Posts Tagged ‘Entertainment Desktops’

And now on to an examination of Best Buy’s gaming laptops. The HP HPE-210y is their popular gaming desktop designed for the budget gamer. It’s got the AMD Phenom II quad-core processor humming along at 3.0GHz, 8GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM for excellent multitasking, and the ATI Radeon HD 5450 graphics card which adequately handles games at low resolutions. The huge 1TB hard drive and Blue-ray Disc-enable DVD±RW/CD-RW drive are nice touches. It comes with Windows 7 Home Edition (64-Bit), wireless N networking, 7 USB ports, and a 15-in-1 media reader (aren’t those becoming extinct?).

The HP HPE-210Y is priced $899 at Best Buy. It’s a store item, not an outlet item. Yes! You can buy it at the local Best Buy store. Read the rest of this entry »

Our tour of TigerDirect’s recertified desktops is slowly winding down. Today we’re looking for an excellent deal on a desktop designed for productively and intense gaming power. Looking through these recertified systems we discover the Asus Essentio CG5290-BP009.

The Asus Essentio CG5290-BP009 is a great desktop PC for those needing hard-core multitasking productivity or today’s high-end gaming power. This machine comes with the impressive  Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz Processor, 9GB DDR3 of memory, and a 640GB (7,200RPM) hard drive. The (Nvidia GeForce GTX260 896MB) graphics card is powerful enough to handle intense programs like AutoCAD and Visual Studio as well as modern games like World of Warcraft, Grand Theft Auto 4, and Team Fortress 2. It’s got a SuperMulti DVD+-R/RW with Double Layer (burn DVD’s up to 9.6GB), ultra fast Gigabit LAN High Definition Audio, and a wired keyboard and mouse. On the top front of the box you’ll find access to all the sound controls, 4 USB ports, and various media card readers.

The Asus Essentio CG5290-BP009 is currently priced $899 at TigerDirect; brand new the machine cost was sold at Best Buy for about $200 more. Read the rest of this entry »

Now we move onto TigerDirect’s more powerful desktops. Gateway’s  SX2300-01u performs well for the  multimedia enthusiast. This monster has an AMD triple core 2.2GHz processor (AMD Phenom 2 X3) that is sure handle every multimedia task you throw at it. Gateway boasts that the SX2300-01u “Premium performance levels” when you emailing, photos, gaming, or social networking. Inside you’ve 4GB of DDR2 memeory, and a gigantic 320GB hard drive. The (NVIDIA GeForce 8200) video card is primarily designed for multimedia and medium level 3-D gaming. There’s also more of a low end TV tuner card which allows you to the system to your TV to watch programming. Windows Vista is packaged with the machine.

The SX2300-01u is prices $399 at Directdirect refurbished and $465 at Amazon. You can see the SX2300-01u right here on Gateway’s website.

Surprisingly, the system comes with 9 USB ports. The 4GB of RAM is expandable up to 8GB but the thin desktop tower doesn’t easily allow installation of additional drives. Read the rest of this entry »

Dell’s new Inspiron i580-5108NBC is a mid range desktop perfect for both everyday basic computing as well as for home entertainment. The machine delivers excellent performance and adequate graphics for entry-level games. It’s $799.99 at Best Buy.

Review Summaries
The system is powered by an Intel Core i5 650 / 3.2 GHz chip, 8 GB of DDR3 SD RAM, and comes with a large 1 TB SATA hard drive. The installed optical drive is a DVD+/-RW / CD-RW. System graphics are powered by the NVidia GeForce GT 220 (with 1GB of memory). Ports include HDMI, Ethernet, and 6 USB. Another nice touch here is the wireless networking card. Everything comes bundled with Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium.

Its CPU (Intel Core i5 560 CPU) is actually dual core but has the ability to translate itself into 4 core when needed. CNet indicates that the system easily handles programs like iTunes and Photoshop and multitasks much better than similar systems.  The graphics card is great for basic 3D games. If you’re into more intense 3-D games they’ll work on will work at the lowest settings. Read the rest of this entry »

Gateway’s SX2840-01 is a clever improvement of their fabulous SX2800-01. This slim tower has 2.93GHz quad core machine multitasks with ease and has very fast performance. The specs (6GB RAM, 64MB Video Card, 1TB Hard drive) make it perfect for home or office use. It’s got HDMI (video) out which means that you can also use it as a Home Theatre PC. The missing onboard wireless networking can easily be remedied by installing an internal or external device. The SX2840-01 is CNET Editors Choice for Feburary 2010.

You can buy the SX2840-01 for $559 at Newegg and $569 Amazon. Read the rest of this entry »

In today’s vast world of desktops perfection can be hard to find…unless you’re looking at the Apple iMac 27-Inch. Touted as the MB952LL/A, this All in One blows away the competition in terms of style, performance, and reliability. Everybody knows that with Macs “you get what you pay for.” Even though a similar PC desktop costs $500 less, Mac users aren’t afraid to shell out cash for a system with upper end components and greater reliability. $1,694 gets you a beautiful 27-inch LED display, a robust 3.06GHz Intel Core Duo processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, and a 1TB Hard Drive running at 7200 rpm. The ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics card delivers above average multitasking and good 3D gaming performance. Interesting additions with this new iMac are the ultra thin wireless keyboard and multi-touch Magic mouse.

The MB952LL/A is priced at $1,694 at Amazon. You can see this 27-incher iMac in all its glory at Apple’s website. Read the rest of this entry »

HP’s TouchSmart 600 is the next step in the continually evolving all-in-one PC. This multitouch PC can be easily wall mounted in your kitchen and used for pulling up recipes and cooking on the fly. The touch screen can also used to surf the web and take notes, flip though photos, or watch videos via Hulu and Netflix. You can ready the CNET review here or see this PDF of all the specs.

The system (with Blue Ray player) is priced $1,599 at MacMall & the HP Home Store. If you forego the Blue Ray player you’ll only need to shell out $1,199 at Newegg and PC Mall.

No doubt about it – the MB950LL/A is a pretty cool IMac. This all-in-one comes with everything you need in a convenient simplified enclosure. The 21.5-inch screen has a high (1920 x 1080) resolution that allows you to watch high definition movies, play intense games, and utilizie all forms of entertainment. The IMac also comes with two interesting features: a wireless keyboard and magic mouse. This beast is powered by NVIDIA’s GeForce 9400M video card, and a 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor.

The MB950LL/A is the #1 selling desktop at Amazon; you can also find it at MacMall. At both stores it’s priced $1,125 after a $25 mail in rebate. Read the rest of this entry »

Lenovo has come out with a very interesting all-in-one entertainment multimedia desktop. The 21.5-inch display has a respectful 16:9 widescreen with 1,920-by-1,080 resolution. The chassis is just over an inch thick at its slimmest point and 2.4 inches at its thickest. The A600 has a 2.13Ghz CPU, 4GB of DDR3-1066 memory, and a nice 1TB sized hard drive. The A600 ranges from an affordable $699 to $999.

Review Summaries

The Lenovo’s 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7450 processor has a slower clock speed but overall results put the machine in fine company. Its scores a 87 in PCWorld’s WorldBench 6 test suite. The PC had a solid average of about 60 frames per second in a Enemy Territory: Wars and Unreal Tournament 3 tests (at 1024 by 768, and at normal and medium settings, respectively). Results fell to about 35 fps in each test when they bumped up the resolution to 1680 by 1050. Read the rest of this entry »