Cybernet iOne H5: Business-Ready All-in-One Packs a Punch

Cybernet’s iOne H5 is basic on the outside and powerful on the inside. This business-oriented all-in-one desktop PC outperforms all of the other machines in its category, and has a slick swivel stand and a touchscreen to boot.

Our review model ($1332 as of July 25, 2011) came packed with an Intel Core i7-860 processor, 8GB of installed RAM, a 500GB hard drive, an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730 graphics card, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, a DVD-RW drive, and a 20-inch touchscreen. The iOne H5 runs a 64-bit version of Windows 7 Ultimate.

When it comes to performance, the iOne H5 doesn’t disappoint. On PCWorld’s WorldBench 6 benchmark tests, the iOne H5 earned a score of 133–17 points higher than the score our top-rated budget all-in-one PC, the HP Compaq 6000 Pro, managed, and 40 points higher than the mark our number two budget all-in-one PC, the HP TouchSmart 310, collected. The iOne H5 costs about $380 more than the Compaq 6000 Pro and about $600 more than the TouchSmart 310.

In PCWorld’s Unreal Tournament 3 graphics tests, the iOne H5 managed a frame rate of 50.9 frames per second (at high quality settings and ascreen resolution of 1680 by 1050 pixels). On the same test, the HP Compaq 600 Pro only managed 35 fps at the same settings, and the HP TouchSmart topped out at 10 fps.

The iOne H5 is housed in a shiny black chassis that sits on an extremely flexible stand. A thick black bezel (containing an integrated webcam) surrounds the 20-inch touchscreen. Most of the ports are located on the bottom of the screen, rather than on the back, which is good for wall-mounting but not so convenient otherwise. Luckily, the stand is very flexible–you can swivel the screen 60 degrees on either side, and tilt it through a 65-degree range.

On the bottom of the screen are buttons for volume up, volume down, brightness, contrast, mute/back, and menu/enter. Beneath these buttons are most of the ports, including four USB ports; HDMI-, DVI-, and VGA-out ports; two gigabit ethernet ports; three audio jacks (line-in, audio out, and mic); and support for hooking up an antenna and composite video. One the right side of the screen you’ll find two additional USB ports (for a total of six USB ports) plus a power button; on the left side of the screen is the optical drive.Like most other all-in-ones, the iOne H5 doesn’t offer many upgrade options, but two mini PCIe slots are available.

Two built-in 2.5-watt stereo speakers sit below the screen. The audio is neither loud nor very full, and voices sound a bit tinny; I recommend adding an external audio system.

The 20-inch widescreen touchscreen is big, bright, and glossy, with a native resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels. It uses a five-wire resistive multitouch touchscreen, in which a polyester coversheet overlies the glass. You can see the coversheet flex as you touch the screen, and the touchscreen requires a bit more force than, for example, the iPhone’s capacitive touchscreen). I found that I much prefered using a regular mouse. The screen itself is not too reflective. Off-axis viewing angles are decent–a good thing considering the wide range of the swivel stand. Colors looked good, though they tended to appear a tad washed-out.

The iOne H5 comes with a basic wireless keyboard and wireless mouse. The keyboard is matte black and features wide, flat, extremely light keys. Because the keys lack good feedback, typing accurately and quickly isn’t easy. Additional buttons to the right of the keys include a music button, play/pause, volume up, volume down, and mute. The three-button optical mouse is quite light, making it responsive and easy to use.

The Cybernet iOne H5 is a business budget all-in-one PC that delivers very well on graphics. Though it’s not the sexiest machine you’ll ever see, and it has no stand-out features, itdoes offer a powerful processor and graphics card that can handle whatever you throw at it–even gaming. Of course, most people looking to buy the iOne H5 probably aren’t gamers.