Digital Workshop

Hi,

With the release of Windows 8 with multitouch screen capability, I began to wonder how to develop and test in this environment. Looking at tablets, while they seem excellent test platforms, enjoying use of a large screen Win 7 desktop, I couldn't see how to also use a tablet for development, instead of a desktop. Even tried a new Surface Pro 128GB: it ran quite warm and battery life was limited, so returned it. At that time, doing online research, came across what proved to be a solid alternative: the all-in-one PC. These are full Windows 8 desktops with everything in the tower now inside the thicker screen. The screen is full multitouch. Checking a number of these new models, reviews, consumer sites, finally settled on a top-flight one by Dell, the XPS One 2710 (http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-one-27-2710-aio-t/pd?ref=2132title). Comes in a variety of configurations and prices, all with 27" 2560X1440 multitouch screen fully able to take advatage of Win 8. My version has a Win 8 Pro, core i7 third gen blazing fast processor, dedicated Nvidia graphics, a 32 GB SSD cache, and more. Great machine, top-rated, works well. Dell provides superb support.

In my opinion, all-in-ones are a great Win 8 development environment. Large enough to work comfortably. Multitouch screen allows for testing.

Just wanted to share this, open up the conversation.

Regards,

Glad you posted. I recently bought a new desktop tower, and had not considered the All-for-one and One-for-all. But now that you have highlighted it, it seems like a good idea and a grand solution -- warming to the Touch.

I looked at the link, but could not determine which Intel chipset they used for that XPS One. Any idea? (eg, H75, Z77,...) [Edit: corrected = 'Z77']

For me, that Dell one is beyond the budget I set. But I should be able to add a touch monitor in the future (the 'future' where the sweetspot goes well below the current US$600-700 for the hi res & widescreen aspect.). On my system, I set some money aside for a NAS, and also an extra HD/removable-bay. Also getting a Retail Win7 OS license (for the virtual set up) is costing extra $$$.

Look forward to hear more about your dev system as you get into it. Cheers!

Hi Larry,

I also considered a tower system and monitor: an equally fine option. I wanted a very big multitouch monitor, like this 27" screen, with high resolution, which is currently harder to find as a separate item, but part of this all-in-one.

I'm not yet sure about the 3rd generation Intel i7-3770s chip set (it's specs are 3.10 up to 3.90, I guess with the turbo boost). In fact, I've been trying to figure this out from the device manager so I can get the correct updates. (The Dell hardware online auto-reader seems to get my OS wrong, so I will need to do this manually.)

Best Wishes,

I started paying attention to the chipset when I learned of some dependencies/prerequisites for Win 8 Hyper-V.... re: SLAT, VT-d, or some such features.

A good, but early, overview of the Chipsets.
http://www.techspot.com/guides/502-inte ... page3.html (this is Page 3)
http://www.techspot.com/guides/519-inte ... page2.html (related, updated)
Neither of these tables tell the complete story, and I found I had to look closer at the chipset AND motherboard as-built.

Try:
from: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wik ... hosts.aspx
Or, ...maybe this one: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysi ... s/cc835722

Other information >>>
link: http://www.overclock.net/t/1338063/vt-d ... therboards
Dec 2012 discussion -- current support for VT-d

and... for the truly nerdy: http://forums.mydigitallife.info/thread ... ualization

Thanks, Larry.

Kind Regards,