Computer Systems

The Bottom Line: With a Pentium processor and a decent amount of hard-drive space and RAM, the Toshiba Satellite T115-S1105 is more like a minilaptop in a Netbook's body. The question is, does a thin-and-light this small appeal to you?

Specs: Intel Pentium (1.3 GHz), 2 GB DDR3 SDRAM, 250 GB, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, 3.5 lbs, 11.6 in TFT active matrix, EPA Energy Star, RoHS

The Bottom Line: You could say that the Acer Aspire Z5610 has a few flaws, but it might be more accurate to call them sacrifices. After all, we don't expect that Acer could sell a 23-inch all-in-one for less than $1,000 without trimming a few costs. Fortunately, Acer chose its trade-offs wisely. You can find faster, better-looking all-in-ones out there, but none that offer this much screen real estate for such an aggressive price.

Specs: Intel Pentium E5300 (2.6 GHz), 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM, 320 GB Standard, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, Personal computer

The Bottom Line: With a rock-solid feel and a whopping 7-plus hours of battery life, the HP Pavilion dm3-1002 is a professional-looking thin-and-light, but depending on what you put in it, it could cost you.

Specs: Intel Pentium (1300 MHz), 4096 MB DDR3 SDRAM, 500 GB, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, 13.3 in LED display

The Bottom Line: A well-priced ultraportable with some pop, the HP ProBook 5310m is a fine business-travel companion.

Specs: Intel Core 2 Duo (2.26 GHz), 2 GB DDR3 SDRAM, 320 GB, Microsoft Windows 7 Professional, 3.7 lbs, 13.3 in TFT active matrix

The Bottom Line: The AirPort Extreme Base Station is a great wireless router for Mac or novice users who need something that's simple, nice-looking, and works well for their homes. Savvy Windows users will find many other alternatives that offer a lot more features for their bucks.

Specs: Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station - Wireless access point, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n

The Bottom Line: The retail version of Dell's Studio XPS 8000 desktop might lack some of the charm of its direct-from-Dell counterpart, but its strong price-performance offering makes it easy to overlook the minor cosmetic deficiencies. That and its admirable power consumption make this system an impressive all-purpose midrange desktop.

Specs: Intel Core i7 I7-860 (2.8 GHz), 8 GB DDR3 SDRAM, 1 TB Standard, NVIDIA GeForce GTS 240, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition, Personal computer

The Bottom Line: Though it works well, the Philips Wireless HDTV Link is too expensive and has us wishing for a feature or two more.

The Bottom Line: Equipped with a big screen and a fast Core i7 processor, the HP Pavilion dv7-3085dx is a speedy all-around Windows 7 laptop, but in this price range we expect either Blu-ray or faster gaming graphics.

Specs: Intel Core i7 (1.6 GHz), 6 GB DDR3 SDRAM, 500 GB, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition, 7.7 lbs, 17.3 in TFT active matrix

The Bottom Line: With a small screen for its price, we can't justify the TouchSmart 300 as a home entertainment all-in-one PC. It's also slower than more affordable midtowers, so you can spend less for more productivity. This leaves HP's touch-based software as the TouchSmart 300's primary selling point. We'd recommend this PC in the kitchen, but it's less appealing elsewhere.

Specs: AMD Athlon II X2 235e (2.7 GHz), 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM, 500 GB Standard, ATI Radeon HD 3200, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, Media center

The Bottom Line: The HP Pavilion P6210y gets by as a decent performer in entry-level applications, but we're disappointed by its lack of features. It can definitely serve as a family PC, but the Gateway SX2800-01 is a faster computer with more flexibility in its connection offerings.

Specs: AMD Athlon II X4 620 (2.6 GHz), 6 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 640 GB Standard, NVIDIA GeForce 9100, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition, Personal computer