All-In-One Review Roundup

Posted 01/30/2013 at 1:51pm | by Michael Brown

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HP Omni 27-1015t

Has HP lost its touch?

We used to get excited when HP would send us its latest all-in-one. Each new model seemed to add some cool innovation or new feature that no other manufacturer had. The Omni 27-1015t has us wondering if the all-in-one pioneer has tired of pushing the envelope.

HP needs to move the power button off the top of its all-in-one PCs; it’s too easy to accidently turn the machine off while adjusting the angle of the display.

Sure, this new model has a slightly faster CPU, a better GPU, a bigger hard drive, and faster memory than the last HP all-in-one we tested (you can read our review of HP’s Omni 27 Quad here), but simply reaching into a new parts bin isn’t innovating. Visit HP’s website, and you’ll see the Omni 27-1015t selling for $1,250. You can customize the machine you buy, however, and the computer that HP sent for review was pumped up with a faster CPU (an Intel Core i5-3550S), more memory (8GB of DDR3/1600), a faster videocard (an AMD Radeon HD 7650A), and a higher-capacity hard drive.

This bumped the price tag to $1,470, which puts it just $30 below the price tag of the Core i7-3770S-poweredAsus ET2701. In addition to a superiorCPU, Asus puts a Blu-ray drive in its machine, where HP cheaps out with a simple DVD burner. Both machines include an LED-backlit IPS LCD panel (neither are touchscreens).

In terms of benchmark performance, the Omni 27-1015t proved to be considerably faster than the relatively weak Gateway and roughly on par with the Sony L series, but it trailed the Asus and Dell machines by considerable margins.

In most other respects, the Omni 27-1015t is a carbon copy of the Omni 27 Quad. On the machine’s left-hand side, you’ll find two USB 3.0 ports, a mic input, a headphone output, and a media card reader. There’s a slot-feed DVD player/burner on the right-hand side (with an eject button), along with buttons for volume control and for switching between PC and HDMI modes.

The HDMI input is also located on the right-hand side, but HP would be wise to follow the rest of the industry in moving this port to the back of the machine so the cable can be hidden. And for the love of Pete, when your engineers design the next model, force them to provide an easier means of controlling the volume when the machine is in HDMI mode. As we noted in our review of the Omni Quad, it takes 14 button presses to bring the volume from 100 percent to zero.

We dig HDMI inputs on all-in-one computers, but the port should be back here with the rest of the I/O ports.

The Omni 27-1015t’s back panel hosts four USB 2.0 ports, line-level RCA outputs for powered speakers, and a subwoofer output. HP sells a pretty good powered subwoofer—the $130 HP Pulse—but you can plug any powered sub into this jack.

If you don’t need an all-in-one as powerful as what Asus is offering, we’d recommend stepping down to the Gateway. The price/performance ratio of HP’s Omni 27-1015t is just too out of whack for us to recommend as an in-between compromise.

Dell XPS One 27

Pioneer

IPS panel; HP’s Magic Canvas.

Pillager

Expensive; gimpy volume control in HDMI mode; no Blu-ray drive.

$1,470, www.hp.com

Sony VAIO L-Series (Model SVL24116FXB)

Sony introduces a number of cool innovations with its latest generation of VAIO L-Series all-in-ones, but the company exacts a hefty premium from those who want the best the company has to offer. This model SVL24116FXB costs $200 more than the Asus, but is outfitted with a slower CPU, a smaller display, a lesser videocard, and a smaller hard drive.

Sony declined to say if its 24-inch touchscreen panel is based on TN or IPS technology, but we can tell you it isn’t nearly as bright and vibrant as either the Asus or the Dell.

Sony’s most important innovation is its capacitive touchscreen that recognizes not just two, but 10 touch points. As such, this will be one of the few current-generation computers that will meet the Windows 8 requirement for touchscreens to recognize a minimum of five touch points. What’s more, the computer can use its built-in webcam to respond to physical gestures even without the touchscreen.

While listening to music, for instance, you can adjust the volume by pointing your index finger at the computer’s camera and drawing a circle in the air: A clockwise spin turns the volume up, and a counterclockwise movement turns it down. If you’re watching a slideshow, waving your hand from left to right advances to the next photo, while moving it from right to left moves back to the previous slide. It’s a bit of a gimmick now, but we predict it’s a feature we’ll come to expect over time.

Other unique features we’d like to see every all-in-one manufacturercopy include a picture-in-picture mode that lets you use the full Windows 7 desktop while video from the HDMI input streams to a small window in a corner. This allows you to watch TV and use the web at the same time. There’s also a picture-and-picture mode that splits the screen vertically and places a window for the HDMI input alongside a Windows 7 window. These features would be even better if you swap either to full-screen mode without losing sound from the HDMI input (so you could focus on the web during commercial breaks and switch back to the windowed view when they’re finished).

Sony is one of the few all-in-one manufacturers still providing a TV tuner by default. The Vaio L Series also provides both an HDMI input and an output.

Unlike the Asus, the Sony has an integrated TV tuner, and you don’t need to fire up the PC to use it, to use the display with an HDMI source, or even to use a web browser. There’s a Core i7 CPU under the hood, but it’s a Core i7-3610QM that doesn’t include Intel’s more advanced virtualization technologies (vPro and VT-d) or Intel’s demand-based switching technology. The Vaio’s Nvidia GeForce GT 620M videocard is also a step behind what Asus, Dell, and HP have to offer.

Sony’s Vaio L-Series model SVL24116FXB brings some impressive innovations to the all-in-one market, but we don’t think they’re worth a $200 premium over the much more powerful Asus ET2701 with its larger, better-looking display.

Sony Vaio L-Series (Model SVL24116FXB)

Viable

10-point touchscreen; gesture recognition; PiP and P&P modes.

Impossible

Expensive; lesser CPU, GPU, and hard drive than the cheaper Asus.

$1,700, www.sony.com

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