Gadgetory

Apple was first to launch a really big screen all-in-one with its 27-inch iMac but in 2012 Windows PC makers are fighting back with 27 inch machines of their own I'm Bill Detweiler head technology editor at C net sister site tech Republic and I'm going to crack open HP's first 27 inch all-in-one the omni 27 opening the omni 27 s case is straightforward and doesn't require any special tools just a Philips screwdriver first I removed the wireless keyboard and mouse receiver from its hidden compartment then I removed a square cover that hides the unit's VESA mount screw holes and a hidden case screw after removing all the external case screws I popped loose the back cover and removed it now once inside the machine I removed the remaining case components the hard drive the optical drive and the speakers next I remove the metal shields that cover the LCD controller board and motherboard with the shield's off I removed the CPU cooling assembly and fan after removing one more metal shield I disconnected all the motherboard cables and removed the motherboard itself at this point I decided not to remove any other components from the machines chassis why well because we can see most of them without dissecting the machine any further and there's not really that much to be gained by removing the LCD so after removing the RAM chips wireless card and processor from the motherboard my teardown was complete so what did I learn about the HP omni 27 from our cracking open well like the HP compact 6000 all in one that I cracked open last year disassembling the Omni 27 is a simple straightforward process the machine has standard Phillips and Torx screws the case is a snap to remove and the internal components are easily accessible I also like that the omni's back cover comes off as a single piece and that you can remove it without detaching the stand which wasn't possible on the 6000 leaving the standard hatch lets you work on the machine while it's standing upright which is a little easier than having to lay it down flat other improvements include the much larger display the addition of Intel Core i5 and i7 processors and the ability to upgrade from the integrated Intel HD graphics to a discreet Nvidia or AMD graphics card as for storage and memory the Omni is available with a SATA hard drive up to three terabytes a 160 gigabyte or a 256 gigabyte solid state drive and comes with six gigs of RAM standard our test unit had eight also new is an HDMI input available as an upgrade which lets you use the Omni as a display for any video source with an HDMI output another interesting difference between the Omni and the 6000 is the newer machines single fan and smaller cooling assembly now this change makes sense as Intel's Sandy Bridge microarchitecture should run cooler than the 6000 sold Core 2 Duo processors as I noted it at the beginning Apple was first to the 27 inch all-in-one party and no examination of a windows-based 27-inch machine would be complete without a comparison to the iMac so let's look at Hardware and price as of this taping a 27-inch iMac with a 2.7 gigahertz core i5 CPU 4 gigs of RAM a 1 terabyte hard drive and a 512 megabyte Radeon 67 70 M graphics card costs one thousand six hundred and ninety nine dollars an omni 27 with a 2.7 gigahertz processor eight gigs of ram thanks to a free upgrade from the standard 6 gigs a one terabyte hard drive and a one gigabyte Radeon HD 74-58 graphics card costs one thousand four hundred and seventy dollars and 99 cents or one thousand three hundred twenty dollars and ninety nine cents with a hundred and fifty dollar instant rebate from HP so even without the HP discount the Omni is more than two hundred dollars cheaper than the iMac and clearly wins on price but the iMac has a significantly higher resolution display 2560 by 14 forty compared to the omni's 1920 by 1080 and it has a thunderbolt port if you need one on the other hand the Omni has an HDMI input and you can get it with a blu ray/dvd combo Drive basically with the exception of the screen the Omni 27 and the 27-inch iMac can be configured with comparable hardware unless of course you max out the IMAX hardware options which also maxes out its price know the decision about which is really right for you comes down to whether you want a machine from Apple or HP whether you want Windows or OS 10 and whether you're willing to pay apples higher price now for more information on the Omni 27 including performance tests check out rich Browns full CNET editors review and to see more omni 27 tear down photos check out my full cracking open gallery at TechRepublic com forward slash cracking open 4c net and TechRepublic I'm Bill Detweiler and this has been a cracking open of the HP omni 27 you