Reviewed on November 12, 2009The 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.TAGS:HP Pavilion SlimLine, graphics chip, HP Pavilion, Dell Inspiron, Gateway Inc., Ethernet LAN, HP, Dell, Intel, Intel Pentium, PC
Reviewed on November 6, 2009With 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 in regards to both performance and features.TAGS:HP Pavilion SlimLine, Dell Inspiron, Gateway Inc., graphics chip, Ethernet LAN, Dell, HP Pavilion, Ethernet, Intel, HP, PC
Reviewed on April 28, 2009ZT's smartly configured Affinity 7308Ma offers a Blu-ray drive and fast application performance, both rare for its $699 price tag. You won't show off this midtower PC off for its looks, but we recommend it to those who enjoy the satisfaction that comes with finding a hidden bargain.TAGS:Blu-ray drive, Dell XPS, Blu-ray, graphics chip, Dell Inspiron, quad-core, Dell, Gateway Inc., AMD, PC
Reviewed on July 13, 2009As much as we've appreciated HP's efforts in bringing the slim tower to the mainstream, we cannot recommend this off-the-shelf Pavilion Slimline s5120y. Even considering its low price, its design, features, and performance all come up short next to its retail competition.TAGS:HP Pavilion SlimLine, HP Pavilion, Gateway Inc., graphics chip, HP, port, 64-bit, Dell, Intel, hard drive, video
Reviewed on January 28, 2009In its present configuration, the Dell Inspiron I530S-119B won't feel at home in a home theater or digital media environment, but it succeeds in providing high performance at minimal cost thanks to a faster processor than the competition. Future upgrades to this system are limited, but if you're shopping for a budget computer for basic functionality, this Dell will do the trick.TAGS:Acer Inc., Dell Inspiron, graphics chip, Acer Aspire, Dell, Intel Pentium, Intel, desktop computer, 64-bit, hard drive, CPU
Reviewed on February 20, 2009By sticking a wireless network adapter in a desktop with relatively slow performance for its price range, it almost feels as if HP has phoned in the configuration of this Pavilion a6700y. We can think of few reasons to justify purchasing this PC.TAGS:HP Pavilion, Dell Inspiron, graphics chip, HP, Gateway Inc., optical drive, Dell, 64-bit, Wi-Fi, networking, Ethernet
Reviewed on October 31, 2008The HP Pavilion a6620f makes a decent case for its budget price. We like the design and the built-in digital-audio ports, and if you're on an unbreakable budget, the a6620f will get you through a variety of processes, but we recommend saving up for a system that will give you a more powerful set of components for a negligible price difference.TAGS:digital audio, HP Pavilion, portable hard drive, graphics chip, burner, HP, Ethernet, Dell Inspiron, Intel, port, 64-bit, hard drive, Dell, PCI, adapter, video