Reviewed on July 31, 2009We've never loved HP's Pavilion Elite PCs, and this desktop offers the same scattershot configuration that has always put us off. That said, we suspect a dorm room might actually be an appropriate place for a midtower that offers acceptable speed on top of Blu-ray capability. Just know that faster, more specialized desktops are available for less.TAGS:HP Pavilion Elite, HP Pavilion, Blu-ray, ASUS, HP, 64-bit, networking, Ethernet, 3D, AMD, hard drive
Reviewed on October 7, 2009The $799 ZT Affinity 7334Ma's stellar performance benchmarks, Blu-ray drive, and plenty of room for expansion give it a step up from the competition. ZT still needs help in the external design department, but this system certainly earns our recommendation as a workhorse do-it-all system.TAGS:HP Pavilion Elite, Blu-ray drive, HP Pavilion, Blu-ray, ATI Radeon, 64-bit, AMD, HP, ATI Technologies, PC
Reviewed on July 16, 2009With more aggressive competition on retail shelves, the HP Pavilion p6130y isn't a particularly compelling desktop computer thanks to underwhelming features and poor performance. We only recommend this system if you truly need the hand-holding that comes with the support of a major U.S. PC vendor.TAGS:HP Pavilion, ASUS, Dell Inspiron, quad-core, digital audio, Ethernet, HP, 64-bit, FireWire, Gateway Inc., Dell, AMD, PC, games
Reviewed on June 11, 2009We cringe at the idea of recommending such a slow PC when you can get significantly better performance for just a few more dollars. That said, it's hard to argue with the eMachines EL1300G-01w's low price, clean good looks, and relatively complete budget feature set. As long as you have no ambitions for this PC performing anything resembling serious work, it will make a fine second or third home system.TAGS:eMachines Inc., HP Pavilion SlimLine, Apple Intel Mac Mini, Dell Inspiron, AMD Athlon, 32-bit, Nvidia GeForce, AMD, Dell, NVidia, Apple Macintosh, HP, PC