Our search for a general-purpose, midrange desktop began with the belief that you don't need to spend much more than $1,000 for a PC that can handle a variety of today's tasks along with the software of tomorrow. We also believed we could find a lower-end Intel Core 2 Duo processor, but we were also open to systems based on AMD's dual-core Athlon 64 X2 chips, if the price was right. We also wanted at least 1GB of memory and 200GB or more of hard drive space, with room to upgrade both down the line. A budget graphics card was also on our shopping list, one with 128MB or 256MB of video RAM. We don't entertain illusions that a $1,000 PC will rip through the latest games at high resolutions, but we wanted to avoid integrated graphics for the sake of running Windows Vista when it comes out in January and for the benefits that video memory brings to overall performance. With these specs, we'd expect this system to serve as a primary PC that could handle all mainstream home and office tasks for the foreseeable future.

Shopping at retail
We began our search much like many consumers, by trolling the aisles at our local Best Buy and Circuit City. First up: Circuit City. In the desktop aisle toward the back of the store, we counted 19 PCs, plus iMac and Mac Mini models on display around the corner. HP desktops dominated the scene, with an even dozen split among Pavilions and HP Media Centers, along with a couple budget Compaq Presarios and a lone Pavilion Slimline. Other names on display included Gateway, Gateway's budget eMachines brand, and Acer. Missing in action were VAIO systems from Sony, a longtime retail stalwart. A sales representative informed us that the last VAIO desktop he saw in the store was six months ago, though VAIO laptops were still to be found.

Excluding the budget Compaq Presario and eMachines systems priced at $600 or less, we were left with HP, Gateway, and Acer at the midrange level. We quickly determined that Circuit City had no sub-$1,000 PCs with a 3D card included, so we gave up on that feature outright. We were surprised at how many AMD-based systems we saw. The only two Core 2 Duo systems on the shelf--both from HP--broke the $1,000 mark. Acer had a compelling configuration with a $690 Aspire PC that featured an Athlon 64 X2 4200+, 1GB of memory, a 250GB hard dive, and integrated Nvidia Nforce graphics (and an open x16 PCI Express slot). But if you spent just a little more you'd get the computer we liked best at Circuit City: the Gateway GT5252. For $800, the GT5252 gets you an Athlon 64 X2 4600+, 2GB of memory, and a 320GB hard drive, plus integrated Nvidia graphics and a x16 PCI Express slot.

Before we walked out of Circuit City with an $800 Gateway PC, we walked across the street to Best Buy. There were more desktops on display--we counted 32 in all--but the names remained the same. HP Compaq led the way with Gateway/eMachines second in terms of number of units on the shelves. Acer was a no-show, and there was a single Sony VAIO, the pricey all-in-one VGC-T2400. A sales rep steered us toward HP, claiming he saw more problems with Gateway systems coming back to the store for repair.

The Best Buy sales representative pointed out a $915 HP Media Center m7640n with an Athlon 64 X2 5000+, 2 GB of memory, a 320GB hard drive, an integrated GeForce 6150 graphics chip, and a TV tuner. As with Circuit City, Best Buy had two Core 2 Duo-based HP Media Centers, but at prices approaching $1,200, they exceeded our budget. Plus, a TV tuner wasn't high on our wish list for this particular system. We saw a $700 Gateway with a Core 2 Duo processor, but the system that most closely matched our target system was the $835 HP Pavilion Media Center a1640n, which serves up a Core 2 Duo E6300 processor, 2GB of memory, a 250GB hard drive, and integrated Intel GMA graphics (and a x16 PCI Express slot). It uses the Windows Media Center OS but doesn't include a TV tuner. Other useful features that come standard: a 9-in-1 media card reader, a LightScribe DVD burner, and an empty bay for one of HP's nifty Pocket Media Drives. And priced at $835 (without having to mail in an annoying rebate form), we have room to upgrade the graphics to a midrange graphics card, the Nvidia GeForce 7600 GT or the ATI Radeon X1650 Pro, and still be below $1,000.

Model	HP Pavilion Media Center a1640n
Price	$835
CPU	1.86GHz Core 2 Duo E6300
Chipset	Intel 965G
Memory	2GB of PC2-4200 DDR2 SDRAM (533MHz)
Hard drive	250GB Serial ATA hard drive (7,200rpm)
Graphics	Integrated Intel GMA 3000 graphics
Audio	Integrated 7.1 channel audio
Optical drive	16X double-layer LightScribe DVD burner
Media card reader	Yes
Networking	10/100 Ethernet
OS	Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
Software	Microsoft Works 8, Money 2006; Quicken New User Edition 2006; Sonic DigitalMedia Plus, MyDVD Plus; Muvee AutoProducer; HP Photosmart Premier
Monitor/speakers	None
Warranty	One year

Shopping online
Having settled on the HP Pavilion a1640n from Best Buy as the best midrange PC available at retail, we hopped on the Internet to see if we could find a better deal online. Best Buy's site had the same Pavilion a1640n model for the exact same price, but the cheapest shipping option was $29.99, and you'll still pay tax if you live in a state that has Best Buy stores and imposes a sales tax. The cheapest price on CNET for the a1640n was $819 from B&H Photo, but shipping again makes the in-store deal at Best Buy more attractive. One more word on shipping: It's hard on desktops. We'd be much more willing to send a laptop through the mail than a desktop. We often receive damaged desktops in CNET Labs, where a beat-up box shows up with a system inside that has had its graphics card, hard drive, or other components knocked lose or dinged up. Sometimes the problem is as easy as reconnecting the drive or reseating the graphics card, but other times a part is damaged beyond repair. Before we settle on the a1640n from Best Buy as the best midrange PC, however, we needed to make a few more stops on the Internet.

On Dell.com, we first tried to configure an XPS 410 system to resemble the Pavilion a16040n. The XPS 410 line includes lots of options that easily put you over the $1,000 point, and when we scaled back the features, we couldn't beat the Pavilion's price. The Intel-based Dimension E520 and the AMD-based Dimension E521, which we also looked at in our budget section, came in closer to our $1,000 cutoff. Oddly, if you want an E520 with a Core 2 Duo, you're forced to a configuration that includes a TV tuner or another configuration that includes a 19- or 20-inch display. We were looking for a midrange PC with neither a tuner nor a display, but Dell does make a compelling LCD offer: A system comparable to the HP with a 19-inch LCD was priced at $979.

The AMD-based E521 configuration is more flexible and, as it turns out, is the better deal. With the entry-level Athlon 64 X2 3800+, the Dimension E521 (with the same LCD) was $859, or only $24 more than the monitor-less HP Pavilion a1640n we found at Best Buy. And Dell offers the ATI Radeon X1300 Pro as a $50 upgrade, just the type of card we didn't see at retail. It's by no means a gamer's GPU, but it provides 256MB of video RAM that should do nothing but improve the system's overall performance. Without the display but with a $20 media card reader add-on, the E521 system costs $739, bordering on budget PC territory. It's also worth noting that this configuration differs from our budget pick only by the extra 1GB of system memory. That's quite a flexible PC Dell has on its hands.

Model	Dell Dimension E521
Price	$739
CPU	2.0GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 3800+
Chipset	Nvidia Nforce 430
Memory	2GB of PC2-4200 DDR2 SDRAM (533MHz)
Hard drive	250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7,200rpm)
Graphics	256MB ATI Radeon X1300 Pro
Audio	Integrated 7.1 channel audio
Optical drive	16x double-layer DVD burner
Media card reader	Yes
Networking	10/100 Ethernet
OS	Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
Software	Microsoft Works 8
Monitor/speakers	None
Warranty	One year

Though it's the largest, Dell is far from the only company selling PCs directly online. We made trips to Cyberpower, Polywell, Velocity Micro, WinBook, and ZT Group, but we didn't find any midrange machines that were better deals than the Dell. If you are shopping online and price is the bottom line, you'll be hard-pressed to find a better deal than the Dimension E520 or E521, particularly if you are looking to include a display in the package.

Our midrange PC pick
We weren't surprised to see top seeds HP and Dell square off here for the best value among midrange PCs. There isn't a stronger presence at retail than HP, and Dell is far and away the leader among direct-sell vendors. The question is, who has the best midrange deal when you put them head-to-head?

We were shopping for just the tower sans peripherals, such as monitor and speakers, which makes the HP Pavilion a1640n at Best Buy the best pick. Despite Dell's Dimension E521 offering similar specs for less, our own testing has shown that Intel's Core 2 Duo processors are the best around at the present time. Plus, the HP gives you the advantage of being able to drive it safely home in your trunk instead of leaving it up to the whims of handlers from FedEx or UPS.