AIO DRN-STN Review: A Gaming All-In-One With A 120 Hz Display

[anthony8989]

I could see this being a little annoying to work with. The TN panel combined with the lack of angling of the monitor could make for a narrow viewing angle. It looks like you'd have be sitting upright all the time. I'm always slouching back one way or another in my chair.

 

[Textfield]

Let me just go through the logic of this case design. You decide to introduce a cure for the LAN-party PC by integrating the monitor into the case, requiring a case with massive depth and weight. Then you decide that, instead of doing any kind of intelligent case design, you just use massively thick plastic with metal latches. And instead of building an actual computer case, you just put a cheap mid-tower inside of it, likely manufactured by someone else, resulting in added heft, size, and difficulty of build, as well as requiring even more fans.And then, you decide to price it at a $1000.Here's the solution to all our AIO woes, and please, somebody, build this. I propose a mid-thickness AIO with a desktop i7 and dual 780M's. I know this is possible, especially if you liquid cool it, which I also know is possible.Or just develop a gaming PC, a true gaming PC, that mounts on the back of a monitor. That's also possible.Please, somebody, do either of those things, but this? No, just no.

 

[vaughn2k]

This concept was littering around the internet a few years ago, but now it is a reality, was wondering if they could design a folding monitor for eyefinity though..

 

[Crashman]

This concept was littering around the internet a few years ago, but now it is a reality, was wondering if they could design a folding monitor for eyefinity though..

You mean something like this? chassis-plans.com/rugged-portable-lunchbox-computer/images/mp3x17-fnt-obl-open-280.jpg

If it could be done, someone would probably be doing it by now..

 

[Christopher Shaffer]

This concept was littering around the internet a few years ago, but now it is a reality, was wondering if they could design a folding monitor for eyefinity though..

You mean something like this? chassis-plans.com/rugged-portable-lunchbox-computer/images/mp3x17-fnt-obl-open-280.jpg

If it could be done, someone would probably be doing it by now..

Looks like some quick-deploy solutions the military use, though I doubt they use Eyefinity lol.

 

[Dan Williams]

This looks like a good solution for remote recording.

 

[vmem]

I must agree with the author. it's a nice concept, but at $1000, it lacks the polish to meet the demand of the niche market that this product is aiming for. imo the biggest advantage to this product over a gaming laptop is not compute or graphics power, but upgradability. this $1000 box will last you many years of LAN partying (it seems to be made of sturdy, quality stuff). while that laptop will lag behind very quickly

 

[Haravikk]

Interesting idea, but regular internal PC case kind of makes the whole thing feel like a DIY project. Granted it lacks the hardship of a true DIY project, but for something made by a company I'd have expected better, especially since you're trying to push air through two grills at each end of the machine which just seems messy.Some of the extra touches don't seem right to me either, like the fan-controllers; if they'd made the case themselves then they could have simply made room for a 5.25" bay, or a compatible such bay, to take any fan controller the owner wants. Where am I supposed to put such a thing now if I want temperature controlled fans?I dunno, it's a nice idea, but it feels to me like it's just a box that happens to have a PC and monitor inside, so why not just make that as a product instead? e.g - a nice big hard-wearing carry case with a foam insert to taking the PC and monitor? Okay sure the all-in-one is a bit easier, but it seems like a lot of money for something not that useful or flexible IMO.

 

[BulkZerker]

wow,..$700 for a case, and people are complaining about a $700 video card? WTF are people smoking these days?

Even after you take $300 out for the panel it's an expensive proposition.

 

[Christopher Shaffer]

This looks like a good solution for remote recording.

This is the best suggestion yet, but I don't see the need over a good laptop unless you have some cards that you need access to. A firewire or USB interface paired with a strong laptop has always worked well for me.

I have a friend that has his studio rack on wheels. His laptop specs match his desktop for the most part and he just takes an Allen & Heath board, FocusRite FW mic pre/interface and a bunch of mics and cables, etc. and his studio is mobile. But the laptop is more than sufficient for today's DAWs...unless you're still wasting money and time on ProTools.

 

[Robert Ostrowski]

Wow. Hideous. It belongs back in the 80s sci-fi movie that it got crapped out of.

 

[gamerxavier]

I've been thinking of a unit like this for a while now and this is just ugly. You can't choose your own monitor which I think would be a priority considering this is just a chassis not a pre-built. Having choice is part of that custom thing. Anyways, the restrictiveness. Can't move the monitor at all, the monitor appears slightly slanted and that would annoy me. Not too mention some places I may need to slightly lower or raise my monitor and this wouldn't allow that. What really throws me off with their design is that you've got quite a nice sized unit. But, then on the inside they're throwing you inside of another chassis? I assume the internal chassis in which hardware is placed is a mid tower? It seems like a colossus waste of space, many inches lost with this chassis inception. It's not like this separation is really useful at all, they aren't adding compartments for tools or anything to really add feature to this. Doesn't seem like a well thought out design honestly. All someone would have to do is reinforce a door panel on their current chassis, build a custom "shell" for a monitor. Then connect it via a custom army type unit with multiple latch points and this is easily accomplished and quite frankly probably quite a bit better than this. If only I had the money for my own modding and know how of cad/materials to be able to put my thoughts to reality on this. Oh well.

 

[zebzz]

I find it hard to see why the case cost that much. i did a project some time back using a case moving musical equipment like amps and place in it a dell 24" screen 1200p, a quad core intel Q6600 processor 2x 9600 GPU, HDDs Optical drive and managed to get 4 120mm fans to blow over the components. Then took a empty desktop case with no cover and placed it at an angle to allow room and are flow to go under and over the system. Did not remove the cover from the Dell and the whole system including the components came to just under £750 so it does seem a little extreme to pay $1000 for case and screen. I even gave it a cover to protect the screen and a place inside the case to hold the cables, keyboard and mouse etc. Maybe another project should be planned.

 

[Christopher Shaffer]

If someone wants this, I'll build you a full PC inside a guitar amp flight case that's rated for 10k ft and do it for less money. I don't understand how this company expects to make money.

 

[SinxarKnights]

The only real gripe i got with this case, other than the price, is the complete lack of supports for the expansion slots. This is supposed to be rugged and transported around, yet you would be a fool to turn it on without first going through the hassle of opening it up and making sure everything is properly seated.

 

[jlwtech]

When I first saw this case, I was very intrigued. To have a portable gaming rig + a quality monitor, all in one easy-to-carry box? It's a great idea, theoretically.Unfortunately, the execution is not nearly as brilliant as the idea.For $1000, the guts cannot consist of a bottom-of-the-barrel mid-tower case stuffed into a hard plastic shell. Plus, it has no carrying handle, bad LCS support, and it weighs a ton.Improvements:-- They should have used a lighter monitor. Perhaps LED?-- It needs a handle.-- It needs a better screen protector. Something built-in that can be folded/slid away, so there is no chance of loosing it.-- It should be smaller. Maybe a Micro-ATX or ITX platform.-- A built-in antennae, similar to what is found in a laptop, so users could have the option of going wireless without worrying about breaking-off the antennae during transport.-- Maybe a few built-in thermal probes with front panel readouts.-- It should be able to hold at least a 120mm and a 92mm radiator. Big air coolers aren't very good at bouncing around in the backseat of your car without ripping themselves out of your motherboard.-- It needs to be a lot cheaper.

 

[jlwtech]

Perhaps they could offer a few different models/sizes:One with a 20-22inch monitor and ITX form factor, that is really light and compact.Another model cold have a 24inch screen, and Micro-ATX form factor, with enough room for dual GPU's, a pair of 120mm radiators, and a HDD hot-swap bay. If they really wanted to impress, they could offer a variant that includes a pre-installed slim DVD drive, 500 watt 80+ power supply, built-in mini PCIE antennae, and a built-in liquid cooler for the CPU.

 

[Crashman]

When I first saw this case, I was very intrigued. To have a portable gaming rig + a quality monitor, all in one easy-to-carry box? It's a great idea, theoretically.Unfortunately, the execution is not nearly as brilliant as the idea.For $1000, the guts cannot consist of a bottom-of-the-barrel mid-tower case stuffed into a hard plastic shell. Plus, it has no carrying handle, bad LCS support, and it weighs a ton.Improvements:-- They should have used a lighter monitor. Perhaps LED?-- It needs a handle.-- It needs a better screen protector. Something built-in that can be folded/slid away, so there is no chance of loosing it.-- It should be smaller. Maybe a Micro-ATX or ITX platform.-- A built-in antennae, similar to what is found in a laptop, so users could have the option of going wireless without worrying about breaking-off the antennae during transport.-- Maybe a few built-in thermal probes with front panel readouts.-- It should be able to hold at least a 120mm and a 92mm radiator. Big air coolers aren't very good at bouncing around in the backseat of your car without ripping themselves out of your motherboard.-- It needs to be a lot cheaper.

1.) It has pocket handles on each side
2.) It has an LED monitor
3.) The cheap internal chassis holds a 120mm radiator on the back panel or a 2x 120mm radiator on the front panel
4.) You're right, it should be cheaper or include all the features you mentioned.

 

[jlwtech]

When I first saw this case, I was very intrigued. To have a portable gaming rig + a quality monitor, all in one easy-to-carry box? It's a great idea, theoretically.Unfortunately, the execution is not nearly as brilliant as the idea.For $1000, the guts cannot consist of a bottom-of-the-barrel mid-tower case stuffed into a hard plastic shell. Plus, it has no carrying handle, bad LCS support, and it weighs a ton.Improvements:-- They should have used a lighter monitor. Perhaps LED?-- It needs a handle.-- It needs a better screen protector. Something built-in that can be folded/slid away, so there is no chance of loosing it.-- It should be smaller. Maybe a Micro-ATX or ITX platform.-- A built-in antennae, similar to what is found in a laptop, so users could have the option of going wireless without worrying about breaking-off the antennae during transport.-- Maybe a few built-in thermal probes with front panel readouts.-- It should be able to hold at least a 120mm and a 92mm radiator. Big air coolers aren't very good at bouncing around in the backseat of your car without ripping themselves out of your motherboard.-- It needs to be a lot cheaper.

1.) It has pocket handles on each side
2.) It has an LED monitor
3.) The cheap internal chassis holds a 120mm radiator on the back panel or a 2x 120mm radiator on the front panel
4.) You're right, it should be cheaper or include all the features you mentioned.

 

[jlwtech]

I confess that I only skimmed the article when making that comment.
I got my facts about the internal radiator support, mixed-up with another review, and I don't know where I got LCD from, but I swear I read it somewhere in the review.

Anyways, thank you for setting me straight Crashman.

I'm suggesting a handle similar to what the NZXT Vulcan has. Something that will allow it to be carried with one hand, so you can open doors, or carry peripherals, in the other hand.

 

[scook9]

An Alienware 18 laptop with dual GTX 780m is about comparable to a desktop with GTX 670 SLI. They are rather capable GPUs and about on par with a GTX 780 Ti when in SLI (for the 1080p resolution). The CPU performance is generally comparable with an advantage to the desktop but not a large one. For the price of this enclosure though, a laptop is worth considering. The only real setback will be the screen not being 120 Hz but as mentioned in other comments, there is a considerable tradeoff in size and weight and power draw. If you had this AIO, you already have external mouse and keyboard and those could easily be used with a laptop - you are not married to the limited input options the laptop has built-in.

 

[scook9]

An Alienware 18 laptop with dual GTX 780m is about comparable to a desktop with GTX 670 SLI. They are rather capable GPUs and about on par with a GTX 780 Ti when in SLI (for the 1080p resolution). The CPU performance is generally comparable with an advantage to the desktop but not a large one. For the price of this enclosure though, a laptop is worth considering. The only real setback will be the screen not being 120 Hz but as mentioned in other comments, there is a considerable tradeoff in size and weight and power draw. If you had this AIO, you already have external mouse and keyboard and those could easily be used with a laptop - you are not married to the limited input options the laptop has built-in.

 

[kaptinavegner]

no hdmi out

 

[Crashman]

no hdmi out

That would be a motherboard feature. No motherboard!

I agree that they should have had more connectors on the case, but at least they put an access hole beneath the case for cables. That's probably only viable when you're not moving the thing around though, since nobody wants to pull the cover to disconnect cables every time they move it.