The eMachines T3642 is a cheap PC that's easily available in stores—which is about all it has going for it. Think of it as the PC equivalent of fast food.

Cheap. 250GB hard drive. Tool-free PCI-card slots.

A little slow on some common tasks. Only two (filled) RAM slots. Still a lot of bloatware. Dated integrated graphics. Free Norton Internet Security subscription drops to 60 days. A ball mouse—in 2008?

The eMachines T3642 is a decent, cheap (sub-$400) PC. But at this price, you shouldn't expect it to do much more than e-mail, Web surfing, and light office tasks—and it doesn't.

The budget-conscious HP Pavilion a6610t gives you enough power and features to keep you satisfied for at least a few years.

Relatively inexpensive. TV tuner with MCE remote. Expandability. No modem. FireWire port. 3GB of RAM. Discrete graphics card. Large 500GB hard drive. A 15-month subscription to Norton Internet Security.

Crapware. External IR receiver.

Sony's VGC-JS190J/B is a worthy competitor to the more basic all-in-one PCs.

Compact all-in-one PC. Faster processor, larger hard drive than all-in-one rivals. Blu-ray reader. 4GB of memory.

Wired keyboard and mouse spoil sleek lines. Not true 1080p. Some crapware. No back button on the mouse. Weak integrated graphics. Blu-ray drive is tray-loading.

The VAIO VGC-LV190Y, Sony's new HDTV with a PC built in, outclasses previous models with one huge improvement: an HDMI input.

Large widescreen. Fully loaded. Looks like an HDTV. Wireless keyboard with touchpad. Nice mouse. Wireless everything. Blu-ray burner. HDMI input. Full 1080p support.

Windows Live OneCare (antivirus/firewall) has only a 90-day subscription. Still some crapware.

The ZT Affinity 7225Xi has quad-core Intel power for (just) under $750.

Moderately priced quad-core power. Some room for expansion. Good multimedia benchmark test numbers.

Light on features. Boring design. 90-day trial subscription to Norton Internet Security. Some crapware.

The VAIO VGN-CS190, Sony's mainstream laptop, works the color pink into a delectable design but falls short on other features.

Excellent design. Pink and other colors are available. Highly configurable. Good battery life. 4GB of memory. Cool effects with the multimedia buttons. A Blu-ray drive is offered.

Fresh Start option is not really free. Lacks an HDMI port.

Falcon Northwest's flagship Mach V gaming desktops have wowed high-end enthusiasts for years with their over-the-top performance and attention-grabbing aesthetics. The Falcon Northwest Mach V (GTX 280 SLI) ($9,370 direct, $10,265 with paint job) continues...

Strong gaming and multimedia performance. 1.6TB of total storage for archiving a large library of games and media files.

Super-expensive. Lacks an HD optical drive.

Overall, the Falcon Northwest Mach V (GTX 280 SLI) is an enthusiast's dream machine with strong gaming and speedy multimedia performance. For $10K, however, you'd expect the best of the best, and though it comes close, this Falcon falls a bit short.

The HP Slimline s3600t will please all but the most demanding media mavens.

HD-DVD/Blu ray combo reader. Wireless networking. Compact and quiet. HDMI port. 15-month subscription to Norton Internet Security. HDMI. Pocket Media Drive bay.

No FireWire port. Crapware.

The HP Pavilion Elite m9400t has most everything you would want in a media-creation system, without all the expensive extras you don't.

Quad-core performance. Nice design. Dual removable hard drive bays. ATSC/HDTV TV tuner. 15-month Norton Internet Security subscription. Blu-ray/HD DVD combo drive. Abundant inputs and outputs. Built-in IR receiver.

Bloatware. Smallish installed hard drive (though lots of options for expandability).

Toshiba's flagship Qosmio media center line suffered a decline over the past couple of years. Although the first three Qosmios were awarded Editors' Choices, my enthusiasm for the line waned for lack of significant advances. As other product lines slimmed...

Secondary cell processor for quicker video editing. Good graphics card. Half a terabyte of storage. Affordable. Excellent speaker system. Upconvert feature lets you watch enhanced standard-definition content.

Would like to see a higher resolution. Cell processor effective only for certain tasks. Gesture Controller is hard to master. Heavier than its rivals.

The Toshiba Qosmio G55-Q802 is an affordable media center laptop made for video editors who aren't performance seekers or feature hounds.