Reviewed on September 7, 2007HP's new digital-media-oriented Pavilion Elite m9040n is fast, loaded with features, and its new looks and newly integrated receivers improve its profile. Our main issue is the redundant bays for two of HP's proprietary external hard drives. If you can get past that, there's a solid desktop here.TAGS:HP Pavilion Elite, HP Pavilion, digital media, wireless networking, quad-core, HP, Media Center PC, video card, TV, hard drive
Reviewed on March 11, 2010A midtower PC with a Blu-ray drive isn't for everyone, especially if that option requires you to make sacrifices elsewhere. Fortunately, HP's Pavilion Elite HPE-112y strikes the right balance between its features and performance, such that the niche customers interested in a desktop with Blu-ray won't feel like they're giving up too much.TAGS:HP Pavilion Elite, Blu-ray drive, HP Pavilion, Blu-ray, burner, HP, Dell Inspiron, 64-bit, Dell, video card, networking, AMD, hard drive
Reviewed on April 7, 2010Don't let the Gateway FX6831-01's case distract you from the fact that this is a fast, aggressively priced gaming PC with some standout features. We wouldn't recommend this system to a generalist consumer or those with discriminating opinions about hardware aesthetics, but for the pennywise gamer, this Gateway is the midrange desktop to beat.TAGS:Gateway Inc., tray, wireless networking, networking, Radeon, Dell, 64-bit, design, games, video card, hard drive, PC, HP, operating system
Reviewed on August 1, 2007If you're looking to build a home theater PC, we recommend ATI's Radeon HD 2600 XT as the midrange card to use, thanks to its nearly perfect HD video image and its no-fuss installation. But for 3D gaming, you'd be much better off looking for a good deal on a faster, older graphics card.TAGS:ATI Radeon, ATI Technologies, Radeon, Nvidia GeForce, NVidia, DirectX, card, generation, 3D, video card, games
Reviewed on March 19, 2009Apple's new eight-core Mac Pro demonstrates marked improvements over the older model in high-intensity digital media and multitasking scenarios. We also love the design tweaks that improve on Apple's already industry-leading sensibilities. Any Apple-bound design professional would welcome this new tool in his or her arsenal.TAGS:tray, Apple Macintosh, Apple Computer, digital media, CPU, memory, motherboard, card, NVidia, video card, hard drive, Microsoft Windows