All in One Desktops

I'd be careful to find one with a strong history of reliability and a good warranty, Amazon reviews can be a good source of information.

If you upgrade a piece at a time it's easier on the budget, you could try plugging a keyboard, a mouse and big monitor into your current laptop and sticking it under the desk somewhere even. Shop around and you could do that for $200 to $300 for a 24" 1080p wide screen and a near top of the line keyboard/mouse.

Then just upgrade the laptop to a compact box computer, takes about five minutes tops to change the plugs around.

Thank you for your good advice. After your reply, I checked, and Apple has a very compact computer (about $600). I have never used an Apple before. Do you know of any PC manufacturers that have a computer that compact? As you said, the monitor and keyboard are relatively inexpensive.

This unit gets good reviews on Amazon but I haven't used it personally, that's about as high a rating as I see on anything computer related on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Acer-RL70-UR10P-Desktop-Black/dp/B006VCOZYI/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1353449225&sr=1-2&keywords=acer+mini+pc

Here's a Dell, a bit larger and not quite so good reviews but still not bad at all.

http://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-i660s-2308BK-Desktop-Black/dp/B0084C38EQ/ref=sr_1_12?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1353449501&sr=1-12&keywords=dell+mini+pc

Really the monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers are what you actually interact with, spend a bit more on that stuff and get the best you can. If you are doing what most people do with a computer these days what's inside the actual computer box isn't all that important except for high end gaming and maybe watching HD videos, although I have several obsolete computers around here that will do video just fine.

Thanks for taking the time to look these small computers up for me so that I could read about them. I appreciate that, Fumesucker.

They've gone out of their way to make it dirt simple. Most require loosening 3 to 5 screws and a bit of nudging around the edges to open up. The Z1 actually opens with two clips like a briefcase and even has a strut to hold the works open. The HDD and optical drives are removable in seconds. While you won't be upgrading the motherboard or video card, replacing memory and drives is so easy a nine year old could do it.

The new iMac is another story entirely, requiring a heat gun to melt the glue keeping the screen attached to the chassis. No thanks!

If your palm brushes the mouse pad while you type, the cursor jumps around. Disabling tap to click fixes this.

All in ones are not replacements for laptops, they are not mobile. They are good for saving space though.

I hear you. For one who can type 80+ wpm, I can't type for diddly-squat on these new laptops. But I wasn't aware of the tap to click fix. Thanks. I would still have my ancient and honorable laptop for mobility; It just seems that having a larger screen to see what I am looking at (old-age eyes here) would work better for me, along with the regular type keyboard that I have been used to over the years. Hope you enjoyed Thanksgiving. Thanks for your reply.

i run arch linux and every few updates pacman copies my synaptic config to a backup and i have to refresh them. otherwise exactly that. right now my trackpad is set to 'hard to use'. at work i carry a logitech usb wireless mouse around from laptop to laptop.

and that's the iMac.
If you have wireless, you only have to plug in one cable for power, and that's it!
The monitors are a great size, and the keyboards are quite good.
If you must have windows, I cannot help you with an all in one, because afaic, they all stink!

I would love to try a Mac. But, let's face it, they are pricey! How much would one cost, do you think?

They are much less. Check e-bay and such. Be sure to get an Intel based Mac, because the older ones are no longer supported.
A core two duo should cost around $500. Not a new one, but one about 3-4 years old.

That's all any of them need plus a power cord.

Besides, I have found that a lot of people have trouble with all the wires that have to be connected. The lack of wires is why I believe people opt for all-in-ones.

forget the 21st century!
The part that a lot of folks don't seem to understand is that computers have to be easy for EVERYONE to use. I should know, I have to support about 2000 users, and have been for the past 20 or so years. You have to make them easy for the less fortunate of us who just don't get everything about computers.

Sorry.... but my Mom (86) is now on an "all in on" and it's a life saver!!!

She can't check wires and connections and wiggle this wire or that.... She just isn't physically capable to do that.

We bought her an "all in one" and we couldn't be happier with the results.

I'm hooked up with her PC via LogMeIn and it's been smooth sailing ever since!

(except her Skype drops out when she gets a phone call... but that's a different discussion methinks)