A friend of mine is thinking of buying one (ball park budget of about £900) - anyone got any advice on which to go for or whether it is all a great big scam and he would be better buying a tower and a monster monitor!

lozzer for that kind of cash he could get a v good tower and an hd tv which could function as the monitor.

after about 3 laptops breaking I did that (for much less money) and I'm very glad I did- I reckon he'd get a better spec and it would last longer.

That is a thought. Had a quick look on ebay deals of the day and there are 32 inch HD Tvs for about £230 and 40 inch one for about £280. $0 inch would be one hell of a big monitor!

g3.7 is right, for the money they cost you could get a better piece of kit and a nice led tv. If money is no object then they are quite cool, but some are a ball ache to upgrade. Basically buy one if you have the money and like the look of them, but you wont get as powerful a machine as buying a tower or even a laptop at times.

That is a thought. Had a quick look on ebay deals of the day and there are 32 inch HD Tvs for about £230 and 40 inch one for about £280. $0 inch would be one hell of a big monitor!

If he does this make sure the pc he buys has a graphics card and not an integrated chip.

If he does this make sure the pc he buys has a graphics card and not an integrated chip.

Not an issue with sandy bridge or ivy bridge intels, they can easily handle HD resolution for most things, games will be more of a struggle, mind

One thing to look at though if you're going for a giant screen, watch for the pixel density. 1080p is wonderful for a 24" monitor, less so for a 30" or higher one if he's gonna be close to the screen at all.

I have one of these for my gaming needs.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-213-OE&groupid=43&catid=2040&subcat=1892

With an upgraded graphics card.

Ooohhhh, nice. The big problem with these all in one things is your stuck with the display, if it knackers then you have nothing. I have always hated integrated tech, tvs with dvd players, media centres etc because of that exact problem.

Not an issue with sandy bridge or ivy bridge intels, they can easily handle HD resolution for most things, games will be more of a struggle, mind

One thing to look at though if you're going for a giant screen, watch for the pixel density. 1080p is wonderful for a 24" monitor, less so for a 30" or higher one if he's gonna be close to the screen at all.

I have one of these for my gaming needs.

https://www.overcloc...040&subcat=1892

With an upgraded graphics card.

Upgrade graphics card to what exactly, theres some options on that which are pretty pricey, and I hope you went SSD.

I just bought a mate one of these, specced up slightly. Always made good pc`s and I`ve had a couple and bought several for others http://www.pcspecial...ec/MPC-2100/87/

Edited June 23, 201214 yr by dkw

Just had a look at that link dkw - by the time I finished speccing the price was high but I was being a tad greedy!

Ha ha, its hard not to isn't it. there's cheaper base models you can start with on that site.

Your concern about the all in one option is the one that was bothering my mate. i.e. if monitor goes you are screwed - can't just pop out and buy another one fairly cheap.

The option I got isn't on there any more, it's out of stock. It was a 6770, though. No SSD, didn't have the dollar for that. I'll be going for one (ok, 2 in Raid 0) when I have some extra cash around, though.

Eggy, this is the system I would have money no object.

http://www.chillblast.com/pconf.php?productid=18225

Dear god man. I might have to spend a year living on baked beans (again) to get one of them. Utterly pointless, because my system can run anything at close to max settings, but I still want it.

Yeah, but could you take over the world on your system, or embarrass NASA? Mental that Chillblast thing eh, but god I would love to have one just for the LOLS.

http://www.cray.com/Products/XK6/Specifications.aspx

i'd love to have one of these just for the lols ;)

(that and a power station...)