HP All-in-One 200-5020 review

The HP All-in-One 200-5020 is a brand new all-in-one PC that launched at the end of June, but it’s been difficult to get hold of in the UK since its release. We’re told that stock is due to arrive imminently though, so keep an eye on Laptops Direct for availability.

Unlike some all-in-one manufacturers, HP has decided against including a touchscreen. Instead, the All-in-One 200-5020 has a Full HD display that uses an LED backlight for improved brightness and contrast. Its not a touchscreen, but we don’t think many people will mind. The backlight wasn’t entirely even, but we found colours to be natural, although they lacked punch due to the matt finish on the screen which reduces reflections. Contrast was superb, and the larger resolution helped the All-in-One 200-5020 stand out in our side-by-side tests.

The larger screen makes the All-in-One 200-5020 one of the bulkiest all-in-one PCs we’ve seen, but it still takes up less room than a desktop PC. The case itself is quite slim, but the stand extends back twice the width again. The stand sits on a turntable with rubber feet, so you can easily swivel the entire unit around 360 degrees, although you might get tangled in wires doing this. To help out, there’s a hole in the stand that can be used to guide wires out of sight.

Fortunately, it’s no performance slouch and the 2.7GHz Pentium Dual Core processor and 4GB of RAM helped this PC get an overall score of 74 in our benchmarks. In short, this computer will handle pretty much any task that you can throw at it.

Games aren’t possible on this computer as the integrated graphics chips can’t handle them, but they’ll decode HD video, which is good considering the resolution of the screen.

Unlike most all-in-one PCs, the All-in-One 200-5020 can be upgraded with more memory, a larger hard disk (if the 500GB model doesn’t prove enough) or a better optical drive. An extra instruction manual downloadable from HP’s site shows step-by-step instructions for removing the rear panels and upgrading these parts. You can even remove the stand entirely to wall-mount it.

With a total of seven USB ports, the All-in-One 200-5020 has plenty of room for external expansion too. This is helped by the fact that six ports are free, as the keyboard and mouse set are wireless and share the same USB receiver. The keyboard is a decent size and looks smart, but in practice it’s a bit springy and we found the half-height Enter key frustrating. The mouse is a decent size, and was comfortable to use.

Most of the USB ports face to the rear, so the attached devices can be hidden out of sight, and there are two ports on the left side where they can be easily accessed, along with a memory card reader and headphone and microphone sockets. There’s an extra 3.5mm audio output on the rear for attaching a set of external speakers. The internal speakers are clear and have surprisingly good bass response, but unfortunately they aren’t very loud, so for watching movies you’ll want to plug in an external set.

If you need to save space and want a stylish all-in-one PC, the HP All-in-One 200-5020 is just the ticket. With decent performance and a fantastic Full HD screen, it’s got everything you need for office and home entertainment, bar gaming. At this price, it’s also great value, and wins our Best Buy award.