Outside of whether you want a traditional 'box' and separate monitor and accessories, it's the specifications (and what you’ll pay for them) that are the key difference between desktops and all-in-ones. You’ll have plenty of connectivity options with on board 10/100/1000 Mbit LAN and Intel WLAN AC9462 802.11ac allowing speedy connectivity to the internet over 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz bands. The in-built Bluetooth 5.1 allows you to connect wireless mice, headsets and more. Monitors vary wildly in price, with the top end ‘8K’ models priced highly due to their super-detailed screens. But, you should be able to find a reasonably priced model if you know what you’re looking for. How to buy a monitor for your desktop PC If you're planning on using the touch screen at least 50% of the time, look for systems with screens that can recline down to horizontal, or almost horizontal. This lets you use the system like a large tablet, so you don't have to hold your arm out constantly to use the touch screen. Think about using an ATM: The vertical screen is fine for a 90-second transaction, but it would become tiring after 10 minutes or more. It comes down to simple ergonomics. (Credit: Joseph Maldonado) While there are a wide selection of peripherals for all budgets, it’s important to consider your own requirements and not be tempted by flashy products that you won’t make use of. How to buy a keyboard

If you're a casual, everyday user looking for an all-in-one desktop, you should be happy with this one. For those of you who may not make extensive use of the mobility, we'd still recommend it as an effective general-use AIO. For those who may want to move it around the house or office, it's painless to do so, and various family members can enjoy it for a range of tasks. Just note that the performance doesn't hit the higher end of some more potent AIOs, if that's what you need. For the uninitiated, all-in-one computers (or AIOs) are essentially desktop monitors with a whole PC crammed in behind the display - but that doesn't mean they should be written off as underpowered compared to full-size desktop towers. Plenty of these have excellent specs, allowing them to handle tasks like gaming, graphic design, and video editing. The M1 iMac occupying our top spot, for example, uses Apple's excellent M1 chip to deliver impressive performance across a wide range of workloads. Finance is only available to permanent UK residents aged >18, subject to status, terms and conditions apply. Regardless, towers are still better than all-in-one PCs when you need to do intensive work like CAD/CAM or scientific data processing, and most of them are expandable in ways far beyond even the most upgrade-generous AIO on the market. PC gamers, especially, will get much more value out of a stand-alone tower in which they can swap out a graphics card than in a fixed-config AIO PC.Read our full Dell Inspiron 24 All-in-One review How to choose the best all-in-one computer for you

The best all-in-one computer right now is Apple's iMac (24-inch, 2021). Although it's a little older, having been released in 2021, it's still the best in terms of design, performance, and value in our opinion. Ergonomic keyboards - Ergonomic keyboards are designed to feel more natural to type on, and can be a boon if you spend hours at a time typing. They tend to put less stress on the wrists and forearms, helping to cut down on chronic pain and repetitive strain. They take some getting used to, as the button placement is slightly different to a traditional keyboard. If possible, try one out before buying. Among the many things we appreciate here are its movable 16MP webcam and excellent selection of ports. On test, however, it's its stunner of a display that hogs the spotlight. This height-adjustable, 34-inch, 5K 21:9 screen isn't just gorgeous; it's also bright with 500 nits of brightness and 98% coverage of the DCI-P3 gamut, which makes it ideal for video editors that work in that color space. Adding an extra terabyte or so is also easy with an external drive. SSDs cost more per gigabyte than regular spinning hard drives, but SSDs boot up and wake from sleep so much faster than regular drives that we highly recommend them as boot drives. Unfortunately, some AIO PCs are hard or impossible to upgrade yourself, so make sure you get what you need at the start.

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Less powerful - as mentioned above, they often use laptop-grade components instead of more powerful desktop-grade ones. This is fine, but if absolute performance is a must, you should opt for a big tower instead. Equipped with a 10-core Intel Xeon processor, workstation grade graphics and a mind-bending 128GB of RAM, this machine is pure power. Despite its age, this is probably still the best all-in-one computer for anyone that wants to keep the sleek iMac design, but needs serious power in a workstation.

You'll have plenty of connectivity options with on board 10/100/1000 Mbit LAN and Intel WLAN AC3168 ab/g/n/ac allowing speedy connectivity to the internet. The in-built Bluetooth 4.1 allows you to connect wireless mice, headsets and more. If you’re tight on space, you might want to consider getting an all-in-one computer because it will only be the size of the monitor and stand - no tower required. What are the disadvantages of all-in-one computers? Ergonomic mouse - You’ll be using you mouse a lot, so it’s important that it feels comfortable. Ergonomic mouse designs pay special attention to the contours of your hand, with natural button placement. They’re not for everyone, and can feel a bit strange initially, but can be useful for eliminating some conditions, such as RSI. Also handy is an HDMI input port, which gives you the flexibility to use the AIO as a discrete display for a separate PC, a game console, or another video source. It also gives an AIO with a sharp display some potential utility years down the road as a stand-alone monitor, when the PC portion inside becomes obsolete. So, you just started shopping for an AIO. The first thing to look at (no pun intended) is the display—the centerpiece of any AIO. While some less-expensive AIO PCs will come with panels smaller than 23 inches, those are better suited to exceedingly cramped spaces such as classroom labs or dorm rooms. (Go much smaller than that, and you might as well just buy a big-screen laptop.) What you really want is a display at least 23 inches on the diagonal—and larger is better if you can do it. The biggest all-in-ones we've seen to date have curved 34-inch screens.

Because AIOs tend to use more powerful processors than laptops do, all-in-one PCs will execute CPU-intensive tasks more rapidly, on the whole. Some 3D games will run better, too, thanks to the discrete graphics chips in some A-grade AIO PCs. To find AIOs with discrete chips, look for graphics solutions dubbed GeForce GTX or RTX, or Radeon RX, as opposed to Intel Iris Xe, UHD, or HD Graphics, or AMD Radeon (no "RX") integrated graphics. (Credit: Molly Flores) Under the hood is the innovative 8th Gen Intel Core i5-8250U Quad-Core processor delivering next level performance with up to 3.4 GHz with Intel's Turbo Boost Technology with 6 MB cache ideal for running office applications such as Microsoft Word or multimedia applications. A faster processor and the addition of USB-C ports would make the IdeaCentre more appealing, but would likely see it leave budget pricing. Lenovo's included mouse, keyboard, and speakers are all better than you might expect, and you'll find a wide-enough array of HDMI, Ethernet, and USB-A ports. If you're outfitting a den or family room on a budget, the little Lenovo is an excellent affordable homework station and online kiosk (and DVD movie viewing station to boot). Media keys - For those using their PCs to play music and movies, a keyboard with dedicated media buttons can be extremely convenient. The inclusion of play, pause and volume buttons saves having to navigate to the program with the mouse. How to buy a PC mouse If an all-in-one has discrete graphics, we run it through many of the same benchmarks we use for gaming PCs. That includes 3DMark Fire Strike, as well as the built-in benchmark tools of games like Rise of the Tomb Raider, Hitman and Grand Theft Auto V. If an all-in-one is made to support virtual reality, we'll also run the SteamVR Performance Test.

The HP Envy 34 all-in-one computer is undeniably powerful, offering an excellent iMac alternative to Windows users who want outstanding design, fantastic features, and great performance for a relatively affordable price. Our coveted five-star rating is rarely given, which should speak volumes about how impressive it is. That's despite the fact that it runs a last-gen Intel processor and a mobile GPU. To touch-screen or not to touch-screen—that is a question of personal preference. The tiled Start interface in Windows 10 was designed with touch panels in mind, and it makes interacting with your various applications as easy as ever. Although these can be fun and functional for families, a touch screen isn't 100% necessary for everyone, especially if you plan to use the all-in-one like a traditional computer. If you're looking at an Apple iMac all-in-one, on the other hand, the decision is made for you: macOS doesn't take advantage of touch screens, and no Macs offer them. (Credit: Molly Flores) The E27401 features a large 27” Full HD AHVA Display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 allowing for sharp/crisp replication of colours on screen. How far away you sit from the monitor is also key, as the closer you are, the more likely you’ll be to spot lower resolution. It’s also important to remember that if you choose a higher resolution, the objects on the screen (such as program icons) will become smaller. You can delve into the PC settings to increase their default sizes, however.Because they have bigger screens, AIO PCs are physically larger than laptops. Of course, you give up the ability to easily move them from room to room, but AIOs are still more portable than tower PCs. All-in-one PCs don't have the expandability that you're going to find in most towers, but they do tend to have better looks. Under the hood is the innovative 10th Gen Intel Core i7-1065G1 Quad-Core processor delivering next level performance with up to 3.9 GHz with Intel’s Turbo Boost Technology with 8 MB cache ideal for running office applications such as Microsoft Word or multimedia applications. Though it's not a concern to those with 20/10 vision, a larger screen and a higher native resolution will let you increase the font size on your Word documents or Excel spreadsheets while still keeping a lot of information on the screen at one time. Desktop screens tend to be brighter than laptop displays in general, as well. Look for in-plane switching (IPS) technology for the best screen quality. IPS screens are inherently better at off-axis viewing, which means you won't have to be sitting perfectly centered to see accurate colors and all the detail in your images. HP's Envy 34 is one of the classiest showpieces in the all-in-one (AIO) arena. Its centerpiece is a gorgeous 34-inch widescreen display with 5K resolution that boosts your productivity by letting you arrange app windows to mimic a dual-monitor setup. HP's minimal stand belies this AIO's ample power, including Thunderbolt 4 ports and easily upgraded memory and storage. (Like all AIO desktops, it's not a fire-breathing gaming rig, though mobile-grade Nvidia GeForce GPUs are available.) Who It's For