HP's new 34-inch all-in-one PC looks light years ahead of Apple's iMac

HP's new 34-inch all-in-one PC looks light years ahead of Apple's iMac

Powerful all-in-one (AIO) desktop PCs are a rarity, especially if you want a machine that can handle the best PC games. Many AIOs have high-resolution displays, but they tend to compromise on a few things, such as power supply, ports, and ease of upgrades.

But HP's new Envy 34-inch AIO desktop PC seems poised to buck the trend. That's because its top specs include a 5.1GHz Intel 11th-generation Core i9-11900 and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080. Some of the best desktop PCs have more power, but it still has the specs to run games like Cyberpunk 2077 in impressive settings.

Unlike some past gaming-grade AIOs, however, the new Envy 34 AIO is a fairly clean, almost unassuming looking machine.

The factory-calibrated 34-inch 5120 x 2160 (aka 5K) IPS display boasts a 21:9 aspect ratio and fairly slim bezels, all housed in a clean silver color. The colors are much less pleasing to the eye than Apple's iMac 2021, though.

And while the new iMac may have an impressive Apple M1 chip, the specs offered by the Envy 34 AIO blow the Cupertino machine away. Even at base specs, the Envy has a Core i7-11700, 32GB of DDR4 RAM, 512GB of PCIe storage, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card. Indeed, these base specs run as high as $2,000; when the AIO arrives in October, the highest specs will be quite pricey.

The port selection is also impressive, with six USB-A ports, two USB-C ports (Thunderbolt 3 compatible), HDMI, Ethernet, a 3.5mm audio jack, and an SD card reader. professional that the Envy 34 seems to target. content creators will likely find no shortage of cameras and peripherals to connect to the AIO.

Additionally, as many AIOs, including the iMac, dream of, the Envy 34 is user upgradable, allowing tool-less addition of RAM and storage on the back. And for those who work from home, there is a removable 16MP "HP True Vision" IR privacy webcam and dual-array microphone that can be placed anywhere on the edge of the display.

In short, the new HP Envy 34 AIO is an impressive machine on paper and may give you serious PC power without having to buy a bulky desktop or chunky gaming laptop. But to draw any firm conclusions, you need to try it out for yourself.

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