All-in-on PC's: Replacing Hardware?

[oguruma]

I am moving into a new house in a few months that will permit me to have a "man cave". I'd like to put a computer in there just for browsing/watching youtube and things of the such. I am curious, is it possible/feasible to replace hardware in the current Windows All in One PC's? Say, for instance, the power supply craps out, I can replace one in a normal PC for $50, would it be within reason to do the same thing on an All in One PC? I like the streamlinedness (word?) and space saving of the all in one PCs, but I also like ability to repair my PCs myself.

Any input is appreciated.

 

[proud2deviate]

To be honest, I wouldn't count on it. I've only had direct personal experience with one all-in-one, and the sucker didn't even take a normal power supply like a desktop; it wanted a proprietary 12V AC adapter. Ever since the first iMacs came out, I've often thought of the All-in-one platform as something akin to the bastard child of a laptop and a desktop, comprising the worst aspects of both. No portability, very limited expandability, performance and power compromised with size and style, miniaturization and specialization of components, etc.

Like I said, I'm speaking from fairly limited personal experience, here. However, a quick bit of research is enough to make me think your concerns are valid. Although, there's probably an all-in-one option out there that is geared more toward a DIY capable clientele.

Pretty much every form-factor of computer has ups and downs. Desktops are big and clunky, but easy to work on. Laptops are smaller and portable, but can be a chore to expand and repair, if it's even possible. Netbooks are smaller still, and a lot cheaper than a desktop replacement laptop, but they're pretty much never going to be much more than what they are out of the box.

Now, with all that said, I'd venture to state that pretty much any computer on the market today, from the largest desktop to palm-sized tablets, will work for watching YouTube and generally plunking around on the net. Every type has its' trade-offs, and I think a main trade-off of a all-in-one is being able to work on the sucker yourself.

Now all you have to do is wait a couple minutes for someone to post, prove me wrong, and solve all your problems. Start the clock. . .

 

[wildmanh]

I agree with Proud2, most of them use Proprietary power supplies, either internal or more likely external.. About the only thing that you can service your self is the Memory and hard drives (some have 2). Sometimes you can swap out the DVD drive and CPU with out to much trouble, but thats about it. An All-In-One computer IMO is great for a kitchen, or other room that doesn't have a TV or a convient way to hide a tower (Mini ITX is small and I'll get into them in a minute).

If you are planning on putting a TV in your Man cave or have a small area where you can hide a large book sized object, consider the Mini ITX form Factor computers. They are crazy small, energy efficiant and you can build them your self. The Motherboards are about 6.75" x 6.75", cost between $70 and $150, have Sound video and networking on board. Depending on which board you buy, you can get support for the low power CPU's (intel Atom) up to Core i7's. Looks like a lot of the motherboards also have a single PCI-E 2.0 16x slot for Video upgrade. Pick all the parts you want, put it together and if there ever is a hardware problem you can get parts and service it your self.

Some boards come with DVI and VGA ports and some with DVI and HDMI. Which makes hooking this little computer to your TV or a LCD monitor a snap. Stash the box behind the TV/Monitor or in the Furnature around the TV and no one but you will know that it's there.

This Spring or summer I'd like to build a new computer for general desktop stuff like keeping finances, surfing the internet watching movies and the like. a Mini ITX machine with a Core I3 or I5 CPU 8GB of DDR3, a DVD burner, SSD for boot and Magnetic HD for data then pairing it with a LED Backlit LCD is what I'm thinking of doing. The Mini ITX computer could be places almost anywhere on my desk, share the same monitor, keyboard and mouse as my High Performance rig and would hardly take up any space at all. Then I could use the Mini ITX rig for everything but gaming and save some on my power bill.

 

[Bob W]

The other guys nailed it. Every all-in-one computer I've attempted to work on was full of proprietary non-standard components, and every one went to the dumpster. Replacement parts for older machines are grossly overpriced, if available at all. Troubleshooting was difficult, since you can't swap in known working components. Software for some unique discontinued hardware was non-existent. Even opening the cases and accessing the parts was a nightmare.

Consider those all-in-one machines disposable, like a cheap laptop.

Instead, as wildmanh suggests, build your own media computer using standardized small form-factor case and motherboard. Micro-ATX seems to be the most common, but there are others, such as Mini-ITX. Or to use the most common computer components, match a normal ATX motherboard with a desktop case or mini-tower case.

 

[joeslide]

I bought a Zotac ZBox on amazon for 300 bucks. Put that with a 42 inch HD tv and you got a pretty good setup. People are using the ZBoxes for Home Theater Personal Computers (HTPC). Forget about repairing though...

 

[Joshua J.]

Just find a second purpose for your tower, like a foot rest, coffee table, lamp stand, put some nice hardware in it and it becomes a decent space heater.

If you get your cables from Monoprice.com then you can pretty much stick a PC anywhere at almost no extra cost...

Now that I mention Monoprice, I actually have my PC in my room with 25' worth of USB, DVI, and audio cable running into the main basement so I can use my computer in two rooms at once. I'm pretty sure it cost less than $50 for the cables, and the delay you get with long cables isn't nearly as much as you'd think (the time it takes electrons to travel along a cable is measured in nano-seconds), signal quality is an issue once you go far enough, but 25' doesn't seem to make any difference to me.