All-in-Ones Finally Grow Up, With Fast Graphics, SSDs, and CPUs 211
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."
Usage Enforcer Time (Score:5, Informative)
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:What fud (Score:5, Informative)
"fud" stands for "Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt". It doesn't mean something you disagree with.
The Power of a Midrange Desktop PC (Score:4, Informative)
Eliminates clutter (Score:4, Informative)
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:What fud (Score:5, Informative)
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 (Score:5, Informative)
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 (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What fud (Score:3, Informative)
" 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 (Score:5, Informative)
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 (Score:4, Informative)
Hole betwen Mac mini and Mac Pro (Score:2, Informative)
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 [wikipedia.org] 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:What fud (Score:4, Informative)
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 (Score:2, Informative)
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 [notebookcheck.net], the 750M is:
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.