HP (Hewlett-Packard) TouchSmart IQ504 Desktop

Strengths: That it is All-in-One. The screen is beautiful. Set up is easy. Touch screen is cool.
Weaknesses: Unexpectedly shuts-down & the screen freezes.
Overall Evaluation: I've had this PC for about 10 days and have had nothing but trouble. Maybe I have a lemon and my experience will have been an uncommon one but I thought it important to report. In the past ten days I've spent hours and hours on the phone with tech support. We've had to do two, TWO System Recovery's and after three hours on the phone with them yesterday they wanted us to do another. The first problem was that our speakers stopped working. The next problem was our Network card and we lost internet and email. And lastly, we've had "unexpected shut-downs" AND screen freezes. When the screen freezes there is nothing you can do. The mouse does not work, CTL+ALT+DEL does not work nor does the power button. You have to unplug the unit and plug it back in. Both the Unexpected Shut Down" and the "Screen Freeze" (when the computer reboots) take you to the dreaded "Windows did not shut down properly......do you want to restart in safe mode,...or normally." After yesterdays' three hour (+) session with tech support we decided no, we were not doing another System Recover and then have to set up this particularly unit all over again reloading all the software and files. We are going to return this unit to the store we purchased it at and order a new one hoping that our experience with this particular machine is an anomaly and maybe we just got a Lemon. I decided to give it a Fair rating instead of a Poor rating because of the products strengths mentioned above.

Apple iMac Intel Core 2 Duo 24" Desktop

Amount:$100 Manufacturer: AppleProduct: iMac Intel Core 2 Duo 24" DesktopRebate Description: Rebate submission must be postmarked within 30 days of purchase date. Offer available on purchase from PC Connection, MacConnection or GovConnection only. Product must be purchased at advertised price to qualify. To receive rebate, you must submit completed rebate form accompanied by a clean, clear copy of your proof of purchase clearly indicating full retail price paid, and the original UPC symbol cut from the Apple product packaging including the numbers printed below the bar code. With questions, or to check the status of your rebate, visit www.rebate-zone.com/promotions or call 1-866-301-3713.Expiration Date: 2009-05-31Restrictions: Limit 1 per product per person, per address, per household

Apple iMac Intel Core 2 Duo 20" Desktop

Amount:$70 Manufacturer: AppleProduct: iMac Intel Core 2 Duo 20" DesktopRebate Description: Rebate submission must be postmarked within 30 days of purchase date. Offer available on purchase from PC Connection, MacConnection or GovConnection only. Product must be purchased at advertised price to qualify. To receive rebate, you must submit completed rebate form accompanied by a clean, clear copy of your proof of purchase clearly indicating full retail price paid, and the original UPC symbol cut from the Apple product packaging including the numbers printed below the bar code. With questions, or to check the status of your rebate, visit www.rebate-zone.com/promotions or call 1-866-301-3713.Expiration Date: 2009-05-31Restrictions: Limit 1 per product per person, per address, per household

BenQ T241W Black 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor

What You Should Know about the T241W Black 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor

Widescreen displays such as this one have become more popular as people discover the benefits of the extra horizontal space for application palettes, viewing documents side by side, and for a more cinematic experience when watching movies or playing video games. This is a 16:10 widescreen display capable of displaying high-definition video, but it is a bit taller than the 16:09 aspect ratio found on most HDTVs, so some letterboxing will be necessary to fill the space above and below the video window

Dell Ultrasharp 2405FPW

Dell UltraSharp 2405FPW Review

by Laura Blackwell

May 25, 2005 - At its native resolution of 1920 by 1200 pixels, the $1199 Dell 2405FPW showed remarkable color and clarity. On test screens, text looked sharp, and images looked crisp and saturated. The 24-inch wide screen performed particularly well on our Web page test screen, displaying highly legible text and subtle distinctions in shading. On the other hand, the brightness--specified by the vendor at 500 nits (units of luminance)--seemed excessive at the monitor's default settings, causing our test screen of a brilliantly colored fruit to look a little washed out.

Dell sensibly placed two of the monitor's four USB 2.0 ports on the left side of the bezel, where they're readily accessible. The 2405FPW's nine-in-one media-card reader, situated next to the bezel-mounted ports, would be a boon for a digital photographer.
The 2405FPW includes height, pivot, swivel, and tilt adjustments for comfortable viewing. It lacks pivoting software, however.
The Dell's numerous inputs should endear it to entertainment-minded buyers. The 2405FPW accepts not only analog and digital output from a PC, but also composite, component, and S-Video from consumer electronic devices such as DVD players and camcorders. Each input is clearly labeled and numbered on the back, and the corresponding numbers on the front bezel light up as you select the input.
The existence of inputs does not translate into excellent output, however. When we played our test DVD movie through our PC's digital output, the 2405FPW showed fuzzy images and somewhat dull colors. When we connected a high-quality DVD player to the monitor via its component inputs, the colors improved, but the image still lacked crispness. Details did look impressive in dark areas, though, particularly in the highlights on a black velvet cloak.
Dell rates the 2405FPW's response time at 12 milliseconds, which is its intergray (or gray-to-gray) response time; its rise-and-fall (or black-to-white) response time is 16 milliseconds. These match the response time specs of the ViewSonic VP231wb.
Overall, moving images looked best when played at small size in a picture-in-picture window. Despite this 24-inch wide-screen monitor appeal when used for office tasks, it won't replace a TV for full-screen DVD viewing.
Upshot: The Dell 2405PCW includes great still-image quality and several entertainment inputs at a category-busting price.
Laura Blackwell

Envision L32W761

What You Should Know about the L32W761

Good Screen Size For the Bedroom

Typically, HDTVs with a diagonal screen size between 32 and 36 inches, such as this model has, are LCD televisions with a resolution of either 1366 by 768 or 1920 by 1080 (1080p). For most people, the optimum viewing distance for an HDTV screen of this size is about 5 to 6 feet. That makes such a screen a good fit for the bedroom, the den, or a small living area.

Popular Resolution For Moderately Priced TVs

All modern HDTVs are fixed-pixel displays. The number of pixels a display has determines its maximum resolution and thus the fineness of detail it can reproduce. Resolution is normally expressed as pixel width versus pixel height. This television's resolution is 1366 by 768, meaning it has 1366 pixel columns by 768 pixel rows. This resolution is popular for moderately priced plasma and LCD televisions. A key characteristic of all fixed-pixel displays is that incoming signals not at the set's native resolution must be scaled to match that resolution. The quality of this mathematical upconversion or downconversion can significantly affect the picture, especially for ordinary standard-definition TV signals. Inferior scaling may soften the picture, exaggerate noise, or cause some edges to appear slightly jagged.

LCD Display Technology

LCD televisions, like this one, are relatively thin, lightweight panels with a light source at the rear and a lattice of tiny cells filled with liquid crystals in the middle. They perform better than plasmas in brightly lit rooms and don't suffer image burn-in. But because the liquid crystal is never completely opaque, reproducing black or near-black color is harder for LCDs. Picture quality can deteriorate when viewing from far off to the side; and because liquid crystals respond relatively slowly to changes in applied voltage, fast-moving objects on the screen may appear to blur slightly. But LCD technology continues to improve, and these problems are less of an issue today (look for models that tout a 120-Hz refresh rate and a wide viewing angle). LCDs tend to be cheaper than comparable-size plasmas and are available in smaller screen sizes (37 inches and below).

Supports Modern HD Inputs

HDTV sets now routinely have at least one HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) input, and usually two, three, or four. An HDMI connection carries digital video and, in many cases, audio from HD cable and satellite receivers, Blu-ray Disc players, and some DVD players and game consoles to the TV over a single cable. Because of their convenience and quality, HDMI connections, when they are available, are generally preferable to other types. Normally an HDTV set will also have two, or possibly three, component-video inputs as well. You can also expect your TV to have component video as well as one or two standard three-wire A/V inputs (composite video plus stereo audio), and one or two RF inputs for direct antenna or cable-TV input.

Gateway FHD2400

This full-featured monitor offers loads of input and adjustment options--and for $50 extra, you can get great speakers, too

Gateway pushes the versatility envelope with its 24-inch FHD2400 monitor. It combines good image quality, a slick design, a great on-screen display menu, and optional speakers that provide fantastic sound

The FHD2400 has nearly every video input you could want in a 24-inch display: component, composite, DVI, HDMI, S-Video and VGA. The only port lacking is the new, up-and-coming Display Port connection. The on-screen display menu is incredibly well designed and intuitive, and it has the full range of adjustment options. You can control primary colors or use one of the many presets. The ease of navigation through the submenus is refreshing as well.
It's not all about video with this monitor, either; for an extra $50, you can obtain a detachable sound bar that produces amazingly clear sound. The speakers even have great bass, and I couldn't detect any distortion when I cranked up the volume--a rare virtue in built-in monitor speakers.
This display features four USB ports, a headphone jack, and a standard native resolution of 1920 by 1200. It's fully adjustable by tilt, pivot, and height, and a unique swivel permits 360-degree rotation.
Gateway's FHD2400 didn't outperform the competition in image quality, but it found a comfortable spot in the middle of the pack, resulting in a score of Very Good. The display cost about $550 at the time of this review, making it a great choice for anyone in the market for a well-designed, strong-performing 24-inch monitor. You won't be disappointed with this display's range of inputs or its adjustment options.

Polywell Poly i7050 Value Desktop PC Review

by Richard Jantz
timestamp(1204178400000,'')
Feb 28, 2008 - If you want a space-saving value desktop computer that's powerful enough for general applications, Web surfing, and other routine tasks, the $729 (as of 2/7/08) Polywell Poly i7050 fills the bill. The i7050 weighs only about 12 pounds, versus 28 pounds for Dell's Inspiron 530. But as with nearly all compact models, the trade-off is that you have fewer expansion options inside

The configuration we tested was equipped with a 2-GHz Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2180 processor and two sticks of 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 memory (2GB total) mounted on an EVGA NF77 nVidia nForce 630i motherboard with integrated nVidia GeForce 7150 graphics and HDMI output.
Despite the entry-level CPU, the Poly i7050 scored admirably in our productivity application benchmarks. It tied with the Sys Technology Sys Slimline Si200 in earning a WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 77, the best in our roundup. But like all of the other low-priced systems that use integrated graphics instead of a discrete graphics card, the Poly i7050 tested poorly in graphics performance, so it's not a good choice for 3D gaming fans. However, you can add a low-profile (half-height) graphics card in the system's open PCI Express x16 slot if you want to improve graphics performance; Polywell charges $72 for a 256MB nVidia GeForce 8400GS card (which has twice the memory as the one in the Dell Inspiron 530 we tested) and $85 for a 512MB nVidia GeForce 8500GT.
The Poly i7050's components are housed in a small, 13-by-16-inches, black-and-silver case that's barely 4 inches high. (You can get the same Poly i7050 system components in a cube-shaped case, as well.) Numerous vents--sides, top, and rear--helped keep our test unit cool, along with a quiet CPU fan inside.
The unit we tested had a 250GB Seagate hard drive and a DVD/CD combo writer, leaving only one drive bay (an external 3.5-inch one) free; accessing it requires unlocking a large metal cage and tilting it upwards, a somewhat cumbersome procedure.
Our i7050 also included a KDS K-92BW 19-inch LCD (1440 by 900 native resolution) with a VGA analog-only interface and decent image quality, though it wasn't quite as bright as some of the other 19-inch LCDs on competing systems. The i7050's USB-based Logitech RX300 optical mouse and Logitech 350 keyboard are better than the bare-bones input devices bundled with some budget PCs, but they also take up two of the PC's seven total USB ports.
If small size matters most to you, the Poly i7050's strong performance and features make it a good candidate among the budget-priced compact models. Otherwise, the midsize, $689 Dell Inspiron 530 is arguably a better deal, since it costs a bit less and comes with a discrete graphics card.
--Richard Jantz

Customizable desktop system provides affordable performance in a stylish package

At $1959 (as of August 8, 2008), this configuration of Dell's XPS 630 desktop is quite a bit more affordable than its $3229 gaming-oriented sibling that we recently reviewed.

Dell lets you choose either Windows XP or Windows Vista as the operating system, and you can add extras, such as an Ageia PhysX accelerator, a Blu-ray Disc drive, and up to 4GB of DDR2-800 Corsair Dominator memory.
The aforementioned gaming XPS 630's SLI-rigged 8800 GT graphics card certainly gives it an edge in graphics performance, but in this version of the XPS 630, the single 512MB nVidia GeForce 9800 GT card didn't do too badly: the system averaged a frame rate of 138 frames per second while running Doom 3 at 1280 by 1024 resolution with antialiasing turned on.
In general application performance, this XPS 630 (equipped with a 3.16-GHz Core 2 Duo E8500 CPU and 4GB of DDR2-800 Corsair Dominator memory) delivered a WorldBench score of 114, whereas the gaming XPS 630 (equipped with a QX6850 CPU) achieved a score of 123 in our WorldBench suite. That's a nice result, considering this XPS 630 costs substantially less, though it does so by trading off features. For instance, it includes a single 640GB, 7200-rpm hard disk (Western Digital Caviar SE16) versus the gaming version's two speedy 160GB, 10,000-rpm Western Digital Raptor hard drives configured in a RAID 0 array.
The XPS 630's industrial design is reminiscent of--but scaled back from--that of Dell's XPS 720 desktop. The 630's ATX case features brushed aluminum on the sides and top, with a choice of a black or red plastic front, and back panels with large grilles. The side panel easily unlatches to reveal a well-organized interior with neat cable management, a 750-watt power supply, and a tool-less hard-drive tray. For a case of its size, it offers respectable expansion room, with one open 5.25-inch drive bay at the front (a DVD±RW drive occupies the other bay). Four internal slots are open: two regular PCI, one PCI Express x8, and one PCI Express x1.
The motherboard for this system uses nVidia's 650i SLI chip set. Unfortunately, that chip set limits each of the system's two PCI Express x16 slots (used for the dual graphics cards) to 8X speed in SLI mode, raising the possibility of an old-school bandwidth bottleneck that is less common today than it used to be. Another issue: Dell's own LightFX software, which controls the colors of the case exterior's four LED lighting zones, has a conflict with this chip set that forces users to resort to nVidia's ESA light effects software instead. An open standard created by nVidia, ESA (Enthusiast System Architecture) promotes two-way communication between PC components. The XPS 630 is among the first ready-made PCs to support it.
The XPS 630 ships with Dell's standard wired optical mouse and multimedia keyboard combo that's perfectly serviceable but nothing special. You also get a 15-month subscription to the PC-cillin Internet security suite. Chip-set concerns aside, the XPS 630 is a well-built, highly customizable power desktop that delivers good performance for the price.
--Danny Allen

WD My Passport Essential 500GB Portable Hard Drive - Black

Carry tons of photos, videos, files and music with 500 GB USB 2.0 My Passport Essential Midnight Black Portable Hard Drive from Western Digital. This compact lightweight drive slips easily in your pocket or purse and stores up to 500 GB of data.

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB Hard Drive

The Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 SATA Internal Hard Drive boasts a high storage capacity of 1.5TB, enabling users to store large amounts of data.

WD Caviar Black 1TB Hard Drive

WD Caviar Black drives combine a high performance electronics architecture with a rock solid mechanical architecture to deliver the perfect storage solution for your fully-loaded PC or maxed out gaming machine

IBM IBM System x3400 Tower Xeon E5420 QC 2.5GHz/12MBL2/1333MHz/1GB/Open Bay 3.5" SATA SS/CD/GigNIC

The IBM System x3400 is an excellent low-cost solution for growing businesses or branch offices that rely on 24x7 availability and mission-critical applications. Optional features let you configure a server customized for your needs -from basic file-and-print to a robust, mission-critical application server -saving you time and money.

HP (Hewlett-Packard) ProLiant ML370 G5 5U Tower - Customizable

The flagship ML370 G5 provides industry-leading management, performance and availability in a dual processor expansion server engineered to excel in a variety of environments - from corporate work groups in growing businesses to critical remote sites requiring continuous accessibility and uptime.

Microsoft Windows Live OneCare 2.0 (Full Product)

OneCare helps keep your PC safe and secure while making your life easier. From virus scanning, file backups, to automatic printing sharing of all the PCs in your household, OneCare helps manage it all for you. And it's delivered to you in a smooth, hassle-free package.

Kaspersky Lab Anti-Virus 7.0 (Full Product)

Get the best protection available today with Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7.0. Kaspersky Triple Threat Protection offers a unique set of technologies that protect against identity theft, confidential data leakage and all Internet threats.

Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2009 (Full Product)

The Norton AntiVirus 2009 Software for Windows from Symantec protects your computer from the dangerous viruses that can cause it to malfunction. The software automatically searches for and removes the viruses, trojans and worms that can infect your computer. It scans your incoming and outgoing email, checks compressed files and even automatically updates itself to keep your computer protected against threats out there. This is an excellent choice to protect your computer from outside virus attacks.

Sonic Solutions Toast 9 Titanium

Amount:$20 Manufacturer: Sonic SolutionsProduct: Toast 9 TitaniumRebate Description: Manufacturer's mail-in rebate coupon. Proof of purchase required.You can receive $20 back via mail-in manufacturer's mail-in rebate with the purchase of this product, and proof of ownership of any Roxio or Sonic software product.Expiration Date: 2009-12-31Restrictions: Limit per product per person, per address, per household

Adobe Photoshop Elements

Strengths: Powerful Editing, Great Originator, You get a lot for your money.
Weaknesses:Big learning curve for new users. No hard copy of the manual.
Overall Evaluation: INTRODUCTION:.I'm a first time user of Photoshop Elements or PSE as many call it. So this review is probably different then from someone who upgraded from an earlier version...PHOTOSHOP.COM.I understand one of the main differences between PSE 6 and PSE 7 is using photoshop.com. It was my impression that you get the free basic membership because you bought PSE 7. However, anyone can get the free basic membership if they own PSE 7 or not. PSE 7 just integrates with it well. They claim you can access your photoshop.com any ware in the world using the internet. This may not be true because the computer needs Adobe Air installed and an internet cafe is some remote area may not have it installed. I have not used photoshop.com too much so I'll let others review it. However, I found the ads for it while using PSE 7 somewhat annoying...THE ORGANIZER.I found the organizer easy to use and very useful. It saves thumbnails of your photos in a database along with other data such as tags you add so you can quickly find photos. You can off load your photos to CD/DVDs when your hard drive starts to get full. The organizer will still be able to find them and show you what that photo looks like from the database. It will then tell you to load the CD/DVD where you save them..I've tagged my photos with things like events (ie. 2006 Tibet trip), locations, and people in the photo. .People tagging sounds difficult but it is easy with PSE. PSE will find the faces in every picture and give you a little thumbnail of the face which you tag. It has two modes, fast or "more accurate". I've only use the fast mode. It found faces even in news papers people were reading. It also find faces of strangers which you can disregard. Face tagging goes very fast using this feature..The events and locations are easy to tag. The photos are displayed based on date/time taken. You just select which photos you want to tag. I recommend thinking about this a little before you start. For example, I tag locations based on country. The countries have sub tabs based on regions, and then some of the regions have sub tag for cities. I never tag a photo with a tag containing sub tags. For example, I have Niagara Falls as a sub tag of NY as a sub tab of USA. When I want to find photos from Niagara Falls, click this tag. When I want to find photos taken in NY, I click the NY tag and even when none of the photos are tagged with NY, I get all the photos taken in New York State. .PHOTO EDITING.We all seen photos edited using Photoshop. PSE can do most of these things at 1/7 the price. Even things like removing or adding people or combining group pictures so everyone is looking at the camera without blinking. As a new-be, I've only used the quick auto fix function but I'm looking forward to using the more advance functions as I get more experience. .You can also use any fonts which your computer supports like Chinese or Arabic which are provided free my Microsoft for Windows computers. This is great for making a vacation travel books..PHOTO BOOKS .PSE directly supports some of the online photo book services but unfortunately, it no longer directly shutterfly.com, the one I like to use. You can edit photos but for page layouts, it is better to tailor what you upload to the online photo book. Shutterfly provides templates for PS which can be used with PSE. But you have to do a page layout for ever page. It is best to use PSE's "Photo Collage" for doing this. Start with a standard collage, and then customize it for shutterfly's requirements. Then do a blank layout and save it. Use this saved layout as a starting point for pages you want to upload. This was a huge learning curve and took a lot of reading and experimenting to figure out how to do all of this. .SUMMARY.PSE 7 is very powerful and a lot cheaper then the full version of Photoshop. PSE will have just about everything and more, most home user will ever need. There is a big learning curve. But there is also lots of help on the internet including forums, free tutorials, and free add-ons.

PNY GeForce GTX 285 Video Card

Amount:$20 Manufacturer: PNYProduct: GeForce GTX 285 Video CardRebate Description: In order to obtain a rebate, visit http://WorldwideRebates.com and enter the offer code: PNY-5394. You will then complete your rebate form submission online. You must have internet access, a valid email address and a printer in order to claim this rebate. Rebate submission must be postmarked within 30 days of the purchase date.Expiration Date: 2009-04-26Restrictions: Limit 2 per person, per household address

XFX Radeon HD 4870 Video Card

Amount:$25 Manufacturer: XFXProduct: Radeon HD 4870 Video CardRebate Description: Send this form, a copy of sales receipt (showing date of purchase) and original serial number label cut from the box. All requests MUST be postmarked within 30 days after purchase. Requests from PO Boxes are not accepted. This offer is available to all customers with mailing addresses in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. If you have questions about your submission, visit www.rebate-zone.com/XFX or call, 866-642-2275 to review the status of your submission.Expiration Date: 2009-04-30Restrictions: Limit 1 per product per person, per address, per household

PNY GeForce GTX 285 Video Card

Amount:$20 Manufacturer: PNYProduct: GeForce GTX 285 Video CardRebate Description: In order to obtain a rebate, visit http://WorldwideRebates.com and enter the offer code: PNY-5394. You will then complete your rebate form submission online. You must have internet access, a valid email address and a printer in order to claim this rebate. Rebate submission must be postmarked within 30 days of the purchase date.Expiration Date: 2009-04-26Restrictions: Limit 2 per person, per household address

eVGA X58 SLI Motherboard

Amount:$20 Manufacturer: eVGAProduct: X58 SLI MotherboardRebate Description: Submit rebate form completely filled out with the original UPC label from package and a copy of your sales receipt. Rebate checks will be mailed in 6-8 weeks. To check the status of your rebate visit www.evgarebates.com or call 888-295-7778. Requests from PO Boxes not accepted.Expiration Date: 2009-04-30Restrictions: Limit 1 per product per person, per address, per household

GigaByte GA-EX58-UD3R Motherboard

Amount:$15 Manufacturer: GigaByteProduct: GA-EX58-UD3R MotherboardRebate Description: Register at www.WorldwideRebates.com with Offer Code: GIG-5021. Upon completion, the mailing address for submission materials will be provided. Print the rebate application and mail in all required documents, including: Signed rebate form, original UPC barcode label, original serial number label, Copy of receipt/invoice. The rebate request must be postmarked within thirty (30) days (including weekends) from date of purchase to qualify. You may also track the status of your rebate at www.worldwiderebates.com anytime or email to rebate@gigabyte-usa.com.Expiration Date: 2009-04-30Restrictions: Limit 1 per product per person, per address, per household

CyberPower Power Infinity Pro

by Richard Jantz
timestamp(1193630400000,'')
Oct 29, 2007 - CyberPower's Power Infinity Pro is one of the first systems to ship with Intel's newest quad-core CPU, a 3-GHz QX9650 Core 2 Extreme chip--the company's first to be built on a 45nm manufacturing process--that's aimed squarely at enthusiasts and other early adopters. (Mainstream users will have to wait until next year for more-affordable 45nm dual-core offerings.) We were able to test the system before the QX9650 hits the streets, and found its test results to be a mixed bag. Though the Power Infinity Pro strutted its stuff in our gaming and graphics tests, in most general applications it showed only modest performance gains over systems using older quad-core chips.

Latest laptop's Prices and Qualites

1. (Hewlett-Packard) HDX18t Premium Series Notebook PC - 2.53 GHz; 500GB Dual HD; 4GB DDR3 Memory - For 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 130M

price: $1849.99

2. (Hewlett-Packard) HDX18t Notebook - Customizable

price:$299.99

As a desktop replacement, the HDX18 not only performs well, it makes your desk itself look snazzier, with great multimedia features

HP's HDX line is fairly straightforward--it courts multimedia fiends. From its double-wide demeanor (with ample room for full QWERTY keys and a keypad) to all the plugs and ports offered here, the HDX18--a fairly fashionable desktop replacement--will stand out on your desk. The HDX18 isn't quite a desktop-destroyer like Toshiba's Qosmio X305 (Toshiba's Qosmio line has a well-deserved rep for awesome performance in games and stellar audio--hang in there, we'll have a review of the X305 up soon enough), but the HDX18's multimedia-mindedness proves that HP is ready to put up a fight. (We've also reviewed HP's HDX16, a very similar entertainment-focused laptop; the main differences are a smaller screen, a smaller hard drive, a slightly plainer keyboard--and a lower price.)

The HDX18 has some brawn to match its beauty. In our WorldBench 6 tests, HP's notebook scored a commanding 102. It's not quite the fastest we've seen--the Micro Express JFL9290 (a notebook in the all-purpose class) fared a little better--but it's more than powerful enough to play some games as well as video. A 2.8-GHz Core2 Duo CPU (T9600), 4GB of RAM and nVidia's 512MB GeForce 9600M GT GPU fuel our review unit. I can spit out frame rates of games like Doom 3 (which got a respectable 90 frames per second at 1280-by-1024 resolution), but what matters is that this machine is capable of playing this season's big guns without much a of hitch. I tooled around Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead on the screen's native 1920-by-1080 resolution. Both looked good and ran fairly smoothly.
The HDX18 is huge. The first tipoff: An 8.9-pound, 17 by 11.26 by 1.72-inch case. And that "18" in the name denotes an 18.4-inch display capable of showcasing full high-definition video in all its glory. The glossy finish on the panel ensures that you'll never be alone--you'll always see your reflection. It isn't the highly polished, highly annoying sheen that you find on many glossy panels, but it's still hard to ignore. The important part is that everything from Blu-ray movies to the newest games come across looking great.
The keyboard has a cool, metallic feel thanks to the coating--and the etched-in letters on each key make it that much more substantial. I wouldn't say that the keyboard beats out the ThinkPad line for its sensitivity, texture, and key response, but I'm going to put it up on my list. I also happen to love all the extra-tweaking multimedia buttons that line the top of the keyboard. The bright LED buttons might seem a little much, but they provide quick access to key multimedia features--and even provide the ability to tweak treble and bass without having to dig deep into software settings (though you can still do that here; more on that below). The mirror-like touch pad is a little distracting, but in a good way thanks to the art that carries over from the case across the mousing surface. It also feels smooth to the touch. And the mouse buttons? I'm getting spoiled here. Long, sturdy metallic buttons stand ready for duty.
Now this is how a multimedia machine is supposed to look. Sure, there's an obnoxious HP logo on the back of the lid that lights up when on (thanks for showing the rest of the world that little trick, Apple) but the rest of the system is laid out just as a meaty desktop replacement should be. The unit we received in the lab sprouts eSATA and HDMI ports, four USB 2.0 ports, a 4-pin FireWire port, a multi-format flash card reader, and a PC Express card slot. Of course, to match the big screen you're going to find a BD-ROM drive on-board. What? You don't want to watch a Blu-ray movie? Then plug in the HD or coax cable tuner and watch some TV shows. Combine all that with the flashy finish and neat exterior, and you've got yourself an incredibly handsome home solution that you wouldn't mind lugging from room to room.
I'm actually very happy with the sound setup on the HDX18. I know, I'm usually a huge curmudgeon when it comes to on-board audio, but this time around, the Altec-Lansing audio solution is anything but blah. The mids and highs seem a little off, but way better than how most "multimedia" notebooks handle those tones. Meanwhile, the down-firing subwoofer lurking underneath the notebook rounds out the sound. Audiophiles will approve of the Dolby sound equalizer software. It's not quite enough to topple Toshiba's big audio dynamite, but it's more than ample for rocking a room and without resort to headphones or external speakers. And to further tweak out the sound, IDT HD Sound software gives you quick-and-easy access to a 10-band equalizer and customizing the sound spacializing (you can push sounds to different parts of your headphones to feel surrounded; it works to a decent effect).
Speaking of software, I need to give a quick nod to the applications. They are slickly produced and suited perfectly for the hardware. You can tell that HP really thought about a nice multimedia interface with its MediaSmart software's sweet GUI interface and how the notebook's shortcut keys tie together. Here's the problem, though: MediaSmart is technically bloatware--approximately 350MB that do the exact same job as what Windows' Media Center software already does. Okay, it's a minor peeve considering that the 5400-rpm, 640GB hard drive (technically 2X 320GB) is relatively clean from most other useless apps, so I'll give HP that.
Last, but not least, is the battery life. I mean, nobody is really buying a desktop replacement notebook expecting it to last all day running on battery power. These monsters usually require a back brace to lug around town, and you'll be lucky to last three hours before needing a recharge. That's pretty much the case here; the HDX18 lasts 2 hours, 42 minutes--pretty respectable, if average. Then again, that was with an 8-cell battery. With a 6-cell, you're probably looking at something a lot closer to 2 hours.
What kind of price can you put on this kind of entertainment PC? Quite a bit, actually. Our machine, as configured, will run you upwards of $2300. If that's a little too rich for your blood, scale back features, and you can get a baseline model for about $1400. Or you can hang in and wait to learn more about what's happening with Toshiba and Alienware's latest media machines (hint: expect some cool stuff happening for the holiday timeframe).
--Darren Gladstone
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Acer Veriton VM460-UD2180C

This PC houses a generous total of eight drive bays, versus the five or fewer bays many competing systems offer. The bad news is that, before upgrades, the Veriton VM460 is somewhat underpowered compared with other value systems in this lineup. With memory only 1GB and its Hitachi hard drive only 160GB, the VM460 is up against systems that offer twice as much RAM and storage space yet cost even less (such as the $620 eMachines T5246 and the $680 Compaq Presario SR5350F). The system also includes a DVD combo writer, but no memory card reader.
You do get an elegant Acer p223W 22-inch LCD (1680 by 1050 native resolution), with both DVI and VGA inputs. Although the VM460 we tested lacked a digital video output, the LCD displayed sharp text and fine color-quality images using a VGA connection.
The VM460 is powered by a 2-GHz Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2180 processor with two 512MB PC2-5300 DDR2 modules mounted on an Acer EG31M motherboard with integrated Intel GMA 3100 graphics.
In its WorldBench 6 Beta 2 productivity tests, the VM460's score of 66, though very good for a value system, is about 10 percent lower than the average of the other budget desktops we tested in this roundup. Its performance in the Adobe Photoshop CS2 and Nero image burning components of the test suite were the lowest in our sub-$750 value PC group. Not surprisingly, the VM460 also tested poorly in its graphics performance, but so did all the other systems that rely on underpowered integrated graphics for our gaming tests. The Intel graphics chip it uses also lacks antialiasing support for rendering smoother edges in graphics frames, which means that--along with the Compaq SR5350F and the Sys Slimline Si200--it couldn't complete some of the Doom 3 and Far Cry tests we conduct.
The VM460 has lots of connectivity ports, including parallel and serial ports for older peripherals, but no FireWire ports. The black-and-silver case is easy to open, and you have plenty of room to work with inside the well-organized interior. Quick-release mechanisms for its optical drive and expansion cards make it painless to add new components. For upgrading, you have six empty bays, comprised of three external (5.25-inch) and three internal (3.5-inch) drive bays, and four expansion card slots (one PCIe one x16, one PCIe x1, and two PCI).
The standard-issue keyboard works fine but lacks shortcut keys, and the archaic ball mouse is not as easy to use as the optical variety. The quick-start documentation that Acer provides for the system and the LCD is useful, but more detailed information on upgrading the VM460 would be a welcome addition to the overall package.
If upgradability is what you want in a value system, the Veriton VM460's well-engineered case design provides room for more drive bays than any of the other PCs we tested. But the steep price for this relatively unpopulated system makes it difficult to recommend if you want a PC that's really ready to roll as soon as you open the box.
--Richard Jantz

HP Pavilion A1510N Desktop

Ultra-budget-conscious buyers can certainly find a cheaper PC; a bare-bones HP a1400 series system, for example, starts at under $300. But anyone who wants to run an e-mail client, Web browser, and several other programs simultaneously or who wants to work occasionally with photo or other large data files will appreciate the extra processing power that the system's Athlon 64 3800+ CPU and 1GB of DDR2 RAM deliver--especially if an upgrade to Windows Vista is in their future.

The a1510n earned a performance score of 97 on PC World's WorldBench 5 test suite, a mark that ranks it a few percentage points below other systems running on the same CPU.

Due in part (we imagine) to its integrated GeForce graphics, which relies on both dedicated graphics RAM and system RAM, the a1510n posted an abysmal frame rate of 20 frames per second on our Return to Castle Wolfenstein test at 1280 by 1024 resolution; that's one of the lowest marks we've seen in recent times. Game play at chez Wolfenstein was choppy at best, and images displayed on the HP vx17e screen were far too dark for comfortable viewing. Nevertheless, other images and small (6.8-point) text appeared clear and readable.

HP has left the door open to faster graphics by providing an open X16 PCI Express slot on the motherboard. Adding a decent graphics card could be your ticket to a meaningful performance boost. Beneath the easy-off cover, a relatively uncluttered interior presents no obstacles to the open RAM and PCI slots, so you could easily add a TV tuner, which this bare-bones Media Center PC lacks. A single-screw clamping bracket secures all of the expansion cards, but you may have to wrestle with a wad of unkempt wires and cables to reach the open drive bays.

Other pluses for this budget system are a LightScribe DVD burner that introduces text and images on the "top" side of recordable CD and DVD media--at a price of around a $1 a disc--and a keyboard that offers lots of big, easy-to-reach control buttons.

As usual, HP's documentation includes a well-illustrated setup poster and excellent setup guides, making this system a great choice for a cost-conscious novice who wants a little more processing power than the typical entry-level PC offers.

Velocity Micro Vision M15 Desktop

Dual-Core Athlon 64 X2 CPU Has Good Performance

This PC features the dual-core Athlon 64 processor, which AMD has replaced with its current Phenom line of CPUs. The Athlon 64 is a very good performer--faster than Intel's Pentium 4 chips, which are of the same vintage--though it doesn't come close to the performance of the latest processors available today. In the end, this computer won't provide blistering speed, but with this CPU and a fresh, clean install of your favorite operating system, its overall performance should more than satisfy you.

Dual-Core Athlon 64 X2 CPU Has Good Performance

This PC features the dual-core Athlon 64 processor, which AMD has replaced with its current Phenom line of CPUs. The Athlon 64 is a very good performer--faster than Intel's Pentium 4 chips, which are of the same vintage--though it doesn't come close to the performance of the latest processors available today. In the end, this computer won't provide blistering speed, but with this CPU and a fresh, clean install of your favorite operating system, its overall performance should more than satisfy you.

Good Amount of RAM for Running Multiple Apps at Once

This computer includes between 1GB and 3GB of RAM, our recommended level for a new PC. This much memory lets you run any modern operating system and comfortably work with quite a few applications open. The more installed memory your PC has, the more programs you can run smoothly at once, and the better the system will perform. Upgrading memory in a desktop after you purchase the PC is a breeze, but usually it's worthwhile to buy the amount of memory you want preinstalled with the system.

To use more than 4GB of memory on your PC, you need the 64-bit version of Windows XP or Windows Vista. The PCs that you see equipped with 3GB of memory (instead of 4GB) tend to use the 32-bit versions of Windows that are limited to 4GB of addressable memory, the top portion of which is addressed by the various hardware devices on the system.