HP Omni 220 review: HP Omni 220

Hewlett-Packard's $999 Omni 220-1080qd is a welcome mainstream all-in-one that lacks a touch screen. Rather than adding touch hardware and software to this unit, HP instead has included a fast Intel Core i7 CPU, plenty of RAM, a discrete graphics card, and a Blu-ray drive to offer a complete all-purpose computer for under $1,000. I can recommend this system to anyone looking for a speedy mainstream desktop for a fair price.

7.5

HP Omni 220

The Good

The <b>HP Omni 220-1080qd</b> offers some of the best performance available in a sub-$1,000 all-in-one desktop.

The Bad

I always cringe when an all-in-one, particularly with a 23-inch display, lacks an HDMI input.

The Bottom Line

HP's nontouch Omni 220-1080qd all-in-one boasts a strong, performance-oriented configuration that will satisfy anyone looking for a mainstream desktop.

The Omni 220 is the bigger, faster, more expensive sibling of HP's Omni 120 all-in-one, also without a touch screen, which we reviewed earlier this fall. Both units feature clean, if nondescript styling, although the Omni 220 is unusual in that HP gave it an iMac-like pedestal design, rather than use a pair of feet or some other support underneath the display. The pedestal makes it easier to store the keyboard directly underneath the Omni 220, but otherwise the benefits of one design over the other are mostly cosmetic.

Coming in under $1,000 with a strong configuration, the Omni 220 for the most part stands out as a fair deal over its touch-equipped competitors. Dell, for example, offers its touch-enabled Inspiron One 2320 for about $250 more, but with a much slower CPU. The Dell does have a larger hard drive than the HP, and the cost of mechanical storage capacity has spiked recently due to the manufacturing issues resulting from this summer's flooding disaster in Thailand. Supply chain anomalies not withstanding, if you subtract $100 for the Dell's touch-screen option, and roughly another $75 for the larger hard drive, that still leaves the Dell about $75 over the price of the Omni 220, but with a slower CPU.

A critical difference between the two that's not listed in the chart above is the lack of an HDMI input on the HP. Where the Dell Inspiron One, the Samsung Series 7, and in fact almost all all-in-ones offer HDMI in, HP doesn't even offer it as an option with the Omni 220, like it does with its TouchSmart line. Given the extent to which HDMI input can expand the overall usefulness of an all-in-one to work with other video components (cable boxes, game consoles), its absence on the Omni 220 is disappointing.

Cinebench 11.5
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Rendering multiple CPUs

Rendering single CPU

Lenovo IdeaCentre B520 (Core i7-2600, summer 2011)

5.97

1.45

HP Omni 220-1080qd (Core i7-2600s, fall 2011)

5.68

1.51

Dell Inspiron One 2320 (Core i5-2400S, fall 2011)

4.91

1.25

HP TouchSmart 520 1050y (Core i5 2.5GHz, fall 2011)

4.14

1.29

Apple iMac 21.5-inch (Core i5-2400, spring 2011)

3.96

1.25

Samsung Series 7 (Core i5 2.7GHz, fall 2011)

2.96

1.23

Toshiba DX735-D3201 (Core i5-2430M, fall 2011)

2.66

1.14

If it's not as versatile as it could be, at least the Omni 220's performance stands strong next to that of other all-in-ones in its price range. The other systems in our charts, with the exception of the Toshiba, are actually more expensive than the Omni 220, but aside from the Lenovo and occasionally the 21.5-inch iMac, the HP system outperforms them all.

The HP's lower-end graphics card also makes it a marginally credible gaming desktop. The Lenovo and its midrange GeForce GT 555 card enjoy an edge on this metric as well. With the Lenovo's card, you can play every current PC game with at least moderate detail settings and at full resolution. You will need to compromise image quality for frame rate more often with the Omni 220's Radeon HD 6450A card, but at least you should be able to find some setting that works. Not so with the embedded graphics chips in the other Windows all-in-ones.

The absence of an HDMI input is the most notable point in the HP's array of inputs and outputs, but the pair of USB 3.0 jacks on the left edge is a close second. That's a nice feature, and I'm glad HP has made the effort to make that standard. Otherwise, connectivity options are fairly pedestrian. You get a handful of extra USB 2.0 jacks, an Ethernet adapter, and analog and digital audio outputs.

Juice box
HP Omni 220-1080qd	Average watts/hour
Off (watts)	0.88
Sleep (watts)	2.22
Idle (watts)	31.27
Load (watts)	90.46
Raw (annual kWh)	140.71
Energy Star-compliant	Yes
Annual operating cost (@$0.1135/kWh)	$15.97

The Omni 220 demonstrates admirably restrained power consumption for its configuration, using the same amount of electricity as the slower Dell Inspiron One 2320 and less power than the even-slower iMac and Samsung systems. The overall costs and power draw of these systems are modest, generally speaking, but I always appreciate a system that overachieves like this HP.

HP includes a basic one-year parts and labor warranty with the Omni 220. You also get 24-7 toll-free phone support and a variety of support resources available on HP's Web site, as well as on the system itself.

Conclusion
The HP Omni 220 provides a fast, no-frills computing experience for a fair price. I might like to see at least one frill, but in all I can recommend this desktop to anyone interested in a lean and mean mainstream all-in-one.

Find out more about how we test desktop systems.

System configurations:

Apple iMac 21.5-inch
Apple OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.7; 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-2400; 4GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 512MB AMD Radeon HD 6750 graphics card; 500GB 7,200rpm hard drive

Dell Inspiron One 2320
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1); 2.8GHz Intel Core i5-2400s; 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 1GB Nvidia GeForce 525M graphics card; 2TB 7,200rpm hard drive

HP Omni 220-1080qd
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1); 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-2600s; 6GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 1GB AMD Radeon HD 6450A graphics card; 1TB 7,200rpm hard drive

HP TouchSmart 520
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1); 2.5GHz Intel Core i7-2600s; 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 1GB AMD Radeon HD 6450A graphics card; 2TB 5,400rpm hard drive

HP TouchSmart 620
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1); 3.1GHz Intel Core i5-2400; 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 1GB Nvidia GeForce 525M graphics card; 2TB 7,200rpm hard drive

Lenovo Idea Centre B520
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1); 3.4GHz Intel Core i7-2600; 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 2GB Nvidia GeForce GT 555 graphics card; 2TB 7,200rpm hard drive

Samsung Series 7 All-In-One
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1); 2.7GHz Intel Core i5-2390T; 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 64MB Intel HD Graphics 1000 embedded graphics; 1TB 7,200rpm hard drive