Best all in one PC

[djanash@mac.com]

Since were in the process of creating a small FD "expansion" I was wondering if any can recommend a good all-in -one PC. Space is at a premium. VESA wall compatible would be great but screen resolution and OD system requirements the only needs here - don't need a big sound or graphic card

[stjames70]

May I suggest you consider an iMac:

1) Easy to manage with Remote Desktop from Apple. It will also manage any WinTel as long as you install tightVNC
2) Mac screens can be protected using film from photodon
3) Wireless keyboard and mice can be protected with keyboard covers and cover film from Henry Schein
4) Best all-in-one form factor I could find when I outfitted my office. VMware Fusion allow virtualization of Windows 7 or XP. Pretty speedy since OD is so efficient.

[Rickliftig]

Tiger Direct has some HP all in ones (no touchscreen) for $299 with windows 7 pre-installed.

[Jay]

All-in-ones are hard. You pay a premium for the form factor and often have to sacrifice functionality. The two main issues I have found are:

1. Appearance. Ok, so you don't mind that it is no iMac, but you don't want something that is significantly uglier than a plain old LCD monitor, either.

2. Operating System: For some reason the vast majority of All-in-Ones use Windows 7 Home. That's perfectly fine unless you want to create a Domain.

If I had to choose I would pick this one:

ASUS ET2011ET-B008G 20" All-in-One PC Pentium E5800(3.20GHz) 4GB DDR3 500GB HDD Capacity Intel GMA X4500 Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6883220091

At $729 though, it is not cheap.

[djanash@mac.com]

I bought 3 yesterday - $1000 with shipping - great value, hope fully working them won't be tough - have great help with my IT guy, I'm sure he'll figure it out, maybe need a network drive too

[Jay]

Oh the one you got is Windows 7 Pro. It is indeed a great bargain. I should have known that anything Rick recommends is top notch. Excellent choice.

[Rickliftig]

When I outfitted my office about three years ago, I opted for off-lease HP Business Class computers. I bought a bunch of them (they were all $250 or less bundled with XP Pro) and in case of failures, figured I could swap out the parts as needed. Honestly, they have all been stable and consistent. Open Dental places very little demand on a computer. A graphics program for digital radiography should only place a moderate demand on the graphics system.

The two places where an "all in one" is lacking are - expandability - especially if you wanted to install a second monitor and repairability. But at $300 a pop, get an extra and keep it in the closet, just in case. I think over the long term, cheap replaceable terminals make a lot of sense.

As for servers, I again bought two identical Dell Servers - once again - used... these are work horses. The new old stock one is the main server and the used one sits in my basement at home, more or less backed up (I could bring it up to current backup status at any time, but choose to test my backups on it every two weeks or so). These servers were only about $300 each and they are workhorses.

As far as the second monitor solution, I would rather have a wireless tablet or laptop and give it to the patient to hold. The more infra-structure (ie. cabling) you need to place, the greater the likelihood of obsolesence. Also, in my office, I do not believe in having the movies, CNN and video games going on - too confusing and hopefully, no one will be in the office long enough to watch an entire movie!

I did not skimp on the network wiring (CAT 6) or the switch (Cisco). And I had a pro (NOT ME!) wire the office!

[teethdood]

All-in-one: I went to All-in-Ones from Lenovo IdeaCentre A700 touch screens, VESA mounted right into chair with a swivel mount that swings from left arm to right arm looping around legs. Pretty happy with them so far, but they did cost me $750 a pop. A little nice wow factor, but not essential. Non-touchscreen HP all-in-ones as Rick suggested would work fine.

Second monitor: I'm thinking about mounting a TV flat to the ceiling (in earthquake prone California). The A700 also has HDMI in/out which allows me to plug the TV in as a second monitor, but running the HDMI wire cleanly is proving to be a challenge. If you can make it work, think about investing in an AIO with HDMI out.

A little off-topic:
A lot of people are opting for Cat5e/6 cabling. You need to make sure your cables are fire-proof (plenum-type) since most likely they're going to be strung across your drop-down ceiling, can't go cheap with that. I bought over an almost brand new office (doc went bankrupt) with existing Cat6 ready to go. I actually pulled the cables out, and went with N wifi. You're probably thinking I am crazy but N wifi is plenty fast enough and so far perfectly secured that cables are just a pain to mess with (plug comes loose, recrimping, etc.)