emachines

Larger, more expensive, and less user-friendly than dedicated streaming devices, small form factor PCs still deserve consideration for living room content delivery. The reason? Freedom.

Whether you opt for a PC that offers good looks, a Blu-ray drive, fast computing performance, or the capability to play PC games, each of the systems in our roundup will provide you with access to all of the content you can find on the Web. No streaming device can say the same.

We'll concede that bringing a PC into the living room won't appeal to everyone. For those who are willing, you'… Read more

Here's our prediction for the new eMachines ER1402-05's reception (aka the "mini-e," on eMachines' product page) as a low-cost home theater PC: Average consumers will be frustrated by its performance with HD content, QuickTime video in particular. Enthusiasts, however, will slap the open-source XBMC media player on it, if not also some variation of Linux, and enjoy a better experience. We, however, will still find a $299 PS3, a $199 Xbox 360, or a Blu-ray player with streaming video services a better deal.

To be sure, the market is overflowing with devices vying to bring Web-based … Read more

We've been lukewarm on eMachines budget desktops lately, but the recent ET1831-07 is a welcome exception. It has most of the features we expect from any desktop these days, even a low-cost, $389 PC like this one. You get a DVD burner and a media card reader, for starters, but two other features stand out.

First, this isn't a Nettop. Instead of a pokey Intel Atom CPU, you get a 2.7GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core E5400. That chip might be a few generations behind Intel's latest Core i3/Core i5 CPUs, but on certain tests this … Read more

Prior to this evening's announcement of the Pavilion All-In-One MS214, HP has never carried a traditional all-in-one in its desktop lineup. Its TouchSmart line brought touch computing to the all-in-one back in 2007, but the MS214 is the company's first attempt at a no-frills all-in-one.

We like the looks of the MS214, although its specs are fairly humble. Its 18.5-inch wide-screen display, 1.5GHz Athlon X2 3250e CPU, and 2GB of RAM keep it firmly on the budget-end of the all-in-one scale, as does its $599 starting price. Other features include a DVD burner, a built-in Web … Read more

Thanks to a $399.99 price tag, the new eMachines EZ1601, announced Tuesday, might be hard for bargain-hunting shoppers to resist. We can't help but notice that the Intel Atom CPU is in its spec sheet, which takes us back to the Asus Eee Top ET1602, the last real budget all-in-one to cross our path.

In eMachines' favor, the EX1601 actually comes with an optical drive--an 8x dual-layer DVD burner, to be exact. At $475 or so (down from $699 at launch), the Asus all-in-one is more expensive, and instead of an optical drive it comes with a haphazardly … Read more