Are all-in-noe computers any good?

#1

Hello!
I’m considering getting a stationary computer for my art. My old laptop is starting to have problems handling my bigger projects and that’s getting really annoying.

All-in-one computers look neat and all, but are they any good? Using only one outlet would be super handy. Less wires, less clutter, and it doesn’t look so “clunky”.
I do 2D work in photoshop and I use a Wacom intuos pro. Pretty sure I’ll keep doing that even when some of them seem to come with a pen that can write on the screen. I’ve also been playing with the idea of recording my stuff and putting it on YouTube, but honestly that’s not very likely, and not a must have capacity.

#2

Ok, so what’s the budget? Are leaning towards a specific brand, like Dell or HP?

#3

The budget plays a significant role indeed. Preconfigured PC’s are not bad when you know for what you need to care. And you can always put in more ram or a bigger graphics card at a later point. I would look for a gamer pc. They are already optimized towards graphics to a degree.

I would also look for a good monitor. It’s as much important as a good system. In best case you can plugin two monitors at a desktop system, i couldn’t live with one monitor anymore. And take care that the monitors have IPS panels, and not TN.

#4

Thank you for your replies. I’m honestly not sure about budget yet, but I’d gladly pay a little extra for less wires if everything else actually works well. I am looking for at least 16 gb ram though. That’s my main demand for a new computer. Honestly don’t picture myself upgrading stuff like ram, as I don’t have much patience with these things anymore.
As for brand; I have good experiences with apple and with HP, but I’m open for trying out others.

For my current set up, I usually have photoshop on my laptop and run YouTube on my iPad or Spotify on my phone, and sometimes I use my iPad as a secondary screen for my reference, so don’t think I’ll need another screen.

How is it with cleaning and maintenance? I have a friend who said they’re impossible to get cleaned and will likely “die” after a few years of use specially since I have cats.

#5

I don’t really understand what you mean with less wires. You can use a wireless mouse and a wireless keyboard. But a monitor and the pc still needs to be plugged in somewhere and to be connected with each other. Good monitors have slots at the back where you can hide the wire to some degree. But they are not wireless.

For the ram and since you don’t want to upgrade at a later point. I would go with 32 gb. You want to work with video material. This can quickly sum up.

Apple is no good machine for graphics anymore. I would go with Windows nowadays.

Still no word at the budget, so i can just guess.

For the processor, AMD is in front at the moment. So pick a pc with an actual model. Like an AMD 3700x or 3950x. For the graphics card. The problem with making graphics is that most graphics software still relies at Cuda. That’s a special piece of driver software to speed up things, and just available for Nvidia graphics cards. The AMD part, OpenGL or Vulkan, does not work everywhere. So i would have a look to pick a Nvidia graphics card.

If that was too technical for you, which i fear, then as told, pick an actual gamer pc with 32 gb ram, an AMD processor, a Nvidia graphics card and a Windows 10 Pro license. This should do the job.

And cleaning and maintenance is the way it is. Dust bunnies are the enemy of electronic hardware. You have to remove them from time to time :slight_smile:

Kind regards - Tiles

#6

Hey, yeah that is a bit too technical. I know photoshop requires more ram on a Mac to run, but not sure why, but I do like how reliable they are (or used to be). It seems the only All-in-one Windows computer available in Norway with more that 16 gb ram is the Surface Studio 2 which has a Nvidia graphics card.
Budgetwise it’s a bit expensive, but not too expensive. I haven’t really decided how much to spend, but computers usually come on sale around Easter :). Should I decide it’s too much I guess I could just go with a similar model down in ram. It’s still going to be way better than my laptop, haha

(With less wires I just meant less outlets. Like a traditional computer would require one for the screen and one for the CPU, but All-in-one it’s supposedly integrated - so only one plug. Big bonus with a wireless keypad though.)