HP B170 All-in-One 20" Desktop (Harvey Norman)....opinions

JK91

Couldn't find anywhere for this thread in Consumer Electronics, so I think this will do. Does anybody know of this desktop provided by Harvey Norman? There is something wrong with Harvey Norman's site atm, so you have to scroll down a bit.


http://www.harveynorman.ie/computing/desktop-computers/hp-b170-all-in-one-desktop-computer.html


If so, could you provide a review either based on first and second hand knowledge, or on the specs listed for this PC. It seems to be a really good offer, 20 inch screen, 2TB hard drive and 8GB RAM all for only €650. However is there some catch here and is there a possible reason why this price is so low, or is simply just a very good bargain?

Shabaz50

A lot of the time all in ones are the worst of both worlds but this seems good.
for 650 euro its great value .
The review:(i do not own this computer)its cheap/great audio quality/loads of ports/great entertainment system but the mouse and keyboard are not supposed to be good plus its over 2 inches thick which isnt bad just a little chunky.
just one question what are you gonna use it for?

session savage

Just looking at this now myself.
I used to be well up with computers but Im increasingly lost.
Im going to need a computer for the basics (web, letters, pictures, music etc) plus infrequent heavy duty CAD (autocad, solidworks, inventor) and the odd bit of photoshopping and video editing.
I presume this is more than up to it?
any opinions?

GarIT

session savage wrote: »

infrequent heavy duty CAD (autocad, solidworks, inventor) and the odd bit of photoshopping and video editing.
I presume this is more than up to it?

Definitely not.

If you're lucky it will be good enough for web browsing, might be a bit slow though. Is about one quarter as powerful as an i series processor. If you can get it for less than €300 it might be good value. That said there are no retailers in Ireland that offer good value, expect to pay €200 extra if you want to buy offline.

session savage

Thanks GarIT, I nearly bought it.
Could you possible give me a clue to what type processor I should go for and ram etc.
Although I did like the idea of how tidy the all in ones are, Im not too interested in what it looks like I just want something reliable with a decent hard drive and that is capable of doing some CAD when I have to bring work home.
The more I research computers the more I realise how little I know
Any help is really appreciated.

GarIT

session savage wrote: »

Thanks GarIT, I nearly bought it.
Could you possible give me a clue to what type processor I should go for and ram etc.
Although I did like the idea of how tidy the all in ones are, Im not too interested in what it looks like I just want something reliable with a decent hard drive and that is capable of doing some CAD when I have to bring work home.
The more I research computers the more I realise how little I know
Any help is really appreciated.

What you really need to look at is the specs for the CAD software. Some require a €1,000 computer just to run, others will run on anything with a reasonable GPU. Assuming you don't need portability go over to the building and upgrading forum, fill out the form they have in the sticky, link to the requirements for CAD, mention you might use photoshop and you will get a computer 10+ times more powerful than this one for the same price.

The 10+ times isn't even an exaggeration, it's measured performance. The All in one here uses a processor that is about as powerful as your average tablet and has no dedicated graphics card. What you are paying for is the design.