Reviewed on July 10, 2009Gateway'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.TAGS:HP Pavilion SlimLine, Gateway Inc., Dell Inspiron, clock speed, HP Pavilion, Dell, 64-bit, HP, Intel, PC, video
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, Gateway Inc., Dell Inspiron, Ethernet LAN, HP, Dell, Intel, Intel Pentium, PC
Reviewed on July 29, 2009Dell seems to have missed a beat in this year's round of back-to-school retail desktops, and the Inspiron 545 is no exception. Its competition has too much to offer in the way of performance and features, leaving Dell with little but its established online support resources to give it an advantage.TAGS:Dell Inspiron, back-to-school, Dell, ASUS, Gateway Inc., 64-bit, networking, 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 June 26, 2007Dell's first desktops to carry the Inspiron name look good, inside and out. With a huge range of available components and two equally attractive cases, mainstream consumers ought to be able to find a config that meets their budget, tastes, and computing needs.TAGS:Dell Inspiron, optical drive, Dell, dual-core, Intel, chipset, AMD, 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, FireWire, 64-bit, Gateway Inc., Dell, AMD, PC, games
Reviewed on July 23, 2009The Asus Essentio CM5570-AP006 will give you fair performance and a well-rounded set of features for its price, and we recommend it if you specifically need a midbudget, midtower desktop. In the grand scheme of retail PCs, however, a more affordable slimtower from Gateway gives this system a major challenge on performance and value, which dampens our enthusiasm for the Asus.TAGS:ASUS, Dell Inspiron, HP Pavilion, Gateway Inc., networking, HP, Dell, 64-bit, video card, games, 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 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, Dell, Nvidia GeForce, AMD, NVidia, Apple Macintosh, HP, PC
Reviewed on June 26, 2007Dell's first desktops to carry the Inspiron name look good, inside and out. With a huge range of available components and two equally attractive cases, mainstream consumers ought to be able to find a config that meets their budget, tastes, and computing needs.TAGS:Dell Inspiron, optical drive, Dell, Intel Celeron, dual-core, Intel, chipset, AMD, PC
Reviewed on August 6, 2007Sony's distinctive, midrange VAIO TP1 Living Room PC trades performance and features for its cutesy appearance. Unless you really like the looks of this Roomba-like PC you can find a much better deal from a variety of standard desktop PCs.TAGS:Velocity Micro, Sony Vaio, Sony Corp., Dell Inspiron, Intel Core 2 Duo, HP Pavilion, PC, Apple iTunes, Dell, TV, HP
Reviewed on February 26, 2009HP's Pavilion a6750y highlights the multitasking benefits of a mainstream quad-core CPU. It's also a fairly stable base on which to build a more capable system. You can find desktops with more raw performance out there, but this one is a reliable multitasker for the dollar.TAGS:HP Pavilion, Dell Inspiron, Gateway Inc., HP, Dell, networking, PC
Reviewed on June 26, 2007Dell's first desktops to carry the Inspiron name look good, inside and out. With a huge range of available components and two equally attractive cases, mainstream consumers ought to be able to find a config that meets their budget, tastes, and computing needs.TAGS:Dell Inspiron, optical drive, Intel Core 2 Duo, Dell, dual-core, Intel, chipset, AMD, PC
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, port, Intel, 64-bit, Ethernet, Dell Inspiron, hard drive, adapter, Dell, PCI, video
Reviewed on June 26, 2007Dell's first desktops to carry the Inspiron name look good, inside and out. With a huge range of available components and two equally attractive cases, mainstream consumers ought to be able to find a config that meets their budget, tastes, and computing needs.TAGS:Dell Inspiron, optical drive, Intel Core 2 Duo, Dell, dual-core, Intel, chipset, AMD, PC
Reviewed on June 26, 2007Dell's first desktops to carry the Inspiron name look good, inside and out. With a huge range of available components and two equally attractive cases, mainstream consumers ought to be able to find a config that meets their budget, tastes, and computing needs.TAGS:Dell Inspiron, optical drive, Intel Core 2 Duo, Dell, dual-core, Intel, chipset, AMD, PC