Posted 10/15/09 at 09:45:02 AM by Pulkit Chandna

The all-in-one PC segment is now experiencing its share of Windows 7-induced buzz. MSI has announced three new entrants into its Wind Top family of all-in-one PCs, all of which are based on Nvidia’s Ion platform and support Windows 7. 

The 21.5-inch Wind Top AE2220 is all set to hit the market in late October, with the launch of the 20-inch AE2020 and the 21.5-inch AE2220 Hi-Fi expected next month. According to a Digitimes report, the AE2220 features full HD output besides HDMI and VGA ports for hooking up game consoles and other devices.

The same report pegs its price at just a shade over $1000 (NT$35,000). HP, Gateway and Acer are other notable names that have already announced similar offerings which support Windows 7.

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Posted 10/15/09 at 08:34:06 AM by Paul Lilly

It's official - the touch revolution is in full force and you can expect to see several product announcements from companies jumping on the multitouch bandwagon. The latest is from Acer, who announced its sleek looking Aspire Z5610 all-in-one PC.

The touch-enabled Windows 7 PC sports a 24-inch high-def touchscreen with full multitouch support, and its backed by a spec sheet that's at least serviceable. The all-in-one's DNA consists of an Intel Pentium Dual Core E5300 processor, ATI Mobility Radeon HD4570 graphics, 4GB of RAM, and a 320GB hard drive. So while you probably won't be playing Crysis, there's enough muscle to handle some casual gaming when you take a break from groping the display.

Look for the all-in-one to ship in time for the holidays at just $900.

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Posted 10/13/09 at 09:42:09 AM by Paul Lilly

The busy bodies at HP kicked off this week with a series of product launches, including several multi-touch capable laptops that work with Microsoft's upcoming Windows 7 OS.

"We introduced our first touchscreens in 1983 and now we're on our third generation of TouchSmart models," said John Cook, vice president of desktop marketing in HP's Personal Systems Group. "Touch may very well be the best way to interact with a computer."

That last statement will be up to consumers to decide, and to help them do that, HP's TouchSmart tx2 laptop ($799) allows consumers to use two fingers to navigate through the touchscreen interfaces. Like HP's TouchSmart desktops, the tx2 comes with the abiltiy to pinch, rotate, flip, press, or drag a finger across the screen. And the 12.1-inch screen can be rotated 180 degrees for use as a tablet.

HP paid attention to the desktop market as well, releasing its third generation of touch-enabled desktop PCs. Both the all-in-one TouchSmart 300 and 600 sport widescreen displays sized 20 inches and 23 inches, respectively. Both also come with built-in touch apps, including Hulu Desktop, Netflix, Pandora, Twitter, and the HP Music Store by Rhapsody.

VentureBeat has the full scoop here.

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Posted 10/07/09 at 08:12:05 AM by Paul Lilly

In preparation for the launch of Windows 7 and its multitouch capabilities, Gateway has announced two touchscreen all-in-one PCs built specifically for the upcoming OS.

On the higher end, the Gateway One ZX6810-01 will come with a 23-inch touchscreen display, an Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200S, a heaping 8GB of DDR3-1333 memory, a 64GB solid state drive for the OS and 1TB hard drive for storage duties, and ATI Radeon Mobility HD 4670 graphics with 1GB of memory. Cnet, who managed to get its hands on one already, praised the PC for its speed, while noting that the "touch input could be frustratingly unresponsive" at times.

Lower on the all-in-one totem pole sits the Gateway One ZX4800-02. At half the price of its bigger brother, this model boasts a 20-inch touchscreen display, an Intel Pentium dual-core T4300 processor, 4GB of DDR2-800 memory, a 750GB hard drive, and Intel's GMA X4500HD graphics. both PCs ship with 64-bit flavors of Windows 7 Home Premium.

Gateway says the ZX4800 will be available in late October or early November for $750, while the FX6810 will debut sometime in Q4 for $1,400.

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Posted 09/25/09 at 07:56:06 AM by Paul Lilly

Most gamers wouldn't think twice about buying an all-in-one PC, but that's okay, because all-in-ones are selling just fine without them. According to a previous report in China's Commercial Times, global all-in-one PC shipments are expected to reach 6.5 million units by the end of the year, accounting for 9 percent of all PCs.

Now it's looking like that number may have been a little conservative. Citing un-named industry sources, news and rumor site DigiTimes says Quanta Computer has received roughly 2 million all-in-one PC orders from Fujitsu, Acer, and MSI and will start shipping products soon, ending the year with a bang. Most of those will measure 20 to 23 inches.

HP, another client of Quanta and maker of the popular TouchSmart series, will also receive more all-in-one shipments starting in October.

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Posted 09/18/09 at 06:08:33 PM by Jason Barry

While netbooks are getting all the attention these days, Lenovo thinks the desktop can get a piece of that small-form-factor low cost action.  They released the C100 all-in-one widescreen desktop computer starting at $399.

The Lenovo C100 features an 18.5in (16:9) flat-panel driven by the Intel GMA 950 chipset.  They packed in 160GB hard drive and 1GB of RAM all powered by the Intel Atom 330 dual-core processor.  It also rocks four USB ports, integrated DVD burner, webcam, speakers and a microphone crammed into a 2-inch deep profile, rivaling some LCD monitors.

It stands to be an impressive computer product at a seriously low price point.  Dion Weisler, vice president of Business Operations at Lenovo brags it’s “Packed with cool experiences and available at a very affordable price, the C100 expands Lenovo’s consumer offering for the fast growing all-in-one market segment.”

Obviously not for the hardcore gaming enthusiast, but these machines have their purpose.  Would you buy one?

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Posted 09/17/09 at 12:00:08 PM by Paul Lilly

It seems as though Intel dominates every sector of the PC market, from netbooks and nettops (Atom processor) on up to ultra high-end setups (Core i7 975). But one area in which AMD seems to have the edge is in 20-inch and above all-in-one PCs.

Citing un-named sources at PC vendors, DigiTimes says vendors are shying away from Intel's Atom platform for larger all-in-one desktops due to the chips under performing graphics. And while some will end up adopting Intel's regular platform for 20-inch and larger all-in-ones, most are expected to turn to AMD, who can offer a better price-to-performance ratio.

To some extent, this is already happening. Acer's Gateway ZX2301 with an 18.5-inch display is built around AMD's Athlon 2650e processor, BenQ's nScreen i91 and i221 with 18.5-inch and 21.5-inch displays utilize the chip maker's Sempron U210 CPU, MSI's AE2010 with a 20-inch screen is powered by the Athlon 2650e, and HP's TouchSmart IQ780tw with 19-inch display comes equipped with a Turion 64 X2 TL-58 CPU.

Should all-in-ones become a bit more prominent, it will be interesting to see how Intel responds.

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Posted 09/16/09 at 08:30:00 PM by Michael Brown

When we began covering all-in-one PCs, we decided we wouldn’t benchmark them because they’re designed for quiet utility, not drag racing. But the Dell XPS One 24 we reviewed in May proved that an all-in-one could hang with the hot rods, so we decided to make that machine our all-in-one zero-point. We imagine Averatec would prefer we go back to our old ways.

On the outside, the Averatec looks very much like an iMac wrapped in shiny black plastic. Inside you’ll find a mixture of desktop and notebook components that explain why the machine is priced $600 less than Apple’s cheapest 24-inch iMac and a cool grand less than Dell’s 24-inch XPS One. Averatec reached far down Intel’s desktop CPU line to pick a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo E4600. It did the same for graphics, tapping Nvidia’s two-year-old GeForce 8400M GS mobile GPU. This GPU has just 16 shader processors, runs at a mild 400MHz, and has a narrow 64-bit interface to 256MB of memory. It drives the integrated display at its native resolution of 1680x1050, and there’s a DVI port in back if you want to connect a second monitor.

Continue reading this review after the jump.

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