Top 5 All-in-One Desktop PCs on the Market

These 5 all-in-one desktop PCs have the latest technology built into one package which makes setting up and moving your computer an easy task. I had the opportunity to try out most of these units and have worked on several of them. You give up a few things for the convenience such as upgrade limitations and higher repair costs. Even if you have repaired or upgraded desktops you still may want to let more qualified personnel do any work needed on these units.

Lenovo ThinkCentre A70z all-in-One Desktop PC

The local community college in my area has many ThinkCentre all in one desktops in their computer labs. IBM sold this division to Lenovo but you get the same quality. I found using one of these to be very convenient and it was fast. I had to use my Kingston flash drive for one class and it just plugged into the side and worked very well, as expected. The ThinkCentre A70z has a 500 GB hard drive, a DVD drive and 6 USB ports and a web cam. The unit sells for $499 and you can purchase wi-fi as an option. It has built in stereo speakers and a plug for headphones. The thing that stood out the most on this desktop PC is how sturdy it appeared and the large, heavy, pullout stand. You can select a lot of options when you order it so make sure you get what you will be needing at that time. A very impressive machine with a large 19" monitor. I rate this as the best one out of these five.

The Apple iMac Summer 2010

If you are an Apple fan and wish to have all-in-one capability then this is the desktop PC you need. The Apple iMac Summer 2010 runs Apple OS X 10.6.4 with a 2.8GHz Intel Core i5 760, a 3d 1Gb ATI Radeon HD 5750 video chip and has 4Gb 1,333MHz memory. It is considered adequate for an Apple computer and features a very modern look and feel using a wireless mouse, keyboard and LAN. It has problems with getting to hot so the verdict is not yet in on how this will effect the longevity of the unit over time. Make sure you get all the warranty that you can. The price is very high at $1999 for the 27" model but what a huge screen!

Dell ONE 19 ALL-IN-ONE

Dell just had to get in on the act too. The performance of the Dell ONE 19 is up to par with a 2.7GHz Intel Pentium dual core E5400 Processor and 4Gb RAM. The 640 Gb hard drive is loaded with Windows 7 Premium and it has a 8x DVD+/-RW Drive The 18.5" LCD Display is plenty big and holds a web cam. A good looking unit that has the same Dell quality as their standard Desktop PCs. Buy it at savesonic.com for $439.89.

HP CQ1-1020 ALL-IN-ONE Desktop PC

If you want HP world class warranty and support you will find it with this HP all in one desktop PC. I never understood why HP is so greedy with their low specs on all their standard desktops. They carry this same philosophy over with this unit having only one Gb of memory and a 160Mb HD. The Intel Atom processor D410 running at 1.66GHz is average just like the 18.5 screen size. You only get XP home edition for an OS, which I like better than Vista or Win7, and carries a low price of only $387.99 available at Sears. Not bad if you don't have much to spend and want an all-in-one desktop PC.

Acer EZ1601-01 ALL-IN-ONE Desktop PC

This Acer EZ1601-01 has receive top reviews and carries a good price at just over $400 from pcconnectionexpress.com. This Acer has similar specs as the HP all in one reviewed above with 1Gb RAM, 160 Mb HD and and 18.5" monitor. You can add another 1Gb of memory and it comes with Windows XP home edition. It has an Atom N270 1.6GHz processor and 5 USB ports.

I have seen a lot of these all-in-one desktop PC's in college computer rooms and they work very well in that environment due to them taking up very little room and are easy to change out and move around. These same factors apply to any situation where you would use a desktop PC. The disadvantage of using all-in-one PCs is that upgrades are limited, similar to laptop computers. If a component such as the DVD fails it will have to be replaced with a proprietary part. This adds to the cost of repair and limits you where you can purchase the part. It is important to buy as much warranty as you can on these units if you are planning on keeping it for awhile.

Sources: personal experience