Hewlett-Packard's $999 Omni 220-1080qd is a welcome mainstream all-in-one that lacks a touch screen. Rather than adding touch hardware and software to this unit, HP instead has included a fast Intel Core i7 CPU, plenty of RAM, a discrete graphics card, and a Blu-ray drive to offer a complete all-purpose computer for under $1,000. I can recommend this system to anyone looking for a speedy mainstream desktop for a fair price.
The Omni 220 is the bigger, faster, more expensive sibling of HP's Omni 120 all-in-one, also without a touch screen, which we reviewed earlier this fall. Both units feature clean, if nondescript styling, although the Omni 220 is unusual in that HP gave it an iMac-like pedestal design, rather than use a pair of feet or some other support underneath the display. The pedestal makes it easier to store the keyboard directly underneath the Omni 220, but otherwise the benefits of one design over the other are mostly cosmetic.
| HP Omni 220-1080qd | Dell Inspiron One 2320 | Samsung Series 7 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $999 | $1,249 | $1,099 |
| Display size/resolution | 23-inch, 1,920x1,080 pixels | 23-inch, 1,920x1,080 pixels | 23-inch, 1,920x1,080 pixels |
| CPU | 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-2600S | 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-2400 | 2.93GHz Intel Core i7-870 |
| Memory | 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM | 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM | 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM |
| Graphics | 1GB AMD Radeon HD 6450A | 1GB Nvidia GeForce 525M | 64MB Intel HD Graphics 1000 |
| Hard drives | 1TB, 7,200rpm | 2TB, 7,200rpm | 1TB, 7,200rpm |
| Optical drive | Blu-ray drive/DVD burner | Blu-ray drive/DVD burner | dual-layer DVD burner |
| Networking | Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n wireless | Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n wireless | Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n wireless |
| Operating system | Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) | Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) | Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) |
Coming in under $1,000 with a strong configuration, the Omni 220 for the most part stands out as a fair deal over its touch-equipped competitors. Dell, for example, offers its touch-enabled Inspiron One 2320 for about $250 more, but with a much slower CPU. The Dell does have a larger hard drive than the HP, and the cost of mechanical storage capacity has spiked recently due to the manufacturing issues resulting from this summer's flooding disaster in Thailand. Supply chain anomalies not withstanding, if you subtract $100 for the Dell's touch-screen option, and roughly another $75 for the larger hard drive, that still leaves the Dell about $75 over the price of the Omni 220, but with a slower CPU.
A critical difference between the two that's not listed in the chart above is the lack of an HDMI input on the HP. Where the Dell Inspiron One, the Samsung Series 7, and in fact almost all all-in-ones offer HDMI in, HP doesn't even offer it as an option with the Omni 220, like it does with its TouchSmart line. Given the extent to which HDMI input can expand the overall usefulness of an all-in-one to work with other video components (cable boxes, game consoles), its absence on the Omni 220 is disappointing.
