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PC ❘ £650 from Currys www.snipca.com/19072<br />
HP Pavilion 23-q110na<br />
An all-in-one PC that doesn’t have it all, after all<br />
A computer built into a monitor is a good<br />
idea, but it can still be a waste of space.<br />
Although you’re losing the big box, you’re<br />
not gaining anything: these machines are<br />
basically laptops with bigger screens and<br />
no keyboard, so performance won’t<br />
match a similarly priced tower desktop<br />
PC. And of course you can’t carry them<br />
around, unless you’re one of those brave<br />
people on the internet who uses your<br />
iMac in Starbucks (www.snipca.<br />
com/19076), at a pizza<br />
restaurant (www.snipca.<br />
com/19077) or on the train<br />
(www.snipca.com/19075).<br />
A bright, vibrant<br />
touchscreen can’t<br />
compensate for poor<br />
performance<br />
So you’ll need good reasons to choose<br />
an all-in-one PC. HP’s looks handsome,<br />
even if its curved back and tilt stand<br />
(reminiscent of a certain fruit-branded<br />
rival beginning with ‘A’) are fi nished in<br />
silver and white plastic rather than<br />
aluminium. For the money, though, it<br />
looks positively classy.<br />
Th e same can’t be said of the included<br />
wireless keyboard and mouse, which<br />
look as if someone fully intended to push<br />
the boat out with their design, but didn’t<br />
quite get round to it. Th e mouse works<br />
fi ne, but it’s far too big a lump for the few<br />
buttons it offers. Th e keyboard shares the<br />
same glossy black coating, which gets<br />
greasy and dusty if you so much as look<br />
at it, let alone lay a fi nger on it. Th e keys,<br />
meanwhile, have a soft and spongy action<br />
that takes the joy out of typing.<br />
SPECIFICATIONS<br />
1.8GHz AMD A10-8700P quad-core processor •<br />
8GB memory • 1TB hard drive • DVD writer • 23in<br />
1920x1080-pixel touchscreen • 802.11ac Wi-Fi •<br />
Bluetooth 4.0 • Webcam • 4x USB 2.0 ports • 2x USB<br />
3.0 ports • Gigabit Ethernet • Windows 10 Home •<br />
451x568x193mm (HxWxD) • One-year warranty<br />
www.snipca.com/19073<br />
Still, those parts can be replaced if they<br />
bother you. What really matters is the<br />
23in touchscreen, and it’s actually very<br />
good. It’s bright, and the vibrant colours<br />
will do justice to your photos and videos.<br />
For fi lms and games, the built-in audio is<br />
loud and clear enough without having to<br />
add external speakers.<br />
Th e Pavilion 23’s problem is<br />
performance. Th e model we tested had<br />
a mid-range AMD processor with a<br />
sensible 8GB of RAM, which should have<br />
been adequate. However, due to the<br />
sluggish 1TB mechanical hard drive,<br />
Windows 10 didn’t feel as smooth and<br />
speedy as we’d have liked. Loading<br />
Th e Guardian’s home page took five<br />
seconds on our fast broadband, plus<br />
another three for it to stop juddering as<br />
we scrolled around.<br />
AMD’s R6 integrated graphics card is<br />
more powerful than you might expect,<br />
so we got older 3D games such as Dirt<br />
Showdown playing smoothly at Full HD<br />
resolution on medium quality settings.<br />
HP also makes the same system without<br />
a touchscreen and with Intel Core i5<br />
processors, or with a dedicated AMD<br />
Radeon graphics card for £150 more.<br />
With plenty of connections, including<br />
a couple of fast USB 3.0 ports and the<br />
latest 802.11ac Wi-Fi, you’ll have no<br />
trouble putting the Pavilion 23 at the<br />
centre of your setup. But disappointing<br />
performance and tacky input devices<br />
make it a less attractive prospect than it<br />
initially seemed.<br />
HOW WE TEST<br />
<strong>Computeractive</strong> is owned by Dennis<br />
Publishing, which owns a hi-tech facility<br />
for testing the latest technology. You’ll<br />
often read references to our benchmark<br />
testing, which is a method of assessing<br />
products using the same criteria. For<br />
example, we test the speed of every<br />
PC and the battery life of every tablet<br />
in exactly the same way. This makes<br />
our reviews authoritative, rigorous<br />
and accurate.<br />
Dennis Publishing also owns<br />
the magazines PC Pro, Computer<br />
Shopper, Web User and Micro Mart<br />
and the website Expert Reviews<br />
(www.expertreviews.co.uk). This<br />
means we can test thousands of<br />
products before choosing the most<br />
relevant for <strong>Computeractive</strong>.<br />
FAIR AND IMPARTIAL<br />
Our writers follow strict guidelines to<br />
ensure the reviews are fair and<br />
impartial. The manufacturer has no<br />
involvement in our tests.<br />
OUR AWARDS<br />
BUY IT!<br />
★★★★★<br />
VERDICT: It’s not bad value and looks<br />
good from a distance, but the Pavilion<br />
23 is more of a compromise than we’d<br />
like in an ideal world<br />
★★★☆☆<br />
ALTERNATIVE: Palicomp<br />
Intel i5 Revolution £700<br />
An overclocked PC that<br />
comes with a Samsung<br />
keyboard and mouse. A<br />
fast Windows 10 option<br />
We award every product<br />
that gets five stars our<br />
Buy It! stamp of approval.<br />
It means we were<br />
extremely impressed by the product,<br />
and we think you will be too.<br />
Every product that gets a<br />
four-star review is given<br />
the Great Pick award. We<br />
highly recommend these<br />
products, although they just fail to meet<br />
the high standard of our Buy It! winners.<br />
PRICES<br />
Our reviews contain a link to the best<br />
price we found online at the time of press.<br />
6 <strong>–</strong> 19 <strong>January</strong> <strong>2016</strong> 19
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