HP TouchSmart 520-1070 Pro Reviews

The HP TouchSmart 520 is a really nice all-in-one and probably one of the best I’ve spent time with thus far, with a classy design and a powerful processor that ensures it will remain relevant for several years. A system like this would likely work best as a family PC, an office replacement where mid-level content creation happens or a college dorm room where space is extremely limited. At $1,399, it's a little on the steep side, but if you configure it a bit differently, with a slightly slower processor you can get it closer to $1,000.

It’s not unusual for manufactures to send us a high-end model to represent their product. Unfortunately, in doing so they sometimes price themselves out of competition. That’s what has happened here. As configured, the HP TouchSmart 520 is difficult to justify. If you’re going to spend $1,500 on an all-in-one you might as well spring for the TouchSmart 610 or 620. In addition, spending so much to upgrade an all-in-one doesn’t make sense. If gaming or processor performance is a priority you need to buy a tower PC. It’s the base model of this all-in-one that swoops in from the night sky to save our luxury-priced 520 from itself. Currently Amazon is shifting that version of $788. Yes, it has a Pentium processor, 4GB of RAM and integrated graphics, but who cares? That’s perfectly adequate for the kind of usage this sort of product receives – and you still receive the same software, the same awesome display and the same build quality.

We were impressed with the HP TouchSmart 520-1070 as soon as we took it out of the box, and we liked this model more and more as our review progressed. The design earns points for both its form and function. The video and audio output alike impressed us, and given the innards in our test configuration, the TouchSmart 520 offered first-rate performance for an all-in-one. We still aren't unhesitating evangelists for touch input on desktop PCs like this one, but HP’s touch software continues to be the best we've seen.Given its price point, however, we’d wager that many buyers of all-in-one computers will be tempted instead by the many charms of Apple’s slightly smaller (albeit touch-input-less) 21.5-inch Apple iMac, which starts at a more palatable $1,199. However, the baseline-model HP TouchSmart 520 costs only $799 with lesser, though still capable, components such as a Core i3 processor and 6GB of RAM. Plus, a midrange model with a Core i5 processor, 6GB of memory, and a 1.5TB hard drive rings up for less than $1,000. Unless you plan on doing a lot of processor-stressing heavy lifting, such as HD video editing, one of these more modest configurations could be a better fit. Pair that under-$1,000 price with the TouchSmart's big, crisp touch screen and improved design, and we're willing to bet it will lure away more than a few potential iMac buyers.

The HP TouchSmart 520-1070 all-in-one desktop PC isn't for the budget set, but a quad-core Intel processor, 2TB hard drive, and a slew of entertainment features make it a worthwhile purchase.