Tuesday 8 December 2009

All-In One Desktop

My Compaq Presario F700 is already two years old and getting inefficient dealing with heavy photo editing tasks, and HP's stupidity in designing this laptop so it works perfectly on Windows Vista and disabling the mic function on XP... until today I couldn't find a software update from HP to fix the problem!

I planned to get an all-in-one desktop when I went back to Malaysia last week. I find myself not really needing a laptop coz the current one always sitting at home which I use mainly to get online, edit photos and watch movies. An all-in-one desktop is more powerful without having to move around with a bulky CPU, for nomads like me who move around once in a while. Went to PC fair with my mind stick to either Dell or HP.

Dell Inspiron One 19 - the cheapest all-in-one desktop available in the market selling at RM 2,399
  • Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 2.93 GHz
  • Windows 7 Home Premium
  • 18.5" screen (no touch screen function)
  • 4GB DDR2 SDRAM
  • 500GB hard drive
  • Single drive 8x DVD RW
  • Intel GMA x4500 graphics

HP Touchsmart 300 - my original choice, better spec overall selling at RM 3,588
  • AMD Athlon II Dual Core 2.70 GHz
  • Windows 7 Home Premium
  • 20" TFT screen with touch capabilities
  • 4GB DDR3
  • 500GB hard drive
  • SuperMulti drive
  • NVDIA GeForce G210 512MB
I went straight to HP booth at PC fair with cash ready in my pocket. Too bad the sales person was busy selling to a richer looking guy and turned his back on me. Therefore I decided to walk around and give myself more options.

Acer was never in my mind until I saw this in brochure - Z5610 at RM 3,388
  • Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 2.33 GHz
  • Windows 7 Home Premium
  • 23" Full HD screen with touch capabilities
  • 4GB DDR3 SDRam
  • 1,000GB hard drive
  • SuperMulti drive
  • ATI Radeon HD 4670 1GB DDR3 memory graphic
At that competitive price with the specs that outdone the HP, this is the obvious choice. Unfortunately Acer got the brochure ready at PC fair but failed to deliver the model to Malaysia on time... arrrgghh...

Now I'm back in Doha and I doubt I will be able to find the latest Acer model here until after couple of months... I will definitely get this when back in CNY!