All in one computer

[YorkshireTyke]

My 8 year old has decided he wants an All in one computer for his school work and watching you tube.

 

I know absolutely nothing about them, I guess for spec I look at the same things I would in a laptop or even mobile, memory, processor etc.

 

So 2 main questions...........

 

1.  Pros and cons of All in one over a laptop (he said he doesn't want a laptop)

 

2. What brand and model to buy, doesn't need to be high end, just reasonable spec.

 

Thanks for all input.

 

 

[Crossy]

IMHO All in One machines have all the disadvantages of a laptop and a desktop with none of the advantages of either.

 

Difficult/impossible to upgrade, something fails or you want a new/bigger monitor = new machine time.

 

Better to go with a decent monitor and hang a NUC or similar mini-PC on the back using the Vesa bolt holes.

[Peterw42]

As Crossy says, all of the disadvantages and none of the advantages, not portable, cant be upgraded.

Maybe start with why he wants an all in one and work backwards from there, point out that this laptop or this PC does the same etc

[recom273]

The thing is, kids needs change as they get older. He may watch YouTube now but in a couple of years he might be making his own videos for a school project. I don't know much about all-in-ones but once you have bought one, you are pretty much locked into the specs of the machine which are OK for word processing and web browsing, but unless you are thinking about getting a maxed out iMac, an all in one isn't going to cut it.

 

If you buy an all in one you are locked in to that spec for the lifetime of the machine, whereas if you have a system you can build upon, you can develop the system to his needs. I think you have taught him well, he's thinking for the future, not just the moment, maybe he's seen some cool setup videos on YouTube.

 

How much is your budget? I think there are some desktop use all-in-ones for 20K which is good value but will be outdated in a few years, but then that might suit his needs for the moment and then upgrade everything in the future. If I was 8-10, I would be looking at my room and desk, kitted out with flashing RGB lighting controlled by my computer, but that's just me.

[bbko]

An 8 y/o knows about all in one computers? They grow up so fast these days ????

[YorkshireTyke]

58 minutes ago, bbko said:

An 8 y/o knows about all in one computers? They grow up so fast these days ????

He regularly posts videos on Tik Tok and has done before me or his mother had heard of Tik Tok! 

 

I guess he learnt it from Youtube.

[patman30]

probably the best option TBH
laptops gets bashed and you wont need a tower
definately check if it has ssd for windows as ssd is needed these days
if it says 1TR ssd its likely got a small ssd cache or optane

2 things you really need
is a youtube blocker extension, so you can block channels
they do have youtube kids but it is intentionally pooh
and they do the online teaching on youtube,
but always good to prevent unsuitable media popping up or being auto played
put the youtube account in restriced mode and turn off auto play etc.are more options
and KASPERSKY KIDS (worth every penny just $15 a year)
with KK, you can set schedules and restrict a lot of stuff,
you can also create unlimited profiles
so you can give the kid a "at school" profile and a "free time" and an "offline"
each with different restrictions or schedules/time limits,
also down time, so its off an hour before sleep or at meal times etc.
so many options with KK compared to others
 

[delgarcon]

A lot of nonsense spoken here, I just bought an Asus all in one that's been refurbished to include a 250gb SSD hard drive and 8GB of ram and it's a terrific computer for 8000 tbh.

[steven100]

I have a Storm all-in-one computer and it's fine for what I need ,  it doesn't take up much space, it has a wireless keyboard and I have no problems playing movies etc provided the internet connect allows for high speed.

I paid around 4500 and a friend liked it so he bought one as well. 

 

 

[Kinnock]

Lenovo make some reasonably well specced all in ones, and some models also have a touch screen, which is unusual for all in ones.  I use one at work, and like it, plus the lack on a tower and the wireless keyboard and mouse keep my desk tidy.

 

Would I buy one myself to use at home?

 

Nope.

 

Compared to a tower system, they are tough to upgrade and it's difficult to replace defective components.  Price wise, they cost more than an equivalent spec tower.  

 

Compared to a laptop, they are not portable, so need to stay in one location, and they have no batteries, so if the power cuts off, you lose your work.  You can add a UPS, but that defeats the object of an all in one.

 

They also tend to have low end specifications - only the more expensive ones have SSD's,  monitors are not very special, few have i7 processors.

 

A lap top connected to a decent monitor can be a good option, or look at the complete tower systems from Asus if you don't want to build your own.

[dddave]

I had decided on an All in One but the more I shopped the clearer it seemed that what you actually got for the money just wasn't that great, mostly low end, outdated components and as others have pointed out, difficult to Upgrade.

There were a few decent Dells and Lenovos with good specs but they were all well over B30,000

 

I ended up with a decent Intel NUC i-5, a 27" FHD  BENQ monitor, wireless keyboard & mouse and a inexpensive set of speakers for B10,000 less than a comparable AiO

[habanero]

The best part of my HP all in one is the 23" screen and the fact that it takes up very little space on my desk. Other than that, I don't see any advantage over a laptop. I also have a laptop so that I have some portability. 

[timendres]

If he is creating videos for YT and TikTok, many media creators prefer MacOS. But you should ask if he prefers Windows or MacOS. If he prefers MacOS, the latest M1 iMac is a nice machine. Expensive compared to most Windows AIO computers, but it is an excellent machine.

[robblok]

10 hours ago, timendres said:

If he is creating videos for YT and TikTok, many media creators prefer MacOS. But you should ask if he prefers Windows or MacOS. If he prefers MacOS, the latest M1 iMac is a nice machine. Expensive compared to most Windows AIO computers, but it is an excellent machine.

We are talking about an 8yo kid, id say that is a bit overkill for a young kid. Apple might be nice but indeed really expensive plus your locked in apple for life (not a good thing) I would have less problems with apple if they made it easier to migrate but they do everything they can to lock you in their system making it hard going from apple to any other system be it linux android or pc. 

[worgeordie]

I think better to buy a mini PC  and a Monitor , you can fix the

mini PC to rear of Monitor , then if either fails you just replace

with new one, with all in one ,if it breaks ........

regards Worgeordie