Are the all in one pcs any good?

[bodiddly]

We need a new family pc/laptop and need some advice. We have a couple of older iPads which are fine for day to day surfing etc but need to update our old laptop for general use as its become painfully slow. We use it for the odd word document, homework, cubs projects and my spreadsheets etc so nothing particularly flash. I do find, however, that its easier to do some of these things on the work pc compared to a laptop at home so wondered about an all in one pc. We dont have much space or a dedicated pc area as such hence the laptop in the past. We also don't want to spend much but saw the Lenovo range for £400-500 and wondered if they are any good?

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Can I ask why specifically you find the PC easier/better than a laptop? On the whole, for spreadsheets and the odd word document, plus browsing, pretty much anything you get in the £400 to £500 bracket is going to meet your needs. Processing (the speed it does things) will be super fast and you will have lots of memory. One thing you will need to watch for is that most models come without Microsoft office (word, excel etc) installed, and instead come with works (a free equivalent version which is still compatible but you may find frustrating). If you were going to be using the machine for games, music, films, large amounts of file storage etc you would be to be picky but suggest anything off the shelf will handle your needs

Do you have a link,as with all pc,s it all depends on the processor,ram etc.

OH has one and is delighted with his. It is an Asus touchscreen one with wireless keyboard and mouse. The only thing he didn't like about it at first was that it came with Windows 8. He has rejigged it a bit to make it more user friendly though and is happy with his PC.

I saw a Lenovo on amazon for about £400 but can't do a link from my phone.

I'm not sure why I find it easier using the work pc - maybe its as simple as the mouse and a larger screen. The laptop is fine and possibly more convenient but day to day perhaps a pc would be better.

I would probably get office and its annoying that they don't come pre loaded anymore!

Films etc arent important as we have the iPads for those so it is really just homework, household bits and pieces, the odd bit of work etc.

I prefer a laptop as it can be moved, so can sit on sofa using it - for a pc, you need a proper workstation and chair.

I have this and it does everything i need which sounds similar to your needs

Sorry to be dim but what do you mean by a docking station?

Trouble is, LF, that a docking station may itself cost 80-120 quid, and anyway, you'd effectively be paying for two screens - the one in the laptop and another for a docking station.

OP - Ebuyer.com has a number of Asus laptops at around 300 quid. I would aim for a laptop with a 15-17" screen, and then spend another 25ish quid at Asda/ Tesco/ similar for a wireless keyboard and mouse add-on.

Reason I suggest this combination - they keyboard and mouse would be similar in size to the ones you are used to on work PC, and you can place the laptop a bit further back on a desk, but fold it up and store it away easily as space is at a premium.

There's no need for a docking station, really, it's a bit of a moneymaker for the PC manufacturer (though I'm sure in some instances it serves well and looks a bit neater than having wires across the desk [though if you use wireless keyboard and mouse, there's no mess])

Why use separate keyboard and mouse - means you can stash the laptop away from the edge of a table so nobody can accidentally knock it off {and they should not get any crumbs or drinks spilt into it, either})... In the long run, also means that switching from laptop to laptop means no change in keyboard layout or how to use the mouse :)

All-in-One - they are quite neat, and having had a glance at the Amazon site, can see some in the 400-500 range. It might be better if you really want to do touch screen Windows 8, and it would look a bit neater than using a laptop.

I won an All-in-One in a website competition about 10 years ago and can see they have come a long way, but from a household security point of view, a laptop is much easier to put away, and if you needed to take it with you (eg visiting your parents, perhaps to show them photos or a video you had made) would be very easy compared with an all-in-one.

If you do go for an All-in-One, then given your (low) computing requirements, I'd go for the model that's priced at about 370, so you can buy an external hard drive and consider wireless keyboard/mouse. I know you don't plan to use machine to watch films but whether all-in-one or laptop they can play DVDs and many can be connected to a bigger screen (eg 32", 42" or more) via HDMI.

With wireless mouse and keyboard and computer connected to TV, you could find a video to watch and play it very easily on the big screen (or just watching YouTube or any number of other things :) )

As for MS Office - save your money and use LibreOffice or OpenOffice for free. Only bit missing is the MS Access (database) and frankly, if you need that, you would have to go for one of the top end Office bundles and pay 200-400 (sorry, lost track of current MS pricing!)

My laptop, linked above, has an hdmi output, so can connect to the tv for the big screen experience

Thanks everyone for your help. I guess I need to consider whether the all in one would be a mistake and if it is better to go back to a laptop. Thanks again!