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Comparing Acer's new desktops with those of its sub-brand, Gateway, announced Thursday, gives you the distinct sense Acer needs to put some more thought into distinguishing the two product lines. Is Acer the value brand and Gateway the performance model, or vice versa? Based on the new systems from each line announced this week, we're still not sure.

Acer's Aspire X3800 series slim-tower desktop.

(Credit: Acer)

Acer Aspire X3810-B3801A

We'll take Acer's $529 slim-tower desktop first. We've come to like these little systems for their strong value and forward-looking array of ports, including HDMI and eSATA. The up-to-date connections combine with the Aspire X-Series' small size to work well on either a desk or in the living room as a value-oriented, standard-definition media center.

This newest X-Series, the X3810-B3801A, throws in a 20-inch Acer LCD to make a complete, relatively affordable desktop package. The 2.5GHz Intel Pentium dual-core CPU and 320GB hard drive suggest that Acer has sacrificed some specs and performance to include the monitor, especially next to the $499 Gateway SX2800-01, a small-form-factor desktop that has no LCD, but comes with a quad-core CPU and a 640GB hard drive. Based on these configurations, it seems to us that more casual users looking for an affordable, baseline functional system should look to Acer, and the performance-minded, yet perhaps budget-limited shopper should turn to quad core-equipped Gateway. Easy enough so far.

Acer, the global PC giant that also owns the Gateway, eMachines, and Packard Bell brands, announced a collection of new systems Tuesday evening during a press event held at New Jersey's Liberty Science Center.

Interspaced with a series of IMAX videos containing enigmatic imagery and slogans ("Light as your time can be"), Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci discussed the company's "multibrand" strategy for selling new products across the Acer and Gateway brands. The emphasis was on Netbooks--not surprising, given the success of the --and new ultraportable systems with Intel's newest ultralow-voltage central processing units.

None of the dozen-plus new laptops, Netbooks, Nettops and all-in-one PCs are available yet--we're told to expect them starting in June for the back-to-school season (and some may never even be released in the United States), but here are some of the highlights:

The 14-inch Acer Timeline T4810.

(Credit: Dan Ackerman/CNET)

Acer Timeline series
A collection of 13.3, 14.1, and 15.6-inch models with LED 16:9 displays, Intel ULV processors, touch pads with multitouch gestures (as on current MacBooks), and innovative passive cooling (developed by Intel and called Laminar Wall), which purports to keep the laptop's outer surface cooler to the touch.

By using ultralow-voltage CPUs and LED (light-emitting diode) displays, Acer claims that these new systems can run up to 10 hours on a single battery charge. Other PC makers have made similar claims in the past, usually by following extreme usage models, such as requiring you to dial the screen brightness way down or cut power to certain features.

We normally don't give budget desktop computers less than a three-star rating, mostly because the majority of them contain similar components, so it comes down to a question of pricing and overall value. Unfortunately, the eMachines EL1200-05w just doesn't make the grade and successfully garners one of the lowest ratings we've given to a budget system in a long time.

The problems begin with a subpar collection of internal components. The $298 price tag nets you a single-core 1.6GHz AMD processor, a measly 1GB of RAM, and Windows XP. Chances are, if you're shopping for a desktop at this price bracket, you most likely won't be popping off the side panel, but adventurous types will be disappointed by the cramped interior and meager opportunity for future upgrades. eMachines gives you a slimtower chassis and a handful of port cutouts in the back for aftermarket sound and video cards, but you'll be pulling your hair out trying to perform a simple memory upgrade.

If you're on a strict sub-$300 budget, the eMachines EL1200-05w will barely get you through baseline applications, but don't expect to run any kind of graphics editing software. We recommend saving a little extra for the Acer Aspire AX3200 or the HP Compaq Presario SR5610f.

With the dire news about Circuit City this week, our roundup of off-the-shelf desktops seems even more apt. We put our hands on 10 mainstream PCs earlier this month, between a few different price and product categories. All are fixed configurations, which makes buying and reviewing them easier, as accounting for various configurable options falls to the wayside. We were also happily surprised to find 64-bit Vista in all but the two lowest-end systems. (sorry Mac fans, apparently Apple doesn't know how to make "junk.") Of them all, we found four you'll want to check out first.

$400 to $500

Dell's Inspiron 530S slim tower desktop is on the more expensive end of the scale.

(Credit: CNET)

Of the three systems in this price range, we liked Dell's $499 Inspiron 530s best. It's on the more expensive end of the scale, but it's also faster than PCs that cost $50 to $100 more. On top of its speed, we also liked its large 320GB hard drive. Unlike the eMachines and HP Compaq PCs (each $399), the Dell also includes 64-bit Vista, which, combined with its 4GB of RAM (the 32-bit PCs only have 3GB), will have a noticeable positive impact on multitasking and switching between applications. We hope to see wireless networking come to slim towers in this price range soon, but alas, this Dell does not include it.

eMachines ET1161-03

HP Compaq Presario SR5610F

Dell Inspiron I530S-114B

eMachines eMD620-5777: funny name, seriously low price.

(Credit: eMachines)

It's Halloween time, and I think I've seen a ghost: with the new eMD620-5777, Acer has resurrected the eMachines brand in the laptop space.

Of course, eMachines never completely went away--of late, the brand has been on desktops and monitors--but it's been some time since I've even seen an eMachines laptop, never mind received a press release about one. But the popularity of low-cost Netbooks, coupled with tough economic times, must have convinced the company that there was still market demand for cheap laptops.

At $429, the eMD620-5777 costs less than many of the best-equipped Netbooks, and its 14.1-inch wide-screen display and DVD burner make it more of a true laptop. Given that the case comes stocked with AMD's 1.6GHz Athlon 2650e--a low-power processor designed for small-form-factor PCs--and just 1GB of RAM, we hardly expect great performance or battery life from the eMD620-5777. It's likely to be used for the same basic computing tasks as Netbooks (surfing the Web, typing documents), plus watching movies.

Additional specs: integrated ATI Radeon x1200 graphics, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, a 160GB hard drive, three USB 2.0 ports, headphone/microphone jacks, stereo speakers, and Windows Vista Home Basic.

The eMD620-5777 will be available at Best Buy starting November 1.

The eMachines EL1200 follows the path of HP's Pavilion SlimLine and Dell's Inspiron 530s desktops. These are not quite Shuttle-style small form factor desktops, but generally the trim profile gives you a bit more upgrade flexibility than the even smaller, closed PCs like the Mac Mini or Asus Eee Box. But unlike the HP and Dell offerings, the EL1200 has no midrange ambitions. Instead, the two EL1200 configurations stand firmly in budget PC territory.

The new eMachines EL1200

(Credit: eMachines)

The specs of each configuration are as follows:

EL1200-05w ($298)

• 1.5GHz AMD Athlon 2650e CPU
• 1GB DDR2 SDRAM
• Nvidia GeForce 6150SE integrated graphics chip
• 160GB 7,200rpm hard drive
• 18x dual-layer DVD burner with Labelflash
• 14-in-1 digital media card reader
• Windows XP Home

EL1200-01e ($349)

• 1.5GHz AMD Athlon 2650e CPU
• 2GB DDR2 SDRAM
• Nvidia GeForce 8200 integrated graphics chip
• 320GB 7,200rpm hard drive
• 18x dual-layer DVD burner with Labelflash
• 14-in-1 digital media card reader
• Windows Vista Home Premium
• HDMI port
• eSATA port

Considering the larger hard drive alone, the $350 model looks like the better deal of the two. The HDMI and eSATA ports make it more enticing, but of course depend on other hardware to be truly useful. The $298 system is available at Wal-Mart only, while the $350 system will be on shelves at Best Buy.

The eMachines T5254 is our favorite recent budget desktop.

(Credit: CNET)

We've reviewed a steady stream of low-cost desktops over the past few weeks, and with the posting of our eMachines T3646 review this morning, we finally achieved critical mass. Click on through to our roundup of five budget desktops, which includes systems from Dell, eMachines, HP, and Shuttle. You won't find Wi-Fi or graphics cards on these systems, but you might be surprised at what kind of system you can get for the same price as a game console.