BristolUK

So...as previously chatted over, I'd like a bigger screen than my 15.6 laptop for movie/tv watching.

TV with USB/HDMI capability not yet an option (until one packs up) and plugging into a bigger, stand-alone, monitor gives a very inferior picture.

Having a bit more money to play with these days I noticed an all-in-one computer in the latest Best Buy flyer for $650.

It's way better than its current need which is likely to be play back only. Nevertheless, it's Win10, would give me the opportunity of getting used to it and could seemlessly take over if/when current laptop dies or 2020 when Win7 is no longer supported.
I do not take my laptop out, just to another room occasionally, so portability outside the home is not an issue.

So I looked at other options and NewEgg.ca is always an interesting site. They have a ton of refurbished stuff and I am looking at three Lenovo AIOs. They all have one year warranties except the third which has 3 but you can also increase the others to 2 or 3 anyway.

My laptop was originally 4gb (upgraded to 8 but I'm really not seeing a difference) it's 500gb of which I have used 195, mostly stuff downloaded and not seen yet. It gets a little 'office' use, heavy internet use, heavy download and streams live football/rugby well.

On benchmark.net the processor scores a mere 1400 or so. But it serves me well.

• Newegg has one for $240, 19inch, W10, 4/320gb and the CPU scores about 1700, so only a little better but it won't be getting the same levels of use. Smaller HD than mine but I won't be storing much on it.

• Next is one for $370. 20inch, 4/250gb. Again smaller HD but again, no storage needed. RAM the same as mine originally and that has been great so "you need at least 16gb doesn't really apply"
  
  This one has a crazy 6000 (i7) rating for the CPU on Benchmark.net but it's W7.

• The last - $500 - has an insane 8000 (i5) CPU rating, 23inch, still 4/250gb and it's also only W7. $500 including the 3 year warranty.

The difficulty I'm having is that the second and thirds match my original one in terms of RAM (I can hear the sighs but it really has been good enough for me) the relative lack of space need not be an issue with everything kept on laptop and EHDs and while I like W7, sooner or later I'll have to accept W10.

These two will run way better than anything I ever had but won't have W10, ready to take over.

So I'm thinking that the first, and cheapest, considering it will only be used for playback is the one to get. 19inches is smaller than the others but still a big step up from 15.6. It will allow a little W10 practice and should I need to switch to it quickly, while it won't be great, with the relative lack of use it ought to be at least on a par with the laptop I've been happily using since 2012, no?

Plus, as it is $400 less than the (new) one in BestBuy, $130 less than the second one and $260 less than the third, that saving would be a decent chunk of dosh further down the road for a new laptop.

Anything I've not considered?

Stinkypup

I would go for this....


Surface Studio hands on review | TechRadar


Might be a smidge more money though Just a bit

Oink

Buy a tv and an android stick that'll run kodi. You can get a decent 40" one for under $400.

Davita

I'm like you..needed a bigger screen for my age related diminishing eyesight.
I bought an Acer 3 in 1 a couple of years ago from Costco in Vancouver and took it back to Bali in a suitcase....after throwing away the box.
It has performed well and I recall cost under C$400. I'm writing this post on it.
There may be newer models out there but this has a 19.5inch screen, wireless keyboard and mouse, win 10 and has a CD/DVD player which I've never used. I could have bought another model which had touch screen but I'm not used to that...maybe next purchase.

BristolUK

I didn't think they made PCs that expensive

Yes, but that means binning a perfectly acceptable TV not to mention the alternatives have the advantage that they will run a computer as well.

I just want the bigger picture.
A few weeks ago the local Shoppers DrugMart had what was essentially my current laptop, but with a 17" inch screen. With the 20xreward points plus the $50 gift card it was basically a real cost to me of $200 once building in the cashback dealls.

I should have got it. If they had any left on the Saturday morning...not always possible.

Siouxie

I've got one of these Insignia 24" 720p LED TV (NS-24D310NA17) - Black : 29 inch and under TVs - Best Buy Canada - my son bought it for me a couple of years ago, I used it as a monitor for my PC and as an alternative (via HDMI) screen for my laptop. I'm now using it as a TV.

I found it to be a great tv and monitor.

If you're finding a 15 inch too small to watch, it's pointless to get anything under 19 inch, IMHO.. though having said that, I've got used to watching online tv on my 17" laptop (however, it's about 2-3 feet away when I do). It all depends on whether you really want a new pc/laptop or not I suppose!

BristolUK

That's exactly the sort of thing I've been planning on to replace a TV when one of them decides to pack up. I was kind of hoping it would have been before now and we could at least have done the HDMI cable to it (none of ours take HDMI or USB).

I'm just a bit reluctant to replace a TV when they are working fine right now.

Of course, arguably I don't need to replace a laptop either, but I'm not seeing this as a replacement, more a learning tool for W10, with a ready made replacement should mine give up the ghost.

It's not really that it's too small, just that some things are better on a bigger screen. I'm well used to the smaller screen just like you with your bigger smaller one.

When I first had my laptop, I downloaded stuff onto a thumbdrive and then watched it through the desktop with a 19" monitor and that was perfect.

I had been thinking of a 17" laptop - Shoppers had one very like mine a few weeks ago for $400 and a bit that came down to around $200 with the value of the 20x points and a $50 Shoppers gift card.

But I wasn't convinced about a second laptop just for two inches.

This would give me another 4 inches and who would say no to that?


(slapped wrist)

caretaker

That's what I watch movies on, I got a 5 year-old Dell m6700 Covet model, loaded, and put in a 480gb ssd and a 500gb sata drive to store movies on. Linux and 64 bit Ubuntu get around a lot of problems. The picture is really good.

BristolUK

Oh dear.

I've added a complication.

This is the one for $240 plus $15 delivery from NewEgg
Lenovo A70z 19" All-In-One Desktop PC Intel Dual Core 3.0 GHz 4 GB Memory 320 GB HDD DVD Window 10 Home - Grade B

I've found a similar one for $250 and free shipping from Tigerdirect
Lenovo ThinkCentre M71z 20" All-in-One Desktop - Intel® Pentium® G630, 2.70GHz, Processor, 4GB Memory, 320GB HDD, DVD+/-RW, Intel® HD Graphics, Windows 10 Home Premium

Monitor is an inch bigger and the processor rating (not the clock speed) is higher on the website cpubenchmark.net.

I'm now siding with the Tiger one. Decisions, decisions.

BristolUK

Sounds good. Bit fiddly for me though and probably a bit more than I want to spend just yet.

caretaker

I got the computer for free out of government salvage but the drives cost about $250. It's nice to have something with some class. I have 4 laptops in asst sizes and all but this big one are Lenovo/IBM.

Siouxie

The 2nd one appears to have a touch screen as well.. it has good reviews on PC Mag.. Lenovo ThinkCentre M71z Review & Rating | PCMag.com

BristolUK

Yep, forgot the touch screen. I may also have seen the resolution is better too.

Both are reviewed well on PC Mag and the first is 2010 with the second coming 2011.
(going by original reviews the processors are older than the originals though)

The first is supposedly until Sunday, so I'll delay a bit and likely settle on the second one from Tiger...unless something makes me procrastinate even more.

I expect that on Monday instead of the Newegg price going up it'll probably reduce further.

caretaker

That looks like a real bargain!

BristolUK

I spent just over a week deciding what to do and then ordered this one.

Now that I stopped being indecisive, I fully expect an email to say "unfortunately we're out of stock of that model"