyms rarely clouds clarity, though it may be slightly jarring.

But when people start using a word to refer to something unrelated, or minimally related, then that's something well worth pointing out. For two reasons:
1) if it's an honest mistake then you are improving their vocabulary, and with it their ability to communicate clearly within the applicable concept-space
2) if the misuse becomes common then the concept-space itself is lessened by the loss/declarification of the original word, reducing everybody's ability to communicate clearly.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[BeerCat]

I could care less.

[ I actually agree with you you, careless use of language is the careless use of one of humanity's most powerful tools. But I could not resist the opportunity for such irony.]

So, with "I could care less", are you being "ironic" or "careless"?

(If you could care less, then why don't you? On the other hand, if you couldn't care less, then the amount of care has reached a pretty low limit)

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[Anonymous Coward]

You're conflating the "nobody's wrong" anti-aggression/anti-competition feminist agenda with that of communication protocol tolerance.

And just why do you find it so hard to get along with girls?

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[Anonymous Coward]

Your a moron.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[Half-pint HAL]

There are no assinine rules of English spelling... because there are no rules to English spelling. The Oxford crew built up a dictionary of observed spellings, not attempting to impose any order, then suddenly everyone took them as canonical. Before the OED, there was no standardised orthography, but most writers were at least internally consistent -- the OED inadvertently broke the language fundamentally by describing a hodge-podge of different and inconsistent regional and personal styles.

I'd love to see a genuinely consistent English orthography evolve, but most people who propose attempting it impose a particular dialectal model...

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[__aaltlg1547]

I guess you like having it both ways.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[__aaltlg1547]

Using the wrong word should be corrected if it changes the meaning (such as comprise versus compose), even if you don't deduct points for it. That's how people learn what words mean. If you don't correct mistakes, those who do not know will define what words mean and the ability to understand the older meanings will be more quickly lost. In an English class, correct writing is always part of the subject matter, so every mistake should be noted.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[Khyber]

"I guess you like having it both ways."

I know your mom does.

Also, she said quit arguing with 200+ years of usage of 'comprised' as it's been used from legal settings to science. Try again once you've graduated high school, child.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[__aaltlg1547]

I don't think a consistent orthography could evolve for English. I think it could only come from authority. Each dialect of English has more distinct phonemes than Latin. Also, not all dialects have the same phonemes and they don't use the same phonemes in the same words even if they have them. For example, compare the Received Pronunciation of "bath" to what they say in Tennessee.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[__aaltlg1547]

I doubt you would comprehend.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[__aaltlg1547]

Search engines are pretty damned primitive when it comes to processing language. They search for the exact words rather than leveraging their meanings and oftentimes rank (self-fulfillingly) popular pages ahead of exact lexical matches for what the user typed.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[__aaltlg1547]

I literally peed my pants when I read that. When a word is taken to mean one thing and its opposite, it literally conveys no meaning at all. That's my objection to the deprecated sense of "comprise." It's too close to the opposite of the primary meaning.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[ColdWetDog]

For example, compare the Received Pronunciation of "bath" to what they say in Tennessee.

Crick? i.e, "He warshed himself in the crick."

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[ColdWetDog]

No he ain't. He be all ironical.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[bidule]

There are no assinine rules of English spelling... because there are no rules to English spelling.

I defiantly agree with you. In principal, bad spelling could effect understanding. But as long as you reed it out loud, the sounds recapture there meaning. If the Japanese can hubble with wards such as kurisumasu, so can we.

j/k

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[Anonymous Coward]

Nothing is "comprised of" anything else. The word you are looking for is composed. An computer comprises components. Components compose or "make up" a computer.

If enough people misuse a word long enough, that becomes the new meaning.

Oh, the irony!

I literally get this.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[webnut77]

2) if the misuse becomes common then the concept-space itself is lessened by the loss/declarification of the original word, reducing everybody's ability to communicate clearly.

This! This is so true with 'AS' people. "Please listen carefully AS our menus have recently changed". Whatever happen to 'since' and 'because'? 'AS' means everything nowadays.
"AS I'm doing my homework, I listen to music". What wrong with the word 'while'?

The same holds true for the 'myself' people. "Myself and Bob went to town." What's up with that?
</RANT>

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[Anonymous Coward]

That's because in the US, we don't pay our teachers shit and treat them like garbage. I wouldn't give two shits either.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[Anonymous Coward]

Just like it destroyed Old English

Thou showedst him the correct way to be writing!

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[craigminah]

Or "you're" a moron...I promise never to make another grammatical or spelling correction on /. but you picked the wrong thread to make your mistake in.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[Anonymous Coward]

Whoosh!

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[omfgnosis]

If you don't correct mistakes, those who do not know will define what words mean and the ability to understand the older meanings will be more quickly lost.

I could care less. Literally.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[omfgnosis]

Wush!

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[omfgnosis]

None of those examples reduce anyone's ability to communicate clearly. Except possibly yours, as myself may have missed your point.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[Anonymous Coward]

He's an idiot who doesn't know the difference between "could care less" and "couldn't care less". Anyone who claims that they were being ironic when they say the former is just backpedaling, trying to cover up their own idiocy.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[mrchaotica]

I'm sure all the folks who work at ORNL are thrilled with your stereotype.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[__aaltlg1547]

If you don't correct mistakes, those who do not know will define what words mean and the ability to understand the older meanings will be more quickly lost.

I could care less. Literally.

Quod erat demonstrandum.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[omfgnosis]

What remains to be demonstrated is the actual harm done by this evolution of language, without begging the question.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[Antique Geekmeister]

> So, with "I could care less", are you being "ironic" or "careless"?

Yes.

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[phorm]

Phonetic spelling fails in some ways because various words that sound very close (or the same) have different meanings.
Which witch is which, and all that.

For a more amusing example, see here

Re:Usage Enforcer Time

[cundare]

Hardly, smart ass.

See, e.g., dictionary.com, defining "be comprised of" as an acceptable, albeit idiomatic, synonym for "be composed of," stating: "be comprised of, to consist of; be composed of: The sales network is comprised of independent outlets and chain stores."

I speak as a former journalist when I say that a language Nazi who can't even scold with authority is a sad creature indeed.

Do you remember the first All-In-Ones?

[jabberw0k]

They were every bit as full-featured as component systems. I'm thinking the Intertec Superbrain or my personal favorite, the Heathkit H89. Writing Heathkit software put me through college in the 1980s.

Re:Do you remember the first All-In-Ones?

[Anonymous Coward]

Thank you, I needed this old /. flavor. I figured everybody had left or been promoted to cdouche.

Advertisement

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess that lab full of 2 year old existing Dell AOIs we have running liquid dynamics simulation software with tons of RAM and high-end Core i7s is just my imagination. This is a Dell advertisement in disguise under the cover of linking to a third party review. Products like this come out every week, why aren't they here? They're just as relevant as this thing.

Still using mobile components

[cbope]

And yet, the Dell still has a mobile GPU.

iMac?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is this an ad? The iMac from last year has specs that blow this dell out of the water.

Re:iMac?

[jones_supa]

But the Dell offers better value.

Re: iMac?

[Anonymous Coward]

No. A cheap dog turd is still a dog turd. Even cheap stuff costs money and can be too expensive. Why waste good money on a Dell turd when for most so much more you could get a much nicer machine that will be a pleasure for years. Initial costs are not the prime reason if something offers value. Quite the opposite. TCO and satisfaction are much more important.

Finally All-in-Ones do have CPU's

[Anonymous Coward]

... that's how I read the title :)

nice Dell advertisement...

[Anonymous Coward]

but I can afford a Mac, thanks.

Re:nice Dell advertisement...

[v1]

"I can't afford" != "isn't available"

Maybe the article should be change to more of a "finally the last of the PC market catches up with Apple for AIO desktop specs".

(if this was a Dell advertisement, it would appear that their marketing department is taking inspiration from their engineering department)

Re:nice Dell advertisement...

[drinkypoo]

if this was a Dell advertisement, it would appear that their marketing department is taking inspiration from their engineering department

Isn't that how it's supposed to work? The problem is that they're supposed to be insipred by engineering's products, not their incomptence.

Re:nice Dell advertisement...

[v1]

more of a "their marketers are living as far in the past as their engineers". Not exactly a good place to find inspiration.

Best buys?

[__aaltlg1547]

The submission and linked "story" read like ad copy from Dell. That said, all in ones and midrange laptops have long been best buys in the computing world because all the peripherals that you would otherwise have to pay extra for (and cable to your PC) are built in. It's been the case for years that high-end graphics cards are only worth the money for gamers, video composers, crackers and more recently, gene sequencers.

Re:"that was competitive WITH"

[craigminah]

At least we're not stupid and stinky...

The Power of a Midrange Desktop PC

[ItMustBeEsoteric]

For only $2100. What a steal!

Re:The Power of a Midrange Desktop PC

[SpzToid]

That price *includes* Windows 8 Pro, 64 bit. It really is an all-in-one, unless you use linux; in which case you might as well build your own from parts that will last longer than this sum total unit.

Re:The Power of a Midrange Desktop PC

[Antique Geekmeister]

With the limited use of Linux for high end graphical tasks, such as gaming, CAD, or Microsoft's locked in tools such as Outlook, it usually makes more sense to run the Windows host as a Windows host directly and run up to half a dozen independent Linux virtual machines on the same host. The well defined virtual environment insulates the desktop or laptop owner from the difficulties of resolving driver issues with whatever chips were added at the last minute, especially if running legacy Linux environments with older kernels for testing or development.

My Macintosh using colleagues and I find leaving the host OS alone, and popping up Linux VM's as needed, to be extremely effective.

Re:The Power of a Midrange Desktop PC

[h4rr4r]

You're doing it wrong. Run KVM and let windows be a guest. You can even let it have access to the video card.

Re:The Power of a Midrange Desktop PC

[omfgnosis]

To be fair, the display is probably 1/3 to 1/2 the price.

Re:The Power of a Midrange Desktop PC

[ShakaUVM]

>For only $2100. What a steal!

Yeah, for that price I could build a much, much better rig.

Re:The Power of a Midrange Desktop PC

[Caedite Eos]

And I'll buy it from you. So, go ahead build me a AIO that looks as good as that Dell, and is a "much better rig", and I'll pay you the $2100.

Re:The Power of a Midrange Desktop PC

[Antique Geekmeister]

No, I'm afraid that the changing chipsets on many desktop environments make this infeasible. "Suspend" functions, BIOS update tools, multi-monitor setups, and high end graphics still usually run better on Windows (or on MacOS) directly on the hardware. And the virtualization of Windows specific tools like MS Outlook or the VMware management tools or many CAD tools or many higher graphics games is seriously hampered by virtualization.

Linux, conversely, behavior much better in virtualization, so it should normally be used as the virtualizaiton client.

Re:The Power of a Midrange Desktop PC

[ShakaUVM]

I said a desktop, not a retarded-looking all in one.

Not a story.

[redback]

This is an advert.

Re:Not a story.

[Princeofcups]

This is an advert.

The real question is, was Timothy told to put the story up by his bosses, i.e. Slashdot is consciously trying to stick in advertising, or he he JUST THAT STUPID.

At last

[Intrepid imaginaut]

When the hero shoots out the bad guy's monitors and the computers stop working, it will make sense.

Re:At last

[Provocateur]

And the villain is out $2100 at least

Who buys this crap?

[Anonymous Coward]

For 2100 dollars you get a laptop that isn't portable which can almost play a game as well as an entry level machine of years ago? It's video card is around the perfomance of a 5770... why not spend a grand on a gaming machine and a grand on a nice portable laptop/tablet and have the best of both worlds?

If I use the Disable Advertising button...

[Nova Express]

...will this "story" go away?

Toss in a battery

[unixisc]

I use an all-in-one. I'm quite happy w/ it - it's connected via an UPS, which also powers my router, as well as USB powered toys, like my phone, my iPod and other's. It has 6 USB slots - 4 behind (all used) and 2 extra on the side.

I just wish they'd toss in an optional battery. That way, in the event of power outages (during storms), it would do a better job, while the UPS could be dedicated to the router. No, it won't be portable, but it does save one from losing one's work if one is in the middle of something.

Re:Toss in a battery

[Lumpy]

They do, it's called the small ups under the desk.
I'd rather use that than a built in battery any day.

Re:Toss in a battery

[unixisc]

I do have that, but it has to be bought separately, and can be needed for other things, such as the router.

Glossy touchscreen? No VESA mount?

[Ptur]

No thanks...

Eliminates clutter

[sk999]

I bought an HP all-in-one a few years ago to replace a traditional floor tower, monitor and external speakers. With most things being built in, plus the integrated wireless, I eliminated 10 cables, 2 external boxes, and one power brick. A full-featured laptop could also have worked, but it is nice to have the big screen, and I leave it on all the time anyway.

Re: Eliminates clutter

[mspohr]

... Or you could just plug your laptop into an external monitor.

Re: Eliminates clutter

[mspohr]

Your computer will be obsolete a long time before the expensive built in monitor but you'll have to trash them both together.

Re: Eliminates clutter

[Anonymous Coward]

Not with the Dell ones, there is NO external monitor port.

Re:Eliminates clutter

[Anonymous Coward]

exchange smaller size and less clutter for a nightmare if hardware breaks out of warranty or if you later need to upgrade something.. even simple things like memory or hard drive can be a total pita to access.

all in ones are disposable pieces of shit barely acceptable in certain niche markets (e.g. a small secretary or reception desk). laptops same way. and if you use a laptop like a desktop (i.e. never leave home, always used at desk).. then buy a regular desktop tower.. you'll be glad you did

Re:Eliminates clutter

[Smauler]

10 cables? I've got a grand total of 5 coming out of my desktop : Power, DVI/HDMI, RJ45, mouse, keyboard. I have in the past dropped that to 4 when I got rid of the wired network and used wireless, but I like the speed of a wired network generally. My monitor has a power cable too, I guess...

It's a friggin' laptop

[garyoa1]

The AI1's are essentially a laptop with a stand and no cover. Have fun upgrading it or fixing it when there's an internal problem. Twice the money for half the computer. Sounds like an idea Apple would come up with. Oh... wait...

Re:It's a friggin' laptop

[confused one]

The components in the Dell Inspiron One's and XPS all in one are modular. The dissassembly instructions are pretty straight forward, much simpler than a laptop. Other than the mainboard, most of the accessory components are standard off the shelf parts. The processor is socketed. standard memory modules and hard disk. I bought one for my wife; and, I wouldn't have considered it, if I thought it might end up scrapped one day for failure of something as simple as a fan.

Re:It's a friggin' laptop

[garyoa1]

Could be. But then you haven't torn down an Imac It's brutal. And they use glue and essentially duct tape to hold it together.

What a load of

[Anonymous Coward]

...horse manure. You could find similar specs in laptops going back 6-8 months (roughly when i put mine together and was looking at all the options), apart from the screen of course. On top of that, calling the achievement of matching the output of mid range PCs is meaningless and sure as hell doesn't mean that they've grown up. Unless they are ~10% off the pace/benchmarks, it is pretty much the same as it always has been. And I don't mean 10% difference from overclocked beasts, that would be quite and achievement.

Tablet PCs are Better

[MatthiasF]

I like the idea of an all-in-one computer, but making them look like a monitor (with a stand and such) is a waste of the form factor.

Units that are designed to resemble tablets, with no stand or a retractable stand, can be used in more variety than units like this Dell be advertised by the article.

Take a look at Lenovo's Horizon 27 inch or Sony's Vaio Tap 20.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ideacentre-horizon-27-review-all-in-one,3564.html

http://store.sony.com/p/Sony-Desktop,-20-inch,-Tap-20,-VAIO-Touch,-VAIO-Desktop,-Core-i5,-Windows-8,-3rd-gen-Intel,-touch-display,-all-in-one,-touchscreen/en/p/SVJ20217CXW

Both can be laid flat, the Lenovo unit can be angled well by it's strong spring stand from 90 degrees down to 5 degrees of the desk making it comfortable to lean over and use to draw. It also comes with a suite of games that can be played while it's flat, from board games to billiards or air hockey.

I think all-in-ones should be going this direction. The instances where they will be used typically in this form factor will not require their screen site to get larger and their performance is easily enough to handle almost anything typical these days, so the disadvantage of not being able upgrade individual pieces of the hardware (screen or internals) is moot.

Re:Tablet PCs are Better

[msobkow]

A friend of mine bought one of the Sony's recently. She loves it.

Though I couldn't resist teasing her that she must have gained a lot of weight to have a lap big enough for it to rest on (she's 5' zip.)

Missing devices.anyone ?

[hebertrich]

Key to the old tower is we can add to it.TV tuner card , expansions of all kinds , decent sound cards etc, Expansion and space in the case for other devices ( IDE cards and old drives , drive trays etc There's a lot of things we can do with a tower we can't with all in ones. For the amateur it may be ok , but for the serious computer enthusiast all in ones are too limited to be considered a suitable platform.

Re:Missing devices.anyone ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Key to the old tower is we can add to it.TV tuner card , expansions of all kinds , decent sound cards etc, Expansion and space in the case for other devices ( IDE cards and old drives , drive trays etc There's a lot of things we can do with a tower we can't with all in ones. For the amateur it may be ok , but for the serious computer enthusiast all in ones are too limited to be considered a suitable platform.

Your comment would make sense if not for the fact that amateurs outnumber serious computer enthusiasts by a large margin.

Re:Missing devices.anyone ?

[Anonymous Coward]

AIO's fill a specific niche. It has nothing to do with how serious of an enthusiast someone is or whether or not someone is an amateur user. That's a very limited way to look at things. They aren't for people that want to expand and upgrade components extensively, or fill up with every type of device under the sun. They're for people and businesses that want systems that have a small footprint, to be used as shared systems among students or family members, for location specific uses similar in a sense to a kiosk.
They're more for people that use the system as more of a tool than a toy.

Re:Missing devices.anyone ?

[Anonymous Coward]

actually professionals just need to get work done they don't care about bullshit like tv tuner cards and decade old legacy drives...but that stuff is fun for hobbyists aka amateurs.

Re:Missing devices.anyone ?

[Anonymous Coward]

And because criminals outnumber law-abiding citizens in certain areas we should just do away with laws in general?

Re:Missing devices.anyone ?

[confused one]

That will always be true for enthusiasts. And not just in the IT industry (car analogy coming...) People like old cars. Why? Because they're easier to modify and tinker with.

So dell caught up finally.

[Lumpy]

Imac's have been way ahead of dell for years in the "all in one" design world. So now Dell finally stopped making low grade garbage all in ones?

Here is to hoping they used the right parts so I can hackintosh it. Oh wait, they cost as much as an iMac.... Ahhh...

Silly advertisement

[lw54]

This isn't news. SlashAdvertorials will continue until we stand up and embarrass the products enough the advertisers tell the editors to stop this stealth nonsense.

Does it support a 2nd touchscreen monitor?

[Anonymous Coward]

Can this drive a 2nd touchscreen monitor? At what res?

HAY!

[Anonymous Coward]

My 13.3" 1080p notebook beats that by a coupla miles, 4800MQ/765m... ...and then there's my beastly 15.6" notebook 4800MQ/780m(gives my desktop 670 a run for it's money)... ...and well my desktop squats on it...

seriously gaming with a 750?! and it's probably really a 750m which is to say pretty crap...

AIOs are pretty silly except for casual users in which they'd be MUCH better served with a net/ultrabook......

750m?

[Meeni]

When did the 750m became a solid performer exactly? It's a piece of junk that's just good to run Aero, just like any of its predecessors in the mobile GPU arena, where only the top line is a mediocre performer matching the "mid-range" desktop GPU.

So, nothing changed, really.

Commodore 64 was better!

[Anonymous Coward]

Computer in a display.... what a dump idea!

iMac not underpowered - this is just a DELL advert

[Anonymous Coward]

Hardly. My 27" iMac is over a year old, has an Intel Core i7 CPU with 4 cores, 8 if you include hyper-threading, 16GB of RAM, 2TB HDD right from the factory. I've had 27" Thunderbolt displays and SSDs connected up for ages. Sounds like Dell finally caught up.

HP, Acer and other AIO PCs have been junk for a long time.

1080p on a 27" monitor?

[Anonymous Coward]

Whats the point if the res is so low. If you want an 27" all-in-one just get a iMac ffs. Otherwise get a high res 27" monitor and strap something small / mac mini to the back.

Re:1080p on a 27" monitor?

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually just followed the link, the res is actually 2560”x1440”. You should update your post/spam article.

Not only that

[dutchwhizzman]

It's an advert for a low spec computer presented as if it was high spec. 32G of flash storage? Come on, my phone has more than that. 27" and only 1080p? That's a 22" resolution, at 27" you'd expect it to be 2600*1600 or something equivalent. 8G ram? Try running anything "high spec" with that.

But they still aren't selling

[scottbomb]

With some things, they just never learn. And sadly, this march is being led by Microsoft and the OEMs are beholden to their power. We had touchscreen in the 80s. Nobody wanted it then either.

Slashvertisement

[neonmonk]

This is BLATANT paid for advertising, especially with the ridiculous title. All in ones finally grow up?

Thing is, do they really think there are Slashdot readers that give a flying fuck about this underwhelming PC.

widescreen monitor

[Anonymous Coward]

kinda off topic but i must be the only person who draws 2D and 3D graphics on a 17 (4:3) inch monitor. Using Gimp, Daz Studio and Vue is kinda a pain. oh yeah, i still use a CPU equivalent to a 2 GHz Pentium 4. need to buy a whole new computer with windows 8 too. i'll need to buy a widescreen monitor. not sure if i would play games on a widescreen monitor though. too much information overload for me. guess i'm the opposite of some people. lol

Re:widescreen monitor

[Anonymous Coward]

oh yeah, forgot to mention that the graphics card is like Nvidia Geforce 210. that's old by today's standard. still amazed that I can use some OpenGL and direct x programs. Second Life is slow though. need dual cores or better.

only new games that I can play with Nvidia Geforce 210 with decent graphics is World of Warcraft. Rift, Linage II, Tera, Neverwinter Online run at like 10 FPS. lol Even Everquest 2 runs slower than WoW on medium graphics. don't get me with Planetside or Starwars, the Old republic. what was I thinking. lemme run a game with really fancy graphics on a 500 MHz video card with 512 MB of DDR 3 ram at 1024 x 768 pixels.

ok, that's enough about me. but yeah, now i know why gamers upgrade their computers every other year.

Not an ad, please read in context

[MojoKid]

Also, I noted the Dell machine as "an example" of more powerful configs that are coming to AIOs now. Apple's line of iMac have definitely been better in terms of higher-end components over the years. I could have also cited HP's new Z1 - http://hothardware.com/Reviews/HP-Z1-27inch-AIO-Workstation-Review/ - which has an Intel Xeon processor and NVIDIA Quadro pro graphics engine under the hood but again these are new machines and the point was, as tech has marched on, the all-in-one has gotten much more capable from a performance standpoint.

Jobs laughing in grave

[2ms]

So, in the end, basically all computers are iMacs, Macbook Airs, iPads, or iPhones now (some made by Apple and others not).

Re:Jobs laughing in grave

[Anonymous Coward]

He's laughing because you believe he pioneered any one of those. Apple made them easier to use and prettier, though less powerful. And he tacked on $500-1500 for that. Now you can get it with windows and android for regular price with faster performance.

It's a troll story.

[aliquis]

Haven't the imacs always come with low and mid-range graphics cards?

Current spec:
GT 540M 512MB
GT 650M 512MB
GTX 660M 512MB
GTX 675MX 1GB
GTX 680MX 2GB

Maybe this one didn't had the mobile parts? For regular cards I doubt 675 and 680 would be slower than 760.

Seem like Apple like they always do cripple the machines on purpose to make them stink and force you to upgrade at inflated prices though. 512MB VRAM? Why? The 660M is even in a 27" machine which I suppose is QHD? 512MB likely limit your gaming abilities in 2560x1440 quite a bit.

What does "all-in-one" dribble actually mean?

[Anonymous Coward]

An Android or iOS SoC ARM part has the RIGHT to be called "all in one". In one 'chip' we have the CPU cores, the GPU cores, the dedicated hardware blocks for things like sound and image compression, and the myriad of buses and interfaces.

With respect to the traditional PC, this term is marketing dribble. PCs, from the biggest cases to the most compact, are "all-in-one" by the definition of 'full' computing ability. No current ARM like x86 SoC design is anywhere worth using on the desktop. The best APU parts from AMD (Richland) still need to sit on a fairly substantial motherboard. Obviously, it goes without saying that you can build a desktop PC using the best laptop mini-circuit boards, and make a very compact system, but the cost boost usually negates the advantage of size.

FAR, far far better for Google to release a desktop version of Android with a proper standard 'window' system and shell, and allow the new generation of cheap, small, desktop PCs to be based on ARM SoC parts. Apparently the new Tegra 5 (Nvidia in 2014) has the GPU performance of an Xbox360 (weak in current gaming PC terms, but still very impressive for an ARM SoC), and would make for a stonking "all-in-one" PC.

In the meantime, I think we are all free to ignore the Dell ads.

Modularity

[Anonymous Coward]

The only real problem I have with all in ones is a lack of modularity. From what I've seen the part of an all in one that is most likely to die first is the monitor. At least the Dell ones have no external monitor port so this renders the entire machine useless.

Still a ripoff

[bobjr94]

The video performance is slightly less than something like a radeon 7750, 89$ on newegg. You could maybe buy 3 desktops like this for that price. But with in AIO you stuck with that level of performance forever. And most all in one's support dual monitors. Not a serious machine.

great hardware, old OS

[Anonymous Coward]

i think the next "problem" will be (if it ain't already)
the multi-tasking and scheduling code in the windblows operating system.
with CPU going this fast and the hardware/cpu figuring out right smartly
what and where to run, the new bottle neck is the ivory tower of layer upon layers
of "crap" that make up the windows operating system : P
example: the game you can buy on steam runs PURfect, but due to some
crap OS scheduling, everytime the steam client polls the network for new friends coming
on line (so you can send invite to join) the game stutters ...

I made my own

[Anonymous Coward]

http://imgur.com/unu0ROc

  It's an ergotron neo-flex with a mini-tower and a vesa-compatible monitor on the front. It's a computer that I can put away every day.

I used to have gaming laptops for this purpose, but I got tired of them dying heat deaths. I can upgrade the monitor and processing parts separately, and use whatever peripherals I want.

I built my own

[spikesahead]

http://imgur.com/unu0ROc

It's an ergotron neo-flex with a mini-tower and a vesa-compatible monitor on the front. It's a computer that I can put away every day.

I used to have gaming laptops for this purpose, but I got tired of them dying heat deaths. I can upgrade the monitor and processing parts separately, and use whatever peripherals I want.

Hole betwen Mac mini and Mac Pro

[tepples]

iMacs have been far and away the best-selling AIOs on the market

You need a Mac to develop iOS applications or to test web sites in the latest version of Safari, and Apple has made a business decision to leave a huge hole in its desktop lineup between Mac mini and Mac Pro. How much of iMac's sales are due to this?

pretty much since the first iMac was introduced

Since Apple sued eMachines over the eOne's trade dress infringement, other PC makers haven't really tried AIO until Windows 8 brought an expectation of multitouch input to desktop operating systems.

Re:Hole betwen Mac mini and Mac Pro

[Anonymous Coward]

How much of iMac's sales are due to this?

Very few. if the only reason you were buying a mac was "to develop ios or mac os applications," chances are you'd go with a mini + kvm switch (or headless mini with vnc). It's cheaper, it's plenty powerful for running xcode & associated tools, and you don't need all the other "stuff" if you've got an existing monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. etc. - you'll save space, and money. The "huge hole" you seem to think exists is largely covered by the mini if you don't need the kvm stuff.

other PC makers haven't really tried AIO until Windows 8 brought an expectation of multitouch input to desktop operating systems.

Funny, in Mojokid's response, he asserted that, "And we've seen AIOs from many manufacturers for years, which couldn't get out of their own way, in terms of what power users need performance-wise. iMac are a minor exception."

So... iMacs are a minor exception to all of the the poorly-performing AIO PCs "from many manufacturers" over the years, but then you claim there haven't been any AIO PCs over the years, since Apple killed competition by suing somebody for making a complete ripoff of the iMac. This would mean they're the only real AIO game in town until recently, and they've had good performance, giving the lie to the "AIO's have never performed well" claim?

Jesus, you fucks really will tie yourself in knots before you admit that Apple has ever done anything well.

Re:Hole betwen Mac mini and Mac Pro

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, bull pucky. Other PC makers, from HP to Dell to Gateway have *repeatedly* tried to build and sell All-In-One PCs since Win2K and WinME were current. They cut even more corners on performance than the iMacs they were competing against, and still cost as much (or more) than those iMacs. As a result, they didn't sell very well.

Cable clutter

[tepples]

Set the monitor on top of the CPU and attach clips.

Can the monitor draw power from the computer, or vice versa? And can the monitor send multitouch coordinates back to the computer? The big selling point of the original iMac was less cable clutter.

Hah

[Anonymous Coward]

Im of the opinion that a gaming pc should have the carbon foot print of a small coal power plant. and put off about as much heat too.
which is why i build my own.

instead of the energy star logos i would like to see an energy hog association complete with yellow masked piggie on bootup

fire timothy please

[Anonymous Coward]

... and performance in the benchmarks that keeps pace with average midrange full-sized desktops

if there isn't a single midrange full-sized desktop used for comparison in the benchmarks, how can you possibly say it keeps pace with them?
oh that's right. this is just an advertisement. linking on the phrase "keeps pace" is true enough as it beats the other AIOs it was compared against

AIO obsolescence

[chromeronin799]

The biggest problem with these all in ones is that the pcs inside become obsolete well before the screen does. Most of my monitors have survived several pcs each. So I stick with Mac minis hoping that someday apple might just stick the brains of an iMac into amino chassis

Re:AIO obsolescence

[msobkow]

While that's true, the AIO units aren't really targetted at hard-core gamers. They're marketted at people like my folks, who just wanted a nice machine that didn't take up a lot of space. Realistically, the HP they got is serious overkill for their needs -- quad core CPU, multiple gigs of RAM (I forget how much), 1TB HDD, decent graphics, nice quality built in sound -- all so they can surf the net, play the occasional YouTube, and read their email.

Even the grandkids don't really game on the system, unless you want to count web games as "gaming".

This machine should last them until they die in another 20 years or so, unless it has a hardware failure.

Re: AIO obsolescence

[KevReedUK]

20 year lifespan, you say? What's the guarantee you won't be over a barrel needing to upgrade something in it due to an OS upgrade, forced by the software vendor EoLing the existing one, in less than half that timescale?

Re: AIO obsolescence

[badkarmadayaccount]

CentOS

This has no business on the front page.

[bloggerhater]

NT

I need all-in-one case, not complete computer

[burbilog]

I wonder why they don't make such thing like a monitor-case with power supply and room for regular mini-itx motherboard and few horizontal extension slots. That's something that I would buy on spot, immediately. It's good to eliminate cables (that's reason #1 why non-tech people buy notebooks, not because of portability), but buying all-in-one or notebook takes away almost all possibilities of upgrade. Universal monitor-case could solve this problem.

Re:"that was competitive WITH"

[omfgnosis]

Speak for yourself!

Goodbye

[Myopic]

Last post as this user

Hardware performance is off the charts.

[intermodal]

We're at one of those plateaus where pretty much any new system, provided you give it sufficient disk space and RAM, will do just fine for almost any average user. In terms of raw numbers, (ignoring screen dimensions and the difference between ARM and AMD64), the only significant difference in specs between my laptop and a Galaxy S4 are the keyboard, hard drive space, optical drive, and RAM quantity. Both have quad-core processors in similar clock speeds, both have wireless internet capabilities, both have full-HD output capabilities, quality sound output, and the Galaxy still wins on battery life.