Product At-a-Glance

Full Review

Are you looking to buy a gaming PC without breaking the bank? Look no further than the Gateway FX6831-03. It’s got great specs at a price that is almost unheard of these days for a quality PC. How does it perform and is it worth saving the extra bucks?

Our review unit was the FX6831-03 model and contained the following specifications:

• Intel Core i7-860 Processor at 2.8GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.46GHz
• 16GB of DDR3 Memory
• 1.5 TB 7200RPM Hard Drive
• ATI Radeon HD5850 Graphics Card with 1GB of VRAM
• 4X Blu-Ray Disc Drive and 16X DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti Drive
• Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

A similar Dell Alienware Aurora we specced out cost $370 more but didn’t quite offer the same graphics card and processor options that the Gateway did. Another configuration from Velocity Micro came out to $1819, a difference of a mere $120 but that was without the 16GB of memory. The FX6831-03 isn’t the best gaming PC on the market today, but it is certainly impressive for the price. 5-7 years ago, gaming PCs with these kind of specs would run over $2,000.

The PC showcases some of the design cues that earlier Gateway FX series systems had, including red accents and the prominent FX logo, but adds backlit LED red vents to the corners of the chassis. You can easily turn these off by twisting a knob integrated into the power button at the top. The cheap price doesn’t necessarily mean quality case either, the case is almost entirely made of plastic with hints of metal here and there.

You’ll also find 10 USB ports (4 on the front, six on the back), 2 eSATA ports, 1 FireWire port, 2 DVI ports, 1 HDMI, the usual audio inputs (with HD headphone and 7.1 support in this case) and the now dated PS/2 ports. On the front is a multi-card reader and a slide down door with easy access to two hot-swappable drive bays.

The fact that the Gateway FX6831-03 PC offers 16GB of memory at this low of a price is great and is perfect for any gamer looking to multitask when fragging in their favorite game. Downloading patches in the background? No problem.

Like we saw with the Gateway SX2840-01 however, the system does contain bloatware. From the trial of Norton Internet Security to a slew of Gateway downloadable games and shortcuts to Netflix and eBay placed on the desktop. Any seasoned gamer is going to remove these upon receiving a system like this, but we just thought we’d let you know.

Performance wise, the FX6831-03 handled our benchmarks like a champ. The system received a score of 7485 in our PCMark Vantage tests and in our CINEBENCH graphics tests received scores of 3327 in the single core test and 13639 in the multi-core test. In the shading test, it received a score of 8022.

Overall the Gateway FX6831-03 gaming PC is a great choice for any gamer looking for a PC with a somewhat limited budget. You’ll find it at Gateway.com and select retail stores for $1699.99.

Let's take you back to 2005 when Apple introduced the Mac mini, a full-fledged computer inside of a 6.5 inch square enclosure. It was very impressive then, but now there are many competitors on the market including the Dell Inspiron Zino HD, which we're taking a look at today. More thoughts on the computer itself and what you might use it for after the break.

Some small form factor PCs are underpowered, but like we saw with the Gateway SX2840 PC, the Inspiron Zino HD certainly isn't one of them. The review unit we received came loaded with an AMD Athlon X2 3250e running at 1.5GHz, 4GB of DDR2 memory, an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 graphics card, a 500GB hard drive, dual-layer DVD burner, and 802.11n wireless networking (a plus for a home theater PC).

On the front of the Zino HD, you'll find two USB ports, the dual-layer DVD burner, a 4-in-1 card reader, and a headphone jack. Turn it around and on the back are two more USB ports, two eSATA ports, an Ethernet jack, audio in/out jacks and a HDMI port. One thing missing is an optical audio output port for those who want optical audio while using the VGA port. The top panel of the Zino HD pops off and can be replaced with a variety of designs including seven colors and a few interesting designer patterns.

Already this PC is a perfect fit for the living room. Throw something like XBMC, Boxee, or Hulu Desktop on it and you've got plenty of content available at your leisure. All it needs is a Blu-Ray drive and you've got yourself a pretty awesome home theater PC. Unlike the Gateway SX2840, it didn't have a scratch of bloatware loaded on it, and we applaud Dell for eliminating it from their entire line. It does come with a trial subscription to McAfee Internet Security, but that's where it ends.

The Zino HD performed well in our benchmarking tests, earning a score of 2787 PCMarks in our PCMark Vantage tests and in our CINEBENCH tests thanks to the discrete graphics card. While it isn't a speed demon, it's perfect for basic office tasks, web browsing, photo editing, and playing movies. While it isn't as fast as other small form factor PCs on the market, nothing beats the Dell in terms of the flexibility of this particular desktop.

The Dell Inspiron Zino HD starts at $249 through Dell's website.

Pros

• Compact enclosure perfect for the living room.
• Built-in 802.11n wireless networking.
• No bloatware installed.

Cons

• No optical audio output.

If you're looking for a PC for your living room and HDTV or just a small, compact PC for tight spaces, you're in luck. The Gateway SX2840-01 desktop might be just for you. Does the small form factor sacrifice power? Find out after the break.

The model we reviewed includes an Intel Core i3-530 processor, 6GB of DDR3 RAM, a 1TB hard drive, and a 16X DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti Drive. Intel's Graphics Media Accelerator X4500 HD graphics chip is built into the Core i3 processor. All of this inside a small form factor chassis measuring 10.5" by 4.0" by 12.5". We would have loved to see a Blu-Ray drive option with the emergence of home theater PCs, including this one which includes a HDMI output for connecting to your high-definition TV as well as a VGA output.

On the front is a six-in-one card reader for downloading photos, a mini-FireWire port, five USB ports, and audio in/out jacks for connecting headphones or a microphone. However, there is no wireless networking capability, so you will either have to get a USB Wi-Fi adapter or connect an Ethernet cable to access the web.

Upon turning the PC on, we were inundated with the usual amount of bloatware installed, from a slew of games, to the usual Microsoft Office trial, and Norton Internet Security. Though these won't too hard to uninstall, they still create an unneeded burden for users.

In our testing, the SX2840 proves perfect for anyone looking to play movies and IPTV shows on their HDTVs and for basic computer tasks like word processing, web browsing, and downloading and editing photos. It won't be the best PC for gaming, but that can be fixed by adding a half-height compatible ATI or NVidia graphics card. In our PCMark Vantage tests, the system received a score of 6784 PCMarks and in our CINEBENCH tests received a score of 4022 in the single CPU test and 9141 in the multi CPU.

Although some manufacturers sacrifice expansion for a minimal design, Gateway has mastered the equation of power plus small form factor with the SX2840 desktop. We would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a quiet, slim PC that offers great bang for your buck.

The Gateway SX series starts at $519.99 and is available at Gateway's website as well as Amazon.com.

Pros

• Small and quiet enclosure.
• Multitude of ports and expansion for such a small PC.
• Great specs at such a cheap price.

Cons

• Traditional Gateway bloatware.
• No wireless networking.
• Lacks Blu-Ray drive.

It's almost been a year since we reviewed the HP Blackbird 002 gaming PC, featured on our 2007 Holiday Gift Guide. In June of this year, HP revved up it's engines and released the new Blackbird 002 Exhilaration Edition, featuring the latest NVIDIA GTX 280 graphics. How does it perform compared to the previous model? Read on to find out.

First, let's start with the specs of this beast:

• NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra Motherboard
• Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 at 3.2GHz
• 2x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 in SLI
• 4GB Corsair Dominator DDR3-1600 RAM
• Super Multi Blu-Ray Disc and HD DVD-ROM Drive
• Windows Vista Ultimate Edition

The Blackbird 002 EE looks no different on the outside, but on the inside, it's got the latest and greatest components available on the market. We were blown away by the performance numbers of the original Blackbird 002, and the Exhilaration Edition takes it to the next level, by only a small margin however.

In our PCMark Vantage tests, the Exhilaration Edition pushed out a score of 5617 PCMarks, compared to the original Blackbird's score of 5389. Not a huge improvement. In our CINEBENCH tests, the EE performed somewhat slower than the original:

What irks me a little is that the Exhilaration Edition's processor wasn't overclocked like many other gaming machines on the market and in my research, only uses two SLI cards instead of a triple SLI configuration. Since the CPU is water cooled, I'm pretty sure that HP could have pushed the system even further.

It's certainly a speedy system, and will play all of today's latest games, but priced out at over $6500 bucks, it doesn't give the exhilaration that it should for that kind of price.

Pros

• Crysis-capable.
• Latest and greatest components.
• Easy to upgrade.

Cons

• Not the performance boost we were hoping for.

HP purchased Voodoo, a popular gaming PC manufacturer in 2006. Since that time they have worked together on a PC called the Blackbird 002 (001 was a prototype). The Blackbird 002 isn't for the casual gamer, but would make the best gift for the hardcore gamer this holiday season.

The Blackbird 002 isn't just any old PC stuffed into a nice case; it was built from the ground up with the gamer in mind. The 002 literally floats above the ground with the sleek aluminum stand which supports a whopping 600 pounds. Inside is a whole different story. The 002 comes either air-cooled or with a water-cooled GPU, CPU, or both. Our model, the Blackbird 002 LCi came with both components water-cooled which was extremely quiet.

The components inside of the 002 PC aren't proprietary either, they're industry standard from the ASUS Striker Extreme 680i motherboard to the graphics cards. HP offers both a Intel and AMD version. The Blackbird 002 also supports not only dual ATI graphics cards in CrossFire, but also supports dual NVIDIA graphics cards in SLI mode.

HP also made it easy to change or install hard drives by making it completely tool-less. Just take out one of the bays, pop the drive in, and you're good to go. The rest of the case is also easy to take apart, including removal of doors and expansion slots. The cables are also fairly organized and aren't crammed in one spot reducing airflow.

The specs of our model included:
- Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad-Core 3.0GHz Processor
- Dual ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT Graphics Cards
- 4 GB 1066MHz CORSAIR PC2-8500 DDR2 SDRAM
- 1.1 kilowatt power supply
- Windows Vista Ultimate Edition

After just a few hours of using the PC, it was a speed demon compared to my own Core 2 Duo PC and ran Call of Duty 4 and Unreal Tournament 3 at high settings with no problem. In our benchmarking tests, the Blackbird 002 scored the highest out of any of the systems we've tested thus far in PCMark Vantage with 5389 PCMarks. In CINEBENCH, the PC received a score of 3410 using a single core, and a huge 11693 using all four cores. Unlike most HP systems, we didn't find a speck of bloatware on our review unit, and that's exactly how we like it.

Treat your gamer right this holiday season with the HP Blackbird 002 PC, which starts at $2700 USD. There is a New Year's Special however, which will get you one of these bad boys for $2399 with a liquid-cooled Core 2 Duo CPU, 2GB of PC2-6400 CORSAIR DDR2 RAM, and an NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT with 512MB of graphics memory.

Pros

• Extreme gaming performance.
• Uniquely designed case.
• Non-proprietary components.
• Large power supply for expansion.
• Easy to change and install hard drives.

Cons

• Heavy.

Final Verdict
5 out of 5 stars.

The king of all in one desktop computers is, of course, the Apple iMac with it's sleek design and aluminum finish. Gateway recently introduced their competitor in this market, dubbed the Gateway One. Read on for the scoop.

The Gateway One models all come in a 19-inch screen at 1440x900 resolution, and paired with either an Intel X3100 or ATI Radeon HD 2600XT graphics card. For power, all models come with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB or 3GB of DDR2 RAM, and a 320GB, 400GB, or 500GB SATA II hard drive. For optical media the Gateway One is loaded with a slot-loading 8x DVD+/- R/RW SuperMulti drive. The model we'll be focusing on today comes with a 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 3GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, along with a USB TV tuner.

Similar to the iMac, the Gateway One comes with a removable 1.3 megapixel webcam for video conferencing. Gigabit Ethernet is built-in, and 802.11n wireless networking. The Gateway One is also bundled with an RF keyboard and mouse that match the One's elegant style. Below the display is a seemingly blank spot of space, but behind the acrylic panel are invisible speakers using the NXT SoundVu technology, which produce 8.1 channel sound.

The unique thing about the Gateway One is that all the I/O ports like USB, ethernet, and audio, are on the power brick, so that you only see one cable coming out of the back of the One, keeping all that clutter off of your desk. The One also has more expandability than any all-in-one PC out there right now, and allows for two full-size hard drives to be installed. The only thing missing is the ability to add an external monitor for more screen real estate.

Now on to performance...

The Gateway One isn't a speed demon, and received 3190 PCMarks (the higher score the better) in our PCMark Vantage benchmarking application. In our Maxon CINEBENCH tests, the Gateway One received a score of 3794 utilizing both cores, and a score of 1991 using only a single core.

If you compare the iMac to the One, you get a bigger screen with the iMac, and the ability to run both Mac OS X and Windows XP or Vista, but you get a TV tuner with the Gateway One, more storage, and an extra gigabyte or two of RAM.

The wireless performance is excellent, and the Gateway One's wireless 802.11n card had no problem receiving a strong signal from our router. The 19-inch screen is bright with crisp text, and vibrant colors thanks to the glossy finish, but we found it became cramped when using programs like Adobe Photoshop or Dreamweaver.

The unit's cooling fans were also a bit noisy at times, especially during the benchmarking period.

Overall, the Gateway One is an affordable all-in-one PC for those looking for a simple and easy to setup computer, though the iMac is still a better value with more capability. It's tough to recommend this for purchasing this holiday season, but if you know someone who is anti-Apple and in need of a new PC that's simple and easy to setup, by all means, take a look at the Gateway One.

Pros

• Built-in 802.11n wireless.
• Decent performance.
• Nice cable management.
• Rare ability to add two hard drives.
• Wireless keyboard, mouse, and Media Center remote included.

Cons

• No ability to add an external monitor.
• Noisy fans.
• Webcam isn't built-in, but removable.

Final Verdict
4.5 out of 5 stars.

One of the new products is the brand-new HP TouchSmart PC that is a direct competitor to something like Apple's flagship consumer desktop, the iMac. It has a 1.6GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual-Core processor, and is powered by AMD LIVE! It also has a 320GB Serial ATA hard drive, and a slot-loading SuperMulti DVD burner with LightScribe.

The new HP TouchSmart PC is the industry's first all-in-one PC based on Microsoft Windows Vista with one-touch wireless access to information, communication and entertainment through a customizable desktop screen. Featuring a large 19-inch wide adjustable touch-screen display, photo printer, remote control and personal video recorder, the HP TouchSmart PC enables "walk-up computing," the ability to quickly and easily access digital content wherever life happens in the home.

The TouchSmart PC will be available on January 30th, coinciding with the Windows Vista launch.