Define All-in-One

[jefboyardee]

My HP XP tower is now ancient and I

 

[mplevy]

Correct. An all-in-one (or AiO) is a computer and monitor together. Upside is the smaller footprint, downside is that you're buying a new monitor every time you need a new computer (I used the same 19" LCD on 3-4 different builds before it died).

An AiO also somewhat difficult to upgrade compared to a tower, and will have limited internal space for more storage devices.

Usually there's a cable routing hole in the stand that you can run your cables through to make it neater, some come with a wireless keyboard and mouse, or you can get your own wireless keyboard and mouse.

 

[jefboyardee]

Went to BestBuy and fiddled with the Pavilion. Despite several shortcomings, it still seems pretty amazing for the price. And speaking of price, Amazon has it for $420, free shipping, no tax... goodbye, retail shopping.

I asked the guy about getting the Start menu back in Win8, he just shrugged. So I googled and found How to bring back the Start menu and button to Windows 8, which mentions Classic Shell, Start8 and Pokki. Any recommendations on them?

 

[mplevy]

I have no suggestions related to Windows 8. My laptop is a Mac, my desktop will remain Windows 7 as long as it's getting security updates, or until I decide I'm done with it.

 

[johnlgalt]

Classic Shell and Start8 seem to be the most prevalent discussed.

I suggest you head over to http://www.eightforums.com/ for more answers about Windows 8 - forum owner is a MS MVP.

 

[jefboyardee]

my desktop will remain Windows 7 as long as it's getting security updates

I’d prefer 7 also and was looking for PCs with that installed, but I’ve already experienced deceased operating systems with my current XP and hope to avoid it reoccurring. So I may try to embrace the present.

 

[johnlgalt]

XP is over 12 years old - Windows 7 is like 3 - it is nowhere near deceased.

 

[jefboyardee]

head over to http://www.eightforums.com

Sure enough, start menus are important there.

 

[johnlgalt]

Bink, the owner, is a great guy, and I was highly active in his previous VstaX64 and Seven forums for a long time. There are a ton of knowledgeable users there that will help you out in a pinch, and each site (VistaX64, sevenforums and eightforums) has many of the same users there helping out other users and making great tutorials. You really cannot go wrong with any of his sites.

I'd recommend his sites for recent Windows OSs as I would this place for all things Android, if that gives you a clue.

 

[jefboyardee]

Been hearing mostly negative for Win8 – the curse of the every other Windows release – and mostly positive for Win7. So, planning to be a good guy and buy local, I’m liking this Acer - 18.5" Veriton All-in-One at Best Buy, with Win7 pro. They want four hundred sixty-ish... maybe I can wave a website in their face and get ‘em to eat the tax?

 

[SiempreTuna]

It never hurts to ask

As for Win7 v Win8, it's a tough one. Win7 is fine. Win8's still a bit of an unknown quantity. No-one raves about it but then no-one really rips into it.

Seems to me that if you don't have a touch screen, there's not a whole lot of reason to buy an upgrade. On the other hand, it doesn't sound so bad you would go out of your way to avoid it.

 

[Davdi]

There's nothing wrong with Win8, just get the Classic Shell to bring back a (customizable) start button and it's good to go. You only get the Apps if you have a widescreen (1366x768 or bettter), but that's no great loss. I'm running Win8 on an old Celeron E3300 dual core with 4Gb DDR2-800 and it's perfectly useable, feels quite snappy really.

 

[jefboyardee]

Turns out that Win7 PC is mail-order only; the stores have stopped carrying them. So your words are comforting. But...

You only get the Apps if you have a widescreen (1366x768 or bettter)

I don

 

[Davdi]

The Apps are similar to Windows Phone Apps, written for Win8 specifically, include 'live' tiles with weather updates, news feeds, Social networking status updates etc. But you on;y get them with a wide-screen monitor, but as I said in my previous post, that's no great loss.

 

[jefboyardee]

Exactly what I wasn’t looking for...

 

[Caleb L]

IF you do go with an all in one either upgrade the hard drive to a SSD, or install one yourself down the line. You will get much better performance out of the machine that way

 

[jefboyardee]

IF you do go with an all in one either upgrade the hard drive to a SSD, or install one yourself down the line

Well, as you might guess, if I