Micro Express JFL9226

Micro Express has previously topped our charts with affordable portables such as its IFL9025. So our expectations for the company's first machine with Intel's Centrino 2 (the CPU class formerly known as "Montevina") were pretty high. Keeping true to form, Micro Express comes through with the JFL9226, a well-rounded and well-priced all-purpose laptop--though it does have a shortcoming or two.

Acer Travelmate 6293-6889.

Not all slim and light laptops come off the conveyor belt bursting with sex appeal. Take the Acer TravelMate 6293: Battery life, it has in spades. Everything else? Not so much. This entirely black portable is fairly well packaged as far as all-purpose laptops go, but if this machine were to go on a diet and lose 0.6 pounds, it could qualify as a good deal for an ultraportable. No doubt Acer's goal was to cut corners--and some standard notebook connections--to a hit a palatable $999 price point, perfectly acceptable for a business budget. But the result is a laptop that's a tad frumpy.

Acer Aspire 8920

The $2599 Acer Aspire 8920 is a whole lotta laptop, crammed with so many features that we kept checking for a kitchen sink. It has a humongous screen, a Blu-ray drive, six speakers, a giant hard drive, a top-flight processor, and a gadget-laden keyboard. You won't skip the light fandango while carrying this 9-pound monstrosity, but you will get awesome performance (and anemic battery life). In other words, it's a powerful desktop replacement laptop that will take up most of your desktop.

Gateway P-172X FX

A notebook catering to the gaming set is sure to deliver a flashy design and good horsepower. And Gateway's latest racer, the P-172X FX, doesn't disappoint.

Asus EEE PC 1000HE

The final retail unit does not have a shared USB-eSATA port as originally reported.

Apple Macbook Pro

At first glance, it appears nearly identical to its predecessor, but it's not. Inside and out, the new 15-inch MacBook Pro laptops--with speeds of 2.4 GHz and 2.53 GHz--have been remodeled, redesigned, and reengineered. (Note: On December 10, Apple released firmware updates for its new notebooks; this review doesn't cover those updates.)

Apple 13.3" Macbook Intel Core DUO Notebook

The more RAM your laptop has, the faster programs will run and the greater number of windows you can work in at one time. If your needs are simple and you rarely do more than two things at once on your PC, the relatively modest amount of memory that comes installed in inexpensive laptops will be enough. Today the standard amount of RAM shipped in most PCs is 2GB. If you like to multitask--say, you want to launch a search for a file and start backing up data to a disc while you watch a news video--you need more memory.

Apple Macbook Pro.

For people who appreciate finer laptop accoutrements such as a backlit keyboard and a slot-fed DVD drive, Apple has crafted another tasty offering in the form of the 17-inch MacBook Pro. Sleek, powerful, and able to run Windows as well as the Mac operating system, the MacBook Pro makes a strong case for becoming anyone's ultimate notebook.

Dell XPS M1530 Notebook

This laptop, equipped with at least 3GB of memory, will run all of your programs quickly (paired with a high-end CPU, that much memory will make things especially speedy). You'll be able to multitask to your heart's content, too, so go ahead--you can back up the entire contents of your hard drive to a DVD while watching YouTube videos and experimenting with textures on the 2MB photo of your client's art gallery in Photoshop. The main drawback is the extra expense: Loading up with more than the standard amount of RAM (2GB, these days) can add hundreds of dollars to a laptop's price, though it boosts performance by only about 10 percent. Also bear in mind that if you hope to use more than 3GB of RAM effectively, your PC must have a 64-bit installation of Windows.

Dell Inspiron 1720

A powerful laptop does not have to be a boring laptop. Take Dell's Inspiron 1720, a robust system that also happens to be available in seven colors besides black. The 1720 is a heavyish 17-inch notebook, but its multimedia design is outstanding.

Dell Inspiron E1505

Dell's revamped Inspiron E1505, an entertainment notebook, now includes an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Though still a poor choice for gaming, the E1505 is plenty zippy for any other applications, including music and photo editing, and movie viewing. The 6.9-pound E1505 also throws in pretty good speakers, dedicated media buttons, and a cushy keyboard with stylish white trim, giving you a great all-around choice for consumers who don't want to spend an arm and a leg on a desktop replacement.

Dell Inspiron 6000

You can see more on the Dell Inspiron 6000's wide screen than on most other 15.4-inch displays thanks to its WUXGA resolution of 1920 by 1200 pixels. In fact, you can work with higher-resolution photographs, more spreadsheet columns, and more tiled documents simultaneously on the Inspiron 6000 than you can on some 17-inch wide screens. (The Inspiron 6000 is also available with a 1280-by-800-pixel WXGA screen or a 1680-by-1050-pixel WSXGA+ screen for $150 less or $50 less, respectively.)

HP Pavilion DV2660SE

The $899 (as of 2/7/08) HP Pavilion dv2660se offers strictly budget performance, but its battery life and a great design make it our winning laptop under $1000.

HP HDX 18

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.)

HP Pavilion DV7T

The Pavilion dv7t is one of HP's "entertainment powerhouse" notebooks, just one step down from the ludicrously oversize 20-inch HDX. Beyond the 17-inch screen, and under the cool "liquid metal" exterior, lies Intel's new Centrino 2 processor. The result: high-octane performance in an extremely shiny package.

HP Pavilion A1510N Desktop

The Pavilion a1510n puts together an appealing mix of performance, cost, and features for anyone seeking an affordable, basic PC.

Apple iMac 2.1GHZ 20"

All-in-one computers such as this machine combine the display and the major components (processor, graphics chip, memory, storage, and so on) into a single physical package. Apple popularized the concept with the original Macintosh computer, and continues the trend to this day with its iMac line.
The chief appeal of an all-in-one desktop lies in its style and integration, and such systems are especially suited to people who have limited space in which to work. But all-in-one PCs often have few (if any) slots and bays for internal expansion, and cluttering up your desk with external USB storage and other peripherals could eliminate much of their appeal. If you do go for an all-in-one, it's a good idea to get a machine that has all the features and drive space you'll need over at least the next 18 months.

Apple iMac G5 20-inch

Apple's 20-inch iMac with a 2-GHz Intel Core Duo processor looks identical to the 2.1-GHz iMac G5 that we reviewed in January 2006. The primary difference is that--while Apple's own applications run faster on the new machine--current third-party software such as Adobe Photoshop CS2 is not yet optimized for the Intel processor, and such programs may run much more slowly than before.

Compaq DC5750 Desktop

The HP Compaq dc5750 comes in either a microtower configuration or the desktop orientation that we tested. HP calls the latter model a "small form factor" system, but it's nearly identical in size to Dell's desktop case. It's moderately attractive, with horizontal black fins and some shiny black pieces.

Compaq DX2250

The dx2250 is the least-expensive PC in HP's Compaq business PC line. Although you can get a very inexpensive dx2250 if you skip the extras, even a judicious amount of optional equipment can jack up the price substantially--so much so that it can end up costing as much as or more than many of HP's more sophisticated business PCs, such as the Compaq dc5750 we tested a few months ago. Our test configuration cost $1413 (as of 7/24/07) with a 19-inch monitor and a three-year warranty.

Compaq DX2200 Desktop

As its name implies, the HP dx2200 Business Desktop targets workplace users. This compact system's low price of $738 makes it a good match for small and home offices on a budget.

Compaq Presario SR5350F

The low-cost Compaq Presario SR5350F is an enticing Vista Home Premium system that's well-suited for running standard applications and for managing a large digital library of video, music, and photos. Like the eMachines T5246, the SR5350F is a prebuilt retail system available in only one configuration, so you can't select different components before you buy it. Priced at $680 (as of 2/7/08), the system's components include a 1.8-GHz Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2160 processor and two sticks of 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 memory (2GB total) mounted on an Asus IPILP-LC motherboard with integrated Intel GMA 950 graphics.

Dell XPS 410

When I booted my test unit of Dell's XPX 410, I was pleased to find that this Vista desktop came only with PC-Cillin, Google Desktop, a trial version of Roxio Creator, Microsoft Works, and a genuine Windows Vista installation disc, rather than having tiny icons line up along the system tray like Christmas shoppers at Macy's.

Dell XPS 630

Dell's XPS 630 is a stylish and competitively priced mainstream gaming PC that can be souped up with extras such as an Ageia PhysX accelerator, a Blu-ray Disc drive, and up to 4GB of DDR2-800 Corsair Dominator memory. And though Dell recently integrated its XPS and Alienware development teams for future products, a spokesperson confirmed that the company will fully support current XPS notebooks and desktops (such as the high-end 730 H2C, the multimedia-themed XPS 420, and the iMac-rival One) for the remainder of what is typically a 12-month life-cycle for these products. The company declined to confirm when the first Alienware/Dell hybrid systems are likely to appear.

Dell Inspiron 530

The Dell Inspiron 530 was powerful enough to earn superior scores (for a value PC) in both its productivity and graphics performance tests, yet it's quite inexpensive at $689.

Dell Vostro 200

The Vostro 200 is the first desktop PC in Dell's new small-business line of computers and peripherals. The machine's "200" designation might lead you to believe that it's a step above entry level, but from what we saw, it's more like a 100-level product that Dell dresses up with small-business services.

Micro Express Microflex 82B

A powerful, fully equipped value-oriented system, the MicroFlex 82B sports a 3-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 CPU, 2GB of memory, a 250GB Serial ATA hard drive, and Windows Vista Business. Unlike many budget PCs, the MicroFlex 82B ships with a dedicated graphics card--an nVidia GeForce 8800GT that carries 512MB of video memory. Thanks to its speedy processor and dedicated graphics, the MicroFlex 82B achieved a WorldBench 6 score of 117. While that doesn't quite reach high-end gaming PC territory, it makes this machine ideal for everyday computing tasks and even some gaming, too.

Micro Express Microflex 450B

Built around the same Gigabyte X48-DS4 motherboard as the top-performing Polywell Poly X4800-Extreme, the MicroFlex 450B steps down a notch or two on other primary components. A 2.83-GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 processor, a single 500GB Seagate ST3500320NS hard drive, and a 512MB ATI 4870 graphics card lurk inside. Though this combo is pared back compared with some other high-end PCs, it still managed a more-than-acceptable WorldBench 6 score of 119 and gaming rates around 200 frames per second.

Compaq DX2200 Desktop

As its name implies, the HP dx2200 Business Desktop targets workplace users. This compact system's low price of $738 (as of November 6, 2006) makes it a good match for small and home offices on a budget.

Compaq Presario SR5350F.

The low-cost Compaq Presario SR5350F is an enticing Vista Home Premium system that's well-suited for running standard applications and for managing a large digital library of video, music, and photos. Like the eMachines T5246, the SR5350F is a prebuilt retail system available in only one configuration, so you can't select different components before you buy it. Priced at $680 (as of 2/7/08), the system's components include a 1.8-GHz Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2160 processor and two sticks of 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 memory (2GB total) mounted on an Asus IPILP-LC motherboard with integrated Intel GMA 950 graphics.