HP Z1 27-inch AIO Workstation Review

Name: HP Z1 27-inch AIO Workstation Review
Brand: HP

by Joshua Gulick — Monday, August 12, 2013, 11:30 AM EDT

There’s a lot to like about an all-in-one workstation. AIOs save space and reduce clutter in your work area. They’re also easier to move around – just pick it up and you’re ready to go. But maintaining and upgrading an AIO can be difficult, particularly if it’s not built with easy access in mind.

The HP Z1 Workstation successfully juggles several balls. It provides solid performance for the price, offering serious power for under $3,500. The system also scores well when it comes to access – in fact, it’s easier to get to the Z1’s internals than it is to access the guts of many ordinary desktops. You won’t need a flashlight to find your way around this system’s interior either; once that lid goes up, it’s wide open. The Z1 also has a polished, professional look, even from behind, so it's going to look nice on the desktop as well.

Given the Z1’s performance and accessibility, we recommend it to anyone looking for serious workstation. Check out HP’s website for configuration options – if you don’t need quite as much power as our review unit provided, you can reduce that price tag significantly by choosing less-expensive parts.


Bright, 27-inch LED IPS display Solid performance for content creation Clean professional chassis No bloatware	Last generation Bluetooth Fewer USB 3.0 ports than some similar desktop models

Tags: workstation, Quadro, HP, Desktop, Xeon, VelociRaptor, CAD, (NASDAQ: HPQ)

Joshua Gulick

Josh cut his teeth (and hands) on his first PC upgrade in 2000 and was instantly hooked on all things tech. He took a degree in English and tech writing with him to Computer Power User Magazine and spent years reviewing high-end workstations and gaming systems, processors, motherboards, memory and video cards. His enthusiasm for PC hardware also made him a natural fit for covering the burgeoning modding community, and he wrote CPU’s “Mad Reader Mod” cover stories from the series’ inception until becoming the publication editor for Smart Computing Magazine. A few years ago, he returned to his first love, reviewing smoking-hot PCs and components, for HotHardware. When he’s not agonizing over benchmark scores, Josh is either running (very slowly) or spending time with family.