The Computer Buzz

September 24th, 2009

Nome and Paul Van Middlesworth - owners - The Computer Factory
 

All-In-Ones (AIOs) and Netbooks

When we opened The Computer Factory in 1995, things were much simpler. If you needed a computer you bought a tower the color of a Manila envelope and a 14 or 15 inch, 40-pound CRT monitor. That’s all there was to it. Today there are many configurations each tailored to specific user needs. Take a look at the newest AIOs and netbooks.

The motherboard is the heart of every PC, notebook or desktop. It contains the circuitry and connectors for external devices like speakers, monitors, LAN (Internet) and plenty of USB connectors for peripherals like cameras, scanner/printers, external storage devices and car readers. The motherboard has internal connectors for the hard drive/s, optical drive/s, CPU, RAM (memory), power supply and control systems. Most motherboards also have extra general-purpose internal connectors (PCI and PCI-X slots) for additional functions like TV tuners or special high end gaming, audio or video devices.

The simplest desktop PCs are the new All-In One (AIO) PCs based on the Intel Atom 1.6GHz CPU. The entire computer is built into the 18.5-inch flat screen monitor housing giving the system the appearance of a large LCD monitor with attached keyboard and mouse.

This little beauty has 5 USB ports, a Gb. of RAM, 160Gb SATA II hard drive, DVD-R/W, WiFi, multi-card reader, Hi-def speakers and weighs only 9 Lbs. Best of all, it comes with Windows XP. This All-In-One PC sells in the $450 range and will do most activities as fast or faster than a $1000 Vista based PC. It is ideal for Internet, movies, music, photo editing, presentations and any text-based software like MS Office, Turbo Tax, Quicken etc. It would not be good for high-end gaming, Auto-cad, animation, solids modeling or any other high-end graphics tasks. Last week we brought in a couple of AIOs to check out. We added a second Gb. of RAM and a quality keyboard and mouse (wireless keyboard and mouse are available too.) At $450 the AIOs seem to us to be an excellent value

The AIO is an ideal system for anyone who likes the comfort of the full size screen and keyboard, but also needs portability. House-sitters, college students and folks with two homes would relish these features. They are great space savers too.

The 10-inch netbooks are the Notebook equivalent of the AIO desktop. Using the same Intel Atom CPU, 160Gb hard drive and 2Gb of RAM these are very capable little PCs. Weighing only 2 pounds, the netbooks do not have an optical drive (CD/DVD). Programs can be loaded with external USB drives or jump drives or directly through the LAN (Internet) connection. The notebooks come with built in web-cams and Windows XP operating systems. The newest models with 6 cell battery packs provide up to 7 hours of run time without a recharge and sell for around $375. The netbooks are ideal for people who travel extensively and need to maintain Internet contacts. They are not good for extended use because of the small screens and pinchy little keyboards.