5 Of The Best all-in-one PCs

5 Best all-in-one PCs

All-in-ones are interesting little (or in some cases, big) PCs. They're desktops with integrated displays and are often built with laptop-grade parts. As such they've inherited a bad reputation for poor performance compared to their full-on desktop tower brethren. The stigma is not completely undeserved. Mobile graphics cards and processors have always lagged behind those made for personal computers.
However, the all-in-one form factor has its own advantages. These self-contained PCs take up less room than a giant full-size tower and don't create a giant tangle of USB and display cables. What's more, some all-in-one computers are doubling as giant tablets. When's the last time you were able to pick up your PC and screen off your work desk and ferry it over to work on the couch?
Without further ado, here are the best all-in-ones we've reviewed.

• Dell XPS 18

An 18-inch tablet-PC you can take on the go

The Dell XPS 18 blows away any notion that all-in-ones are hulking great machines tied to desks. Essentially a massive touch-operated tablet that turns into a monitor when slipped into its stand, the 18.5-inch device is designed to be used all around the house and is a great choice for online TV addicts. It's a capable PC too thanks to its Intel Core i7 CPU, Intel HD 4400 graphics and 8GB of RAM at the top end.

• iMac with Retina 5K display

An expensive luxury, that might just be worth it

While Apple's iMac with Retina 5K display is one of the most impressive all-in-ones around, its price places it out of the reach of most people. Apple's older 27-inch iMac possesses many of its best qualities without the wallet-intimidating price tag. Apple redesigned its iMac line in 2013 to give it an attractive slimline chassis that houses a sharp 27-inch IPS display with a respectable 2,560 x 1,440 pixel-resolution. Excellent build quality means it's a PC built to last, and a fine option for productivity work, watching movies or light gaming.

• LG Chromebase

A Chrome OS desktop with simplicity in mind

The LG Chromebase's biggest strength is its simplicity. Essentially a Chromebook crammed into a 21.5-inch 1080p IPS display, the Chromebase runs Google's ChromeOS that lets you do basic PC tasks using Chrome's growing list of web apps. If you have no need for the bells and whistles that come with Windows 8.1 and OS X and don't mind relying on the internet to get things done, the LG Chromebase is an attractive, affordable and convenient all-in-one.

• MSI AG240 All-in-One

Gaming performance in an all-in-one package

All-in-ones tend to be advertised as family-friendly alternatives to desktop PCs due to their suitability for the living room, but the MSI AG240 isn't interested in that. The 23.6-inch AG240 is a gnarly gaming PC in an all-in-one's chassis, combining an Intel Core i7 CPU with a powerful Nvidia GeForce GT860M GPU that's backed up by 16GB of RAM. If you're hankering for a large touchscreen display with the innards of a gaming PC, the dare-to-be-different AG240 fits the bill.

MSI AG240 All-in-One

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• Lenovo Horizon 2

Lenovo flexible all-in-one is ready to play games

Like the Dell XPS 18, the Horizon 2 is an all-in-one Windows 8.1 PC that can transform into different positions, allowing it to be used as a large tablet. But unlike Dell's machine, the Horizon 2 lets you connect HDMI-equipped devices such as Blu-ray players or games console to be used at its native 1,920 x 1,080 pixel resolution. The XPS 18 packs quite a punch itself thanks to the Intel Core i5 CPU and Nvidia GeForce GT 840A GPU inside that can handle demanding games. It also has the latest 802.11ac Wi-Fi and comes with a capacious 1TB hard disk

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The Best Satellite Television Receivers

Portable Satellite TV Receiver

Are you still lost in purchasing an amazing portable satellite tv receiver but do not know which one should be taken from many Satellite TVs with different brands? Congratulations! You are lucky to come to our page, which is dedicated to helping you make your decisions easier and more intelligent.

For your convenience, we did plenty of researches of various items for you. It is doubtless that excellent quality is the most important feature for an excellent product. Of course, we are able to provide you one with fantastic features. We have satellite TVs whose system are basically individual units, so people that live in remote areas can still enjoy the benefits of our products. Besides, they also provide packages that have both satellite TV services and satellite Internet services the diversity in programming. Also, we offer Satellite TVs with large capacity, high picture quality, free premium channels and the availability of programming in a number of foreign languages. Come on, I am sure that you can find one you like here.

All are in good quality and affordable. Select one and take it back your home!

Finding the Best Portable Satellite TV Receiver

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• Factory Remanufactured Dish Network 612 Dual Tuner Hd DVR Receiver Dish Network Buy Now

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• Satellite Receiver Dreambox 500s DMbox Buy Now

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Sony Xperia Z3

Sony Xperia Z3 review

Our Verdict 

An improvement over the Z2, but not a huge one. It does pack a great, bright screen but needs to be better packaged to fight the best on the market. 

• For 

Brilliant battery 

PS4 Remote Play is brilliant 

Premium build 

• Against 

Bugs in the operating system 

4K still doesn't work properly

The Sony Xperia Z3 isn't a phone that you'd have thought would make a lot of sense. After all, the Xperia Z2 was a nifty little handset and yet it's now been replaced barely six months later.

The new phone, from the outside at least, doesn't seem to add much more into the mix, merely improving things a little more and tweaking elements that were already pretty good. So has Sony really done enough?

• Buy Sony Xperia Z3 Compact Smartphone (11,7 cm (4,6 Zoll) HD-TRILUMINOS-Display, 2,5 GHz-Quad-Core-Prozessor, 20,7 Megapixel-Kamera, Android 4.4) meergrün at Amazon Germany for €399.00

The Xperia Z3, which lands alongside a new tablet and mini phone to complete the family (the Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact and the Xperia Z3 Compact), is a really good phone that does it all, on paper at least.

Sony told me that the reason these flagships are coming thick and fast is simply because it wants to start making waves in the high-end smartphone market, and the way to do that is always offer the best innovation.

That's perhaps true, and perhaps customers won't get too confused by seeing a new phone on the shelves and advertised all the time, but there's no doubt it kills the lustre that might have been built by users having to wait a year to get the best of Sony in a smartphone.

It needs to work as well - while Sony does OK in some markets (it's still got a lot of fans in the UK, for example) the profits are dipping in the smartphone business, and something needs to be done to arrest the slide.

So is the Xperia Z3 that phone? It does come in attractive colours (white, black, copper gold and 'silver green') and has a shrunken frame, improved camera and that all important Sony PS4 Remote Play compatibility.

Black, white, a silvery-green and copper are your choices

Those things alone would be good enough for most, and the IP68 rating (which might not really change the way 99% of people use their phone) is at least a good 'peace of mind' marketing tool.

But what about when the new Xperia Z4 lands on shelves? Surely this model will be seen as clumsy and outdated too, despite a lower price point?

The rumours of the Xperia Z4 have been heating up really quick and we'll likely see the handset on shelves by the end of the year.

The latest rumours suggest it'll be a much bigger update than between the Xperia Z2 and Xperia Z3, especially if it comes toward the end of the year as that'll be almost a year after the Xperia Z3 was released.

Design

The design of the Sony Xperia Z3 is something that surprised me from the word go - I didn't expect to be as impressed as I am.

This is a phone that has dimensions of 146 x 72 x 7.3 mm, which compared to the Sony Xperia Z2 (146.8 x 73.3 x 8.2 mm) doesn't seem all that different.

But the slightly shrunken nature of the chassis is very nice indeed (especially the millimeter thickness shaved off the phone), and something that I really want to laud the brand for.

The ergonomics still don't quite impress - this is, after all, a slab of light-feeling glass encased in a metal band, and the flat edges make it slightly harder to hold and grip (and easier to drop, as I did a couple of times).

But in terms of aesthetics, it somehow impresses me every time I look at it. Yes, the bezels above and below the display aren't anything to get excited about (they're just too large to look nice, but presumably pack some important components) but the overall package looks premium.

OK to hold, easy to drop

The copper colour I had on test is also something I didn't expect to like - after all, this is really a brown phone - but it again seems to exude a quality that belies the slightly lower price tag.

On top of that, the edges have been rounded to make holding the phone an altogether more pleasant experience. I wasn't expecting to feel much difference between this and the Z2 given the similarity in dimensions, so this was a nice surprise.

Why the dock connector?

The rest of the phone is largely as expected: the Omnibalance key at the side is pretty easy to strike, and although the volume key is positioned just below and theoretically too close, the larger size of the phone makes it easy enough to differentiate in the hand.

I do hate that Sony keeps putting a dock connector on the left-hand side of the device - this confuses in the hand, feeling a bit like the volume key, and I can't see that it's something many people would actually use given the smaller sales of such aftermarket accessories.

Then there are the port covers. We clearly need these to make sure the phone is fully waterproof of course, but the problem here is that they ever so slightly stick out, even when pressed in as hard as possible.

The main culprit is the cover for the microSD and SIM card (which is now a nano option, showing Sony is starting to fall in line with the rest of the industry) which just protrudes slightly and therefore ruins the sleek, premium air the Sony Xperia Z3 has.

 

     The port covers just don't stay flush

The other change to the design is the nylon covers in the corners of the phone - apparently these are cleverly added to stop the phone looking so damaged. According to Sony, most phones land on these corners when dropped, so putting the covers on helps stop the tarnished metal.

Except, well, it doesn't. The corners on my review device are fine, but even before dropping the phone later in the test, there were already two small nicks in the metal band in just over a week.

This is the same thing we saw with the iPhone 5, and anyone that's owned one of those and kept it out of a case will see the scratched up monstrosities that some people are walking around with.

I don't think the Xperia Z3 will suffer to quite that degree, but it's interesting to see the effect happening so quickly.

The front facing speakers are worth a mention here too. Not only do they help to justify the oversized bezels, they also provide some pretty good and rich sound.

Great front facing speakers

While not in the same league as the HTC One M8, the smaller and more discreet design will appeal to those that want good quality audio without the compromise in aesthetics.

And Sony, of course, continues with the dedicated camera button. I mention it last as its presence is always something to be celebrated: an easier way to fire up one of the most-used applications on the phone and a more stable method of snapping away.

Thank you Sony, long may the camera key continue.

Some of you may be wondering if it's now worth waiting for the Xperia Z4 and if the rumours turn out to be true, it will be.

According to various sources the design will be of the same language as previous Sony Xperia products but this time around it's going to have much thinner top and bottom bezels with the iconic square corners rounded off.

None of the rumours are anywhere near confirmed yet but it's worth bearing in mind the Xperia Z4 may be a drastically different looking smartphone when considering what Sony offering you want to pick.