Companies haven’t paid much attention to all-in-one PCs (AIOs) lately. Exciting AIO releases in the US are few and far between, and since Apple discontinued the 27-inch iMac, there has been a gap for users looking for the simplicity of AIO along with ultra-high resolution and rugged components. HP seems to have noticed this gap because it will release a 34-inch AIO in September with 5120×2160 resolution, current-gen Intel and Nvidia components, and flashy features aimed at workers.
Magnetic webcam(s)
The webcam, which can be magnetically attached anywhere on the display bezel, is one of the standout features of the HP 34″All-In-One Desktop PC, which was announced today at the HP Amplify Channel Partner Conference.
It’s similar to the magnetic webcam concept Dell showed us in December, but the camera isn’t wireless and can’t be attached directly to a display. AIO also supports up to two of these magnetic cameras; According to HP, they will use pixel binning to achieve 4MP per still or video image.
With dual cameras, users can video conference with their face while showing an additional view to stream things like their desk top, product prototype, real document or whiteboard. The included software has a function to crop the image to the center of the document and straighten the paper so that it looks more natural in the video. We need to try this feature to see if it’s useful, distracting, or even noticeable.
HP has packed the all-in-one camera with software features that, if similar to the implementation in some of HP’s latest laptop webcams, you might be able to do without. These include dynamic voice equalization, auto framing, and low and backlight adjustment. The microphones also use AI noise reduction.
Speaking of things we could live without, especially in a work environment, the all-in-one introduces a feature that can change your video feed during a conference call to a freeze frame of your image with the abbreviation “BRB”(or “be back soon,”for who haven’t sent instant messages in a while) is written mostly at the bottom to let callers know you’ve moved away.
While some of the aforementioned features may seem useless, we were able to use its other features on a daily basis. There’s a base with 15W Qi wireless charging, and the height-adjustable stand has a USB-C port and two USB-A ports (both running at 5Gbps) that are hopefully easily accessible regardless of display height.
High resolution, upgradeable and other features
The HP 34-inch All-in-One Desktop may draw comparisons to the Apple Studio Display due to its 5K ultra-wide resolution and HP materials describing the computer as providing a “studio experience”and “studio quality”. Aimed at professionals, the All-in-One features a 21:9 aspect ratio IPS display with a lower pixel density than Apple’s 27-inch 16:9 monitor (163 ppi versus 218 ppi).
But inside the HP all-in-one there are desktop-level components, while the Studio Display only uses a smartphone-level A13 SoC (for features related to things like the webcam and Hey Siri). The HP PC is equipped with an Intel Core i9-12900 vPro processor, an Nvidia RTX 3060 (6GB GDDR6X) LHR GPU, 4TB of dual NVMe M.2 SSD storage, and 128GB of DDR4-4800 RAM. Storage and RAM should be easy to upgrade or replace through a panel that opens on the back of the computer.
These are cool specs compared to other AIOs available today in larger sizes. For example, Lenovo’s 27-inch 4K Yoga AIO 7 features an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H processor, AMD Radeon RX 6600M (8GB), 1TB of memory, and 16GB of DDR4-3200 RAM. Apple’s 24-inch iMac has up to the M1 with eight CPU cores and eight GPU cores, 8GB of storage, 512GB of storage, and a resolution of 4480×2520 pixels.
HP claims that a 34-inch desktop PC’s IPS panel can reach 500 nits of brightness and cover 98 percent of DCI-P3. For comparison, in our Studio Display review we recorded 98.9% DCI-P3 and 589 nits, while the Lenovo Yoga AIO 7 claims 360 nits and 99% DCI-P3.
The port mix continues on the back with a pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports, four USB-A (10Gbps), HDMI 2.1, RJ45, and a 3.5mm jack.
For those craving an all-in-one with a bit more size, pixels, and power (and maybe a trick or two), the 34-inch HP All-in-One Desktop PC will cost $2,119 and will include an i5-12500 and RTX 3050 (4GB) LHR GPU.
Listing image from HP