Gateway spiffs up all-in-one PCs

[gcutler]

http://earthlink.com.com/2100-1040-985477.html?tag=newsfeed&subj=technews&part=earthlink&type=pt

Gateway revitalized its Profile 4 line of all-in-one desktop PCs on Friday by adding features that include a DVD burner, and by dropping the price of one model.

Back to the "All-In-One" PC, I've never been a fan of them as one component breaks, and the whole unit has to go back. Upgrading is also a pain. But then again the iMac sells pretty well? But with color coordinated connectors, is it that hard for someone to unbox and assemble a Dell or Gateway or HP desktop these days? Kind of feel a sense of Deja-Vu on this from Gateway

What you think?

[blingbling]

Originally posted by gcutler


But with color coordinated connectors, is it that hard for someone to unbox and assemble a Dell or Gateway or HP desktop these days? Kind of feel a sense of Deja-Vu on this from Gateway

What you think?

You wouldn't think so but its amazing how many blinking clocks you still see on VCRs.

[Bogy]

My daughter, a college student, bought a computer over Christmas break. She was very concerned about space, especially desk space, in her dorm room. Not to mention all the moving around she will be doing over the next five to six years until she has her masters. We looked at the Profile, but what you got for the price was not the greatest deal. She got a flat panel monitor with a regular box. If they have added features, and lowered the price, it might be more in the running.

My wife and I both have 19" CRT's, but we have acres of desk space. A 19" CRT is definitely a space hog. I can see where the space saving aspect, as well as the lack of that familiar bird's nest of wires most of us have on the back of our boxes could be a selling point, at the right price.

[firephoto]

I think its a great idea with the lcd display, but this thing is more expensive than an iMac and I don't know if the performance is as good.
The computer taking up less space on the desktop is always a good thing. I have a mid-tower and two 17" crt's sitting on my desk and had to essentially build another desk on top of this one for my printer, scanner, and to have have some extra storage(junk) space.

Link to the gateway profile 4.
http://www.gateway.com/home/prod/hm_dtp_prf4.shtml

[raj2001]

Most people I talk to like the iMac because it looks cool. I hate all in one computers unless they're laptops.

[Ryan]

I have an off-brand all-in-one. We've had it for over a year and we love it. Many guests have asked where the rest of the computer is. :) And boy does it save space!

And for the arguement that if one component breaks you've got to send the whole thing back, I just don't see it as strongly with a computer. It's really only one additional piece--the monitor--and most people aren't going to open up a tower unit either if something breaks.

I've had my unit opened to add memory and I could also swap the hard drive or DVD if I needed. I guess if the LCD went bad I'd have a problem, although the unit does have a VGA out, so I could at least use the system to get any critical info off of it.

[Mike123abc]

As computers have moved to the mass market, the percentage of people that would actually open the box to change something is getting pretty small. Now your computer gets outdated before it breaks anyways. Use the computer a few years then throw it away (or give to the kids).

[firephoto]

It would be nice to have sort of an all-in-one PC standard. Standard board layout placement, power supply size, on board connectors, etc. Add your own flat panel to the front and off you go. There are main boards out there now that have just about everything on board (and it's pretty good quality too) all you would need is a graphics card that layed flat and you'd have the ability to make a compace (flat) pc only as thick as your dvd-r/rw drive. Hey you could even eliminate the "no where to put the extra twisted foot of IDE cable" problem by making it so the cable can actually be laid FLAT. ;)

The FPC form factor perhaps? (Flat Personal Computer)
WiMPC (Wall Mountable)

:)

[gcutler]

Thinking back a few weeks ago, I think those "Shoebox" sized PCs would be much better than the ALL-In-One. I guess I just can't get behind the Monitor and PC in one for philisophical reasons

[Bogy]

Originally posted by gcutler
Thinking back a few weeks ago, I think those "Shoebox" sized PCs would be much better than the ALL-In-One. I guess I just can't get behind the Monitor and PC in one for philisophical reasons
I share somewhat the same philosophy. It's the same as the difference between people who buy an stereo with everything in one unit, and the "component" kind of person. :D

[Ryan]

NVidia specs out a motherboard with just about everything built in, including mid-high range video. Inside a shuttle case you'd have a nice little unit.

I've seen some of those shuttle cases mod'ed so a small touchscreen was mounted on the front. Not big enough for your everyday PC screen, but great as a server or client for audio, video, HTPC, household X10 control, etc.

[Jacob S]

If you get an all in one you might as well get a laptop unless you can save a pretty good bit of money. They could make the all in one upgradable as well by making it to where you could unscrew the moniter piece and place another one into it and they could do the same with laptops if they dont already. They could make all of these things upgradable. Just because these objects are smaller should not mean that they cannot be upgraded. If everything got cheap enough one would not even upgrade but just buy new computers or laptops. Every computer in the future may be a laptop, that is what I am hoping for, the cost would go down dramatically and they could make those all upgradable just as our computers are now.

What could also be done is have all in ones where you snap in the components that you want to use and if you do not need them you can unsnap them to have less you have to carry with you, each piece being small. When one thing goes bad u can replace the piece. This would make things compact, upgradable, and cheaper.

[Ryan]

>>If you get an all in one you might as well get a laptop unless you can save a pretty good bit of money.

When I purchased my all in one unit, money was not the only difference compared to a laptop. The separate KB and monitor (I guess a laptop is really the all-in-one) is necessary. While a laptop is fine on a plane or in a hotel room, for everyday use the attached keyboard and monitor below eye level is not good enough. Yeah, I could use an extra KB and display, but then I'm back where I started, with mulitple components.


However, you can tell my all-in-one is cousins with laptop units. My unit came with front (well, side) and rear mounted USB ports, plus firewire, IRDA, PC Card slots, a security-lock slot and an almost fullsize keyboard. It has a cary handle on the rear, and I would call the unit transportable but not compact. Everything I need fits in its original one box packaging. I have taken the unit on vacation, and it's certainly small enough to not consume the room in which it's placed. Try that with multiple components, even with a flat screen monitor.

[gcutler]

Originally posted by Ryan
However, you can tell my all-in-one is cousins with laptop units. My unit came with front (well, side) and rear mounted USB ports, plus firewire, IRDA, PC Card slots, a security-lock slot and an almost fullsize keyboard. It has a cary handle on the rear, and I would call the unit transportable but not compact. Everything I need fits in its original one box packaging. I have taken the unit on vacation, and it's certainly small enough to not consume the room in which it's placed. Try that with multiple components, even with a flat screen monitor.

Ah, the LUGGABLE is back, what is old is new again :D

Actually the First Compaq Clones of the IBM PC would technically be "All-In-Ones", but we called them Luggables :p

The later luggable models had a bigger screen :D

[RandomBites]

Originally posted by gcutler


Ah, the LUGGABLE is back, what is old is new again :D

Actually the First Compaq Clones of the IBM PC would technically be "All-In-Ones", but we called them Luggables :p

The later luggable models had a bigger screen :D

Hey I used to have to carry one of those on a trip or two. It was fun trying to get it under the seat.

[firephoto]

Laptops with 21" displays would be a little bulky. ;)

A laptop is great and if the $$ wasn't a factor I'd have a 17" titanium powerbook sitting here. The point of a new form factor would be for a slimmer style without having to use a mobile platform processor and small hard drives. With a flat panel display it wouldn't take up much more room to piggy back the whole system onto the back and base. The media drive bay could be under the monitor for easy access and external ports on the side and back. The CPU unit could be a plug on piece with the drive bays part of the monitor base.

If you can eliminate the big cards that plug in perpendicular to the main-board you save a lot of space right there. An "L" adapter of some sort for the AGP card would let it sit parallel with the main-board and everything else can be built on board.

Another option is to gut out your old CRT monitor and put everything in there and stick your flat panel on the front. ;) (don't touch the wire under the suction cup, play with the big caps, or break the CRT!) :eek:
This isn't actually too bad of an idea. You would have to mount your cd/dvd drives on top or use firewire/usb2 enclosures. Home brew all in one pc. :)

[Jacob S]

I thought I seen a new pc where it was behind the flat panel moniter? I have not really seen most pc's come down in size the last several years although there were a few that seemed a little smaller but I do not think they have all the drives in them and were cheaper models. Why could they not apply what they use in the laptop into the home pc to cut down on space?