No room under the desk? Fight back
against computer towers and clunky monitors with an elegant all-in-one.
What’s new?
The battle for desktop PC supremacy has
moved up a level with the release of Apple’s super-slim new iMacs and a host of
touch-friendly Windows 8 machines. So which all-in-one is also a do-it-all?
What we tested…
Lenovo IdeaCentre A720
Price: $2,100
This 27in all-in-one folds flat for
multi-user touch interaction, meaning it could be the PC you actually put on
your coffee table, if you have a big coffee table.
Sony Vaio Tap 20
Price: $1,500
Sony has taken the unorthodox approach with
this battery-toting 20in desktop. Or is it a 20in tablet for very strong geeks?
Turns out it’s both, actually.
Acer Aspire 7600U
Price: $2,100
The Aspire is a full featured all-in-one
that also happens to look damn good. But with only a core i5 processor inside
it, does it pack enough power?
Apple iMac 21.5in
Price: $2,115
Always a crowd pleaser, the new iMac is
even skinnier and more design-ier than ever. It’s not cheap for a 21-incher
though. Quelle surprise.
HP Spectre One
Price: $1,800
HP’s elegant effort proves that Windows
machines can be just as pretty as their Mac rivals but is there substance beneath
that chic exterior?
What to look for
Touchscreen
Still to appear on Macs, a touchscreen can
make games, photos and OS navigation easier or perhaps just be a gimmick.
Longevity
Although it might suit your needs today,
remember to think about tomorrow. Picking up a more powerful machine now may be
more cost-effective in the long run.
Connectivity
These all-in-ones are slim, compact… and
stingy with the ports. If you’ll need peripherals, wired printing or extra
storage, check what’s on offer before buying.
Optical drive
Blu-ray drives are plentiful in most
all-in-ones, but some have gone down the route of skipping the drive to save
space. Ask yourself how often you use discs.
Jargon Buster
10-point multi-touch
Touchscreens are getting popular, now they’ve
got direct support in Windows 8. Ten-point systems mean 10 fingers can be
detected at a time. Any more would be silly.
DVB-T tuner
The European TV broadcast standard, which
will deliver Freeview TV straight to your computer. Useful if your all-in-one
is primarily for media.
Thunderbolt
Apple championed this data interface which
allows incredibly fast transfer speeds (10Gb/s). Great for external storage
media transfer but compatible equipment is still hard to find.
Fusion Drive
Apple’s hard drive tech which combines a
regular HDD with 128GB of flash storage, the system moves more frequently
accessed files and apps to the SSD for faster response times.
Lenovo IdeaCentre A720
Price: $2,100
Ever wished your PC was a little more
table-like? Then the A720 may be the one for you – its 27in screen can be
tilted until it lies flat.
Weird? a little. But it makes sense when
you consider the A720’s 10-point multi-touch and 1080p screen. After all,
getting that slab of glass all smeary with fingerprints is what Windows 8 is
meant to be about. That said, it’s not the best screen here: 1080p on a 27in
screen gives a below-par 82ppi, and colors are also a bit muted.
The
Lenovo comes with a Freeview tuner if you want to make more of that HD display
or even make it your main TV.
There’s more to this machine than a
reclining screen, though. Like most of its rivals here, it uses a mobile
version of the Intel CPU, but in this case it’s a quad-core i7 chip, which gives
it more power than anything but the iMac. It’s pretty well specced elsewhere
too, with the usual connectors liberally clustered around the base - leaving
the screen mercifully free of dangly entanglements. An HDMI input is especially
useful if you’re thinking of using it as a movie machine, as is the Blu-ray
drive (obviously).
Lenovo has also bundled a few musical and
gaming apps to show it all off, and a basic keyboard/mouse combo is included in
case you need to do something constructive. It’s not quite perfect, but this is
the best Win 8 desktop we’ve tested.
The
Lenovo comes with a Freeview tuner if you want to make more of that HD displayer
even make it your main TV.
Like
everything else, the speakers are in the base and do a reasonable job unless
they get blocked by all your desk clutter.
Just drive
The Blu-ray drive sits neatly in the base
of the stand, where it’s easily accessible unless, of course, you’ve got the
computer folded flat on top of itself.
Game on
HDMI inputs allow you to hook up your games
console, AV system or perhaps even a laptop to share your Lenovo’s screen. How
friendly.
Tech Specs
·
Display 27in, 1920x1080 10-point multi-touch
·
CPU Quad-core Intel Core i5-3630QM @ 2.8GHz
·
GPU GeForce GT 630M
·
Storage 1TB, 8GB RAM
·
Optical drive Blu-ray
·
Connectivity USB3.0 (x2), USB2.0 (x2), HDMI, SD,
TV tuner
