Find The Right Desktops

Gateway DX4822-01

The Gateway DX-4822-01 makes a convincing pitch with the performance numbers and features to earn its place in your home, but if you're not tied to the midtower design, the older Gateway SX2800-01 offers faster speeds and the option to set it up as a media center PC.

Specs: Intel Pentium E5300 (2.6 GHz), 6 GB DDR3 SDRAM, 1 TB Standard, Intel GMA X4500, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition, Personal computer

Asus Essentio CM5570-AP003

At a glance, the Asus Essentio CM5570-AP003 offers adequate performance compared to other midtower budget desktops, but an older Gateway outshines Asus with faster performance and more versatility for a little more, leaving us unenthusiastic about this system.

Specs: Intel Pentium E5300 (2.6 GHz), 6 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 750 GB Standard, Intel GMA X4500, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition, Personal computer

HP Pavilion Slimline s5220y

The HP Pavilion Slimline s5220y provides adequate performance for light-duty media editing and entertainment, but its slim tower case leaves little room for future upgrades, leading us to recommend the older Gateway SX2800-01 that offers more features and better components.

Specs: Intel Pentium E5300 (2.6 GHz), 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 640 GB Standard, Intel GMA 3100, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition, Personal computer

Dell Inspiron i545s-1476N

With similar results as its ancestors, the Dell Inspiron 545s-1476N registers decent benchmarks and offers respectable upgradability, but we hesitate to recommend it over the older Gateway SX2800-01 that leaves Dell in the dust regarding both performance and features.

Specs: Intel Pentium E5300 (2.6 GHz), 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 640 GB Standard, Intel GMA 3100, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition, Personal computer

Averatec D1133 All-In-One

Extra performance by way of a low-wattage AMD chip helps Averatec's D1133 All-In-One stand out from its dismal Nettop competition, but it remains a below-average deal in the grand scheme of budget desktops. We see the appeal of Netbooks, but the benefits of Nettops like this Averatec continue to elude us.

Specs: AMD Athlon X2 3250e (1.5 GHz), 2 GB DDR II SDRAM, 250 GB Standard, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium

Acer Aspire M3800-U3802A

Despite its quirky case design, Acer's Aspire M3800-U3802A is an affordable, feature-competitive midtower that you might find appealing if you're in the market for a cost-effective desktop to use for upgrading. If you want the best PC for your dollar, you can spend just a bit more on another system and get much faster performance.

Specs: Intel Pentium E5200 (2.5 GHz), 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM, 640 GB Standard, Intel GMA X4500, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition, Personal computer

Gateway SX2800-01

Gateway's SX2800-01 offers a strong combination of performance and features all wrapped up in a design that fully embraces the merits of a slim tower PC. We recommend this system to anyone looking for a fast, affordable desktop for the home office, the living room, or anywhere in between.

Specs: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 (2.33 GHz), 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM, 640 GB Standard, Intel GMA X4500, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition, Personal computer

Gateway DX4200-09

While the Gateway might appeal to users who value storage over speed, you can find more features in PCs that cost just a little less, and more performance for just a little more. That leaves this Gateway with little to recommend it.

Specs: AMD Phenom X4 9100e (1.8 GHz), 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 640 GB Standard, ATI Radeon HD 3200, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition, Personal computer

HP Pavilion Elite m9402f

HP's Pavilion Elite m9402f continues to frustrate us in its core design. This off-the-shelf Best Buy system is also overpriced compared with faster, more feature-rich PCs from its competition. With little to recommend this desktop, we suggest you keep shopping.

Specs: AMD Phenom X4 9650 (2.3 GHz), 7 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 640 GB Standard, NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition, Personal computer

Dell Studio Hybrid

If you're considering all of the computers in the $700 to $1,000 price range, the Dell Studio Hybrid is not very compelling. However, if you limit yourself to the very specific niche of small PCs, you'll appreciate this system's clever design and its relatively powerful hardware.

Specs: Intel Pentium Dual Core T4300 (2.1 GHz), 2 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 160 GB Standard, Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100, EPA Energy Star, EPEAT Gold, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic Service Pack 1, Personal computer

HP Compaq Business Desktop dx2400 - P E5200 2.5 GHz

Specs: Intel Pentium E5200 (2.5 GHz), 2 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 80 GB Standard, Intel GMA 3100, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Vista Business / XP Professional downgrade, Personal computer

Visionman Venom VBBA-17GX00 - Athlon II X2 250 3 GHz

Specs: AMD Athlon II X2 250 (3 GHz), 2 GB DDR3 SDRAM, None., ATI Radeon HD 3300, No operating system, PC barebone

Visionman VBBA-278V00 - Phenom X4 9550 2.2 GHz

Specs: AMD Phenom X4 9550 (2.2 GHz), 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM, None., ATI Radeon 3100, No operating system, PC barebone

MSI MBox PM8M2-V Barebone System

Specs: No CPU, 0 MB DDR SDRAM, None., VIA UniChrome, PC barebone

Visionman VBBI-2N7501 - Core 2 Duo E7200 2.53 GHz

Specs: Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 (2.53 GHz), 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM, None., No operating system, PC barebone

HP Compaq Business Desktop dc5800 - Core 2 Duo E7200 2.53 GHz

Specs: Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 (2.53 GHz), 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 80 GB Standard, Intel GMA 3100, EPA Energy Star, Green Mark, EPEAT Gold, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Vista Business, Personal computer

Acer Veriton X270-ED7400C - Core 2 Duo E7400 2.8 GHz

Specs: Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 (2.8 GHz), 2 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 160 GB Standard, NVIDIA GeForce 7100, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Vista Business / XP Professional downgrade, Personal computer

Lenovo ThinkCentre A62 9935 - Athlon X2 5000B 2.6 GHz

Specs: AMD Athlon X2 5000B (2.6 GHz), 2 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 160 GB Standard, ATI Radeon 3100, EPA Energy Star, RoHS, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Vista Business / XP Professional downgrade, Personal computer

HP Business dx2450 (Athlon X2 4450B 2.3GHz, 1GB RAM, 80GB HDD, Vista Home Basic)

Specs: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4450B (2.3 GHz), 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 80 GB Standard, NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE, EPA Energy Star, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic, Personal computer

HP MediaSmart Server ex470

Specs: AMD Sempron (1.8 GHz), 512 MB DDR2 SDRAM, 500 GB Standard, Microsoft Windows Home Server, Server