Strong performance among Windows-based all-in-ones; picture-in-picture support; wall-mountable; Blu-ray drive and TV tuner make it a relatively complete home media hub; touch input

The 27-inch iMac costs $300 less; lower-cost HP all-in-one has comparable digital media features

Earlier this year Sony was the unquestioned king of all-in-ones designed for home entertainment. The new Vaio L117FX retains and improves on many of the features we liked about older models, but revamped all-in-ones from its competition make the new ...

Decent light-duty performance, compact size

Slim tower case conserves space but offers little room for expansion; limited connectivity options

The HP Pavilion Slimline s5220y provides adequate performance for light-duty media editing and entertainment, but its slim tower case leaves little room for future upgrades, leading us to recommend the older Gateway SX2800-01 that offers more features ...

Space-saving slim tower case offers room for future expansion; decent light-duty performance

Limited connectivity options

With similar results as its ancestors, the Dell Inspiron 545s-1476N registers decent benchmarks and offers respectable upgradability, but we hesitate to recommend it over the older Gateway SX2800-01 that leaves Dell in the dust in regards to both ...

Small case with high-end gaming capability; three-year parts and labor warranty

Too many expandability sacrifices, even for small form factor PCs; unwise internal fan wiring; slower application performance than PCs that cost $1,000 less; missed digital media opportunities; daunting online configurator

AVADirect's tries to distill as much gaming power as possible into its Nano Cube, but the extra small case requires too many sacrifices next to even standard small form factor PCs. Gaming purists with a need for an extra tiny PC might appreciate the ...

Large, flexible 18.4-inch screen

Cripplingly poor performance benchmarks; low-volume audio output hampers media capabilities

The Averatec D1130's wimpy processor and paltry features give consumers little incentive to choose this Nettop over a faster budget PC or the mobility of a Netbook. If you're dead-set on a Nettop, the Lenovo C300 is a less terrible decision, but you ...

Most affordable desktop on the market; HDMI and eSATA ports; low-risk starter PC or light-duty email/browsing station; consumes very little power

An Xbox 360 offers the same digital media capability, plus the option to play games, for the same price

Acer's Aspire Revo 1600 might be the first Nettop we don't actively dislike. We'd rather have an Xbox 360 in the living room, but the Aspire Revo 1600 would be suitable as a PC for young kids or as a low-profile cloud kiosk. Thanks to its $199 price ...

Largest display among all-in-ones; fast dual-core CPU makes up for lack of quad-core (mostly); finally has an SD card slot; wireless mouse and keyboard; Mini DisplayPort input ripe with possibility

Most Windows all-in-ones in the price range have Blu-ray; touch-sensitive mouse gestures not as responsive as we'd like; Apple's nickel-and-dime customer service policy

Apple's new 27-inch iMac will charm plenty of you with its screen size alone. Fortunately, that won't lead you astray. Behind its expansive display, Apple has packed one of the fastest all-in-ones available, and added a few useful extras to sweeten ...

Largest display among all-in-ones; fast dual-core CPU makes up for lack of quad-core (mostly); finally has an SD Card slot; wireless mouse and keyboard; Mini DisplayPort input ripe with possibility

Most Windows all-in-ones in the price range have Blu-ray; touch-sensitive mouse gestures not as responsive as we'd like; increase in AppleCare cost makes Apple's nickel-and-dime customer service policy even worse

Apple's new 27-inch iMac will charm plenty of you with its screen size alone. Fortunately, that won't lead you astray. Behind its expansive display, Apple has packed one of the fastest all-in-ones available, and added a few useful extras to sweeten ...

Matches Sony in capability to connect and switch between external video sources easily ; Recipe Box touch program best kitchen app we've seen ; smart touch app partnerships with Hulu, Twitter, and Netflix ; loud enough to fill a room

Slow performance ; touch input suffers from occasional unresponsiveness

If HP's TouchSmart 600 won't at least get you thinking about the idea of bringing a PC into your kitchen, the concept truly has no hope. With well-though-out touch apps, a wide, easy-to-use array of digital media features, and an attractive, flexible ...

Fast OS X-based computer for less money than comparable alternatives from Apple

Bargain-basement aesthetics ; ancient external connectivity options ; little room to expand ; ever-present risk that Psystar, and your customer service, will cease to exist

If you've heard of Psystar, chances are you know the risks involved with buying its systems. You might also have guessed, correctly, that in this OS X Snow Leopard-based Open(Q) system, Psystar once again shows up Apple in the price-performance ...