Deciding between two all-in-one PCs

I have a HP all in one that has slightly lower specs than yours that I run as a media server Marshall. I haven't particularly noticed fan noise - I would say it is quite probably quieter, though certainly no louder than my HP i7 laptop or older i5 Macbook Pro.
 
A small complaint I have with it is that the included wireless keyboard is less than stellar, though hardly a huge issue. The biggest drawback with mine is that there is no way to natively run a second monitor from its video card. I notice in your specs that his has been rectified, which is great news.
 
I have had a great run from half a dozen previous HP laptops, FWIW. I had one Dell that was also OK, though I have had much less experience with them.
 
Good luck with the new machine!

Sanderxpander speaks the truth! A lot more bang for buck in a tower. An all in one really is a glorified laptop. That said, if you lIke the convenience with those specs will get very decent performance. I would up the ram in the HP to 16gb though, otherwise it will almost certainly ship with 2x4gb ram, and you will need to change both sticks to get to 16gb down the track.

igiwigi
Hi
I have done some homework on computers and ASUS comes out more reliable than than other machines for breakdowns etc  HP have gone backwards as many others have.
 
ALL THE BEST
JOHN

Not my experience John, but of course YMMV. To be honest, beyond personal anecdotes (mine included!) I don't see much difference between major PC hardware manufacturers nowdays. They are all pretty reliable,  otherwise they wouldn't survive.  After sales service is really the only differentiating factor. HP in Aus at least seem to be as good as any. 

its funny, ive built quite a few pc in my time, so id like to think I know my stuff. 
if we are talking about consumer pc's. I think ASUS is crap.
but then again, its like everything, sometimes you get a good product, sometimes you get a bad one. in my experences, ASUS, have been less then par.
I have found Toshibas to be very reliable on the consumer stages. home use, exc.. but not in the daw world
I will say this about ASUS, they make a good mobo ...but that's about it.
 
 
don't be a fraid to choose a 4th gen.
I just built a new system with a 4th gen Intel I7 4790K.
it is very fast and uses next to nothing in resources. you would be amazed how much it changes your work flow when you have a pc that gives you no issues and loads things fast.
it allows you to be more inspirational.

Thanks. Appreciate I would get more from a tower, it's an aesthetics thing! Do you think the screen resolution/type as shown above would be any sort of consideration in terms of running Sonar?

Marshall
Thanks. Appreciate I would get more from a tower, it's an aesthetics thing! Do you think the screen resolution/type as shown above would be any sort of consideration in terms of running Sonar?

Both systems will run Sonar without issue - it is not particularly demanding with regard to video and they both have dedicated video cards. The Dell has a higher resolution screen so you can fit more on it, but as the screens are physically the same size,  obviously those elements will be smaller. The usefulness of this extra virtual real estate comes down to how close you will be to the screen, but as a general rule is certainly an advantage.
On the ther hand, In my studio my screens are placed a bit further back than you would sit from a computer generally to allow for the near field/mid field monitor speakers to be unimpeded so a lower resolution screen suits my purpose (everything's bigger:))
 
I have not seen Sonar on that size/resolution screen so I can't really comment beyond that. The fact that the higher resolution screen has less video ram would not be an issue at all with regards to Sonar.
 
Perhaps someone else here is running a 27" @ 2560x1440 and can comment further.
As I mentioned before I have had no experience with Dell all in ones, but can certainly vouch for the HP. They have many models and have been making them for a long time. I will say that despite the touch screen working perfectly under win 10,  I have not found it as useful as I thought. This could well be down to old habits and being very used to using a combination of mouse, keyboard and controllers though.
 
 

I have an HP laptop now, and I can tell you my next computer will probably be a Dell and/or Microsoft Surface.  The reason is HP went to a model where past the manufacturer warranty you cannot get drivers/BIOS updates without a paid support contract.  This is highway robbery in my opinion, and I will never own another HP product as a result, unless they change their business practice.  But I will say I've never had an issue with an HP computer, and they make some nice stuff.
 
As far as multi-touch, since Windows 8 and higher, 10 point touch is supported.  If the HP only supports 2 point touch they are using an older touch sensor that they used back on their Windows 7 touchscreen machines.  That is really surprising if they do that.
 
As far as Thunderbolt, a TB interface will be lower latency than a USB 3.0 device theoretically, but really depends on manufacturer and driver.  In real world situations either one will get you less than 10ms latency which is virtually undetectable.  But given everything else you've told me about, and plus what I mentioned about HP's update policy, the Dell sounds like the winner IMO.
 
 
 
 

Sorry let me clarify.  HP support assistant will not work without a valid warranty or support contract, and wont even notify you of newer versions of your driver.  You can go to support.hp.com to download the drivers manually, but it's a mess.  On my envy laptop there are about 100 different models with varying components and navigating HP's website is a pain.
 
On the server side and workstation side, all updates are blocked without a valid warranty.  In all fairness though Hewlett Packard Enterpise which includes the Proliant severs Z-series workstations is a separate company from HP which is for consumer products and printers.

Oh no - what terrible luck Bill!
 
I am guessing you are on Win 10. If you right click on the windows start Icon on the bottom left of the screen and choose device manager>human interface devices, does HID Compliant Touch Screen show up on the list? If it does, double click on it and make sure the drivers are loaded and it is not disabled.