All-in-one for dad, Pavilion 27-d0409a good enough?

[fldujit]

As the Contractually Designated Tech Support™ member of the family I need to advise my dad to buy something prebuilt. His usage is general computing, web browsing etc. nothing fancy. He found an HP Pavilion 27-d0109a for around $1500 CAD. Now I don't know a thing about laptop hardware but I pulled up the spec sheet and was wondering specifically two things, is the i5-10400T at 2.0 any good for lightweight usage while maintaining decent response time when booting or loading a web page for example. The other concerning spec was the 16GB DDR4-2666 SDRAM in 1x16 config. For me personally 1x16 would be a no go unless I plan to upgrade in a few months time, but does it make a real world difference outside of gaming? Other thing about that RAM is the speed, that sounds quite low for 2021 but again maybe it's a myopic hw enthusiast's perspective.

 

I'm tempted to go with the, "do you like how it looks, can it browse the websites you like to browse, if yes take it" approach but I'd appreciate any feedback.

[Akira Shimazu]

tbh the imac 2018 better tho. for price. if it were only general use there are lot of plenty AIO out there who were cheaper

[ET_Explorer]

6 minutes ago, fldujit said:

He found an HP Pavilion 27-d0109a for around $1500 CAD

He won't be able to upgrade it, since those type of computers are limited to upgrading.

Only thing upgradeable is the ram and ssd.

[fldujit]

Just now, ET_Explorer said:

He won't be able to upgrade it, since those type of computers are limited to upgrading.

Only thing upgradeable is the ram and ssd.

I know it's unfortunate but that's a compromise I'm willing to make given part availability and my current incapacity to go and build him a PC

[fldujit]

5 minutes ago, Wolfycapt said:

tbh the imac 2018 better tho. for price. if it were only general use there are lot of plenty AIO out there who were cheaper

I was thinking the same, but I doubt he will manage wilth MacOS (the same old windows he's used to is already a challenge). It would relieve me of my Tech Support™ duties since I've never used a Mac so that a positive, maybe?

[Latvian Video]

23 minutes ago, fldujit said:

I know it's unfortunate but that's a compromise I'm willing to make given part availability and my current incapacity to go and build him a PC

Buying a prebuilt is a lot better than that all-in-one.

The gpu is about the same as a 1030
The cpu is about the same as a i3 10320 or a ryzen 3 3100

Edit: The PC is fully upgradable

[fldujit]

4 minutes ago, Latvian Video said:

Buying a prebuilt is a lot better than that all-in-one.

The gpu is about the same as a 1030
The cpu is about the same as a i3 10320 or a ryzen 3 3100

Edit: The PC is fully upgradable

That's a fair point there might be way more performance for the same price in prebuilt PC than aio. Thanks for your input

[Selle]

Single channel ram will not make a noticeable difference in general office/web browsing. 2666 is the fastest ram supported by the 10500T, but again, both the ram speed and the cpu itself is plenty fast enough for general office type work

 

I would look at small formfactor like a Intel nuc, HP Mini, Lenovo Tiny or similar 

[Akira Shimazu]

why not making Ryzen windows ITX pc? cheaper and smalll

[Darkseth]

21 hours ago, fldujit said:

I was thinking the same, but I doubt he will manage wilth MacOS (the same old windows he's used to is already a challenge). It would relieve me of my Tech Support™ duties since I've never used a Mac so that a positive, maybe?

i've read a few times from some people, who put their parents an iMac on their desk, replacing Windows.

Suddenly, the parents didn't called so much anymore because he needed to fix something.

 

MacOS isn't more difficult than Windows, give it a few tries, and it's good.

 

 

My opinion: If you really want an All in One: iMac. Period. It's simply the best.
Windows PCs as All in One's are so rare, there aren't good options, and often the Displays are crap. Manufacturers don't even try to make it a great product.

The Displaypanel from a Retina iMac (220+ ppi, 500 nits, 100% sRGB/DCI-P3) is SO good, even with 800 dollar you wouldn't find a compareable Display.

 

Before you waste 1500 bucks on a HP All in One, just get the M1 iMac 24". It will be silent, it will consume so low energy, and it will be faster than ANY other Windows AIO.

Plus, Speakers are good enough so you don't need others, Webcam is good if you need it, the overall aesthetics are very very simple and clean.

 

Oh yea: Single Channel vs. Dual Channel. You will not notice any difference under normal everyday-tasks. Not with browsing, not with documents, not with office.

 

 

 

TL;DR: Try to get the M1 iMac 24".
Maybe look for an Intel iMac 5k 27" from the last 2-3 years, second hand for <1500.

 

That HP Pavillion 27-d1009ng... Since it's not just a 1080p screen, but 2560x1440 and 350 nits, it isn't that bad. Also, i5 11th Gen, even if it's just a -T Model with 35w tdp.

 

However: Even here, the M1 Chip will be noticeable faster, even in everyday Tasks. The responsiveness of these M1 chips is something else.

[fldujit]

14 hours ago, Wolfycapt said:

why not making Ryzen windows ITX pc? cheaper and smalll

Unfortunately with travel restrictions I won't be able to see him for a while.

 

4 hours ago, Darkseth said:

My opinion: If you really want an All in One: iMac. Period. It's simply the best.
Windows PCs as All in One's are so rare, there aren't good options, and often the Displays are crap. Manufacturers don't even try to make it a great product.

The Displaypanel from a Retina iMac (220+ ppi, 500 nits, 100% sRGB/DCI-P3) is SO good, even with 800 dollar you wouldn't find a compareable Display.

 

Before you waste 1500 bucks on a HP All in One, just get the M1 iMac 24". It will be silent, it will consume so low energy, and it will be faster than ANY other Windows AIO.

Plus, Speakers are good enough so you don't need others, Webcam is good if you need it, the overall aesthetics are very very simple and clean.

Yeah thanks for the input, I feel like that's definitely something I overlooked, iMac displays are miles ahead of what you get on HP AIO. And I forgot about speakers but reviews of the new mac were all about the new speakers, all of that for a similar price. Sounds like a good option.

 

4 hours ago, Darkseth said:

Oh yea: Single Channel vs. Dual Channel. You will not notice any difference under normal everyday-tasks

That's what I was expecting, I see LTT and GN reviews pointing out frametime consistency drops but it makes sense that for internet browsing, occasional excel sheet you wouldn't see a difference.