[OPLINTECH] MSi All-in-One computers

[Nathan Eady]

Chad Neeper <cneeper at level9networks.com> writes:

> "you might be trading innovation and small footprint for increased
> maintenance and service headache." 

That would be consistent with all my experience of all-in-one units.
They're almost *never* built from standard-form-factor off-the-shelf
components.  

Theoretically, they *could* be, at least mostly: only the case and the
display would actually need to be custom.  If the case were made for
it, everything else could be standard (well, reasonably so: laptop
drives and MicroATX motherboards aren't the *most* common form factors
for those components, but common enough that you can easily source a
replacement part, which is the main issue really).

But in practice all-in-one units are almost always a steaming heap of
non-standard one-off components, just different enough that normal
parts won't quite fit in the case or otherwise won't work.  Weird
drive cables that combine power and data into a single proprietary
connector; motherboards that offload core functionality onto daughter
boards; L-shaped expansion cards; esoteric screws with non-standard
threading and, in some cases, requiring exotic screwdriver heads;
power supplies in non-standard dimensions with non-standard output
configurations and cables, often including a non-standard motherboard
power connector; special drivers in the OEM install that aren't on any
of the CDs you're given, and without which the hardware won't work; in
especially egregious cases even the keyboard and mouse connectors can
be non-standard.  All of my experiences of working with all-in-one
units have been steeped in frustration and annoyance.

> It looks like you add the 3.5" hard drive, RAM, CPU, and OS. 

If so, that implies that the hard drive, RAM, CPU, and OS are, or at
least can be, standard.  No promises about the other components, such
as, for instance, the power supply.

And yeah, if the display on an all-in-one fails, you're fresh out,
obviously.

-- 
Nathan Eady
Galion Public Library