The next time you're online and thinking that you need a bigger screen than your current laptop or tablet has, look at an all-in-one desktop. You may be surprised how much screen and power AIO PCs deliver for the money versus a like-priced laptop. If you're not sold on an AIO, though, be sure to check out our top desktop picks overall, as well as our favorite desktops for work and PC gaming.

PC manufacturers are generally slower to update AIOs than their other products, so some of the units here are not necessarily running the newest generation of processors. When comparing CPUs in AIO PCs, a key distinction to make is whether the AIO uses a full-desktop CPU or a mobile one.

All else being equal, a full-desktop chip is preferable but not often deployed in an all-in-one due to space constraints. How to tell: Mobile chips from the likes of Intel will have "U," "H," or "HX" appended to the end of the chip model number. A desktop CPU will have no letter at the end, or perhaps "K" or "T." Most desktop AIOs will use Intel chips instead of ones from rival AMD.

By now, most PCs will have adopted at least Intel 13th Generation ("Raptor Lake") processors, if not 14th Generation ("Raptor Lake Refresh"). We've started to see newer AIOs incorporate CPUs in Intel's Core Ultra line (from the "Meteor Lake," "Lunar Lake," or "Arrow Lake" generations), and we expect to see more of these going forward. The same goes for AMD's Ryzen AI chips, which we haven't seen much in AIOs, but could come to the space at any point.

Other types of AIO, including extreme-budget Windows models and the handful of ChromeOS desktops, may use less powerful chips, like those from Intel's N100 or older Pentium line. Any modern processor will help edit photos or videos or run intensive media processes in the background while you work on several tasks in the foreground. But Intel Core or Core Ultra will give you notably better performance.

AMD's Ryzen chips have appeared in a few all-in-ones, in the form of Ryzen 5 and lower-powered Ryzen 3 processors. Some of our past top picks have been Ryzen models, and the company's chips turn up in some highly regarded, powerful laptops. But in general, Intel CPUs dominate the AIO PC market.

Meanwhile, among Macs, Apple's 2021 24-inch iMac was based on the Apple M1 processor, which was a harbinger of the iconic iMac's future. Sure enough, the 2023 iMac came equipped with the M3 chip, the 2024 iMac debuted with the M4, and these AIOs (and all Apple computers) will continue to run on Apple's homebrewed silicon for the foreseeable future.

An 8GB helping of DDR4 or DDR5 RAM should be the minimum amount of system memory you settle for. Although 4GB (seen in a few ultra-budget AIO models) will be OK for the most basic tasks, you'll feel the pinch of such a low-spec computer. Having 8GB or 16GB will let you keep dozens of tabs open on your browser and still have room left over for a demanding program such as Photoshop. Plus, 16GB is the recommended minimum for professional content-creation use.

Of course, all-in-one designs come with some considerable limitations. If something goes wrong with the display, the fix is not as easy as swapping out the monitor, as you might with a standard PC tower setup. The screen is part of the package; the same goes for any component here. This is much closer to the laptop experience: When one part goes, it usually makes the system less usable overall. You're much more likely to buy an entirely new laptop or AIO when a part (or multiple parts) stops working well.

Sticking with the laptop comparison: While AIOs have bigger screens, you're giving up a lot of portability versus a laptop. AIOs are more portable than tower PCs, but you're unlikely to move your AIO once it's in place, apart from purpose-made models like the unique (and aptly named) HP Envy Move.

Compared with standard desktops, PC towers tend to have a higher power ceiling than AIOs. Most all-in-ones employ higher-end laptop processors, given their slimmer design and limited cooling, so traditional desktops contain more power potential. High-end towers are a much better fit for intensive work, like CAD/CAM or scientific data processing, and this is doubly true on the graphics front. AIOs lack desktop-equivalent graphics cards because of size and thermal concerns; the very few that have discrete graphics at all opt for laptop-level mobile graphics chips. PC gamers will get far more value and satisfaction from a stand-alone tower (where they can swap out a graphics card) than from a fixed-config AIO PC with much weaker graphics.

Crucially, all-in-one PCs lack the expandability of most towers, which is again related to their slimmer, more space-limited designs. This brings us to the next point.