HP Desktops

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

The Bottom Line: HP's Pavilion Elite E9220y strikes out because of slow performance and underwhelming features for its price. We can't recommend this desktop to anyone.

Specs: AMD Phenom II X4 910 (2.6 GHz), 8 GB DDR3 SDRAM, 1 TB Standard, ATI Radeon HD 4350, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition, Personal computer

The Bottom Line: The HP Pavilion P6230y yields decent scores, but we have a hard time recommending a system that comes at a higher cost and with a slower performance rating than competing systems. This system has a few uncommon features for its price, but nothing that makes up for its overall poor bang for the buck.

Specs: AMD Phenom II X4 810 (2.6 GHz), 8 GB DDR3 SDRAM, 750 GB Standard, ATI Radeon HD 4200, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition, Personal computer

The Bottom Line: The HP Pavilion Slimline s5220y provides adequate performance for light-duty media editing and entertainment, but its slim tower case leaves little room for future upgrades, leading us to recommend the older Gateway SX2800-01 that offers more features and better components.

Specs: Intel Pentium E5300 (2.6 GHz), 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 640 GB Standard, Intel GMA 3100, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition, Personal computer

The Bottom Line: If HP's TouchSmart 600 won't at least get you thinking about the idea of bringing a PC into your kitchen, the concept truly has no hope. With well-though-out touch apps, a wide, easy-to-use array of digital media features, and an attractive, flexible design, HP's new all-in-one is not the fastest new all-in-one, but it has the most comprehensive and compelling set of features of any all-in-one launching alongside Windows 7.

Specs: Intel Core 2 Duo T7450 (2.13 GHz), 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM, 750 GB Portable, NVIDIA GeForce GT 230, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, Media center

The Bottom Line: As much as we've appreciated HP's efforts in bringing the slim tower to the mainstream, we cannot recommend this off-the-shelf Pavilion Slimline s5120y. Even considering its low price, its design, features, and performance all come up short next to its retail competition.

Specs: AMD Athlon X2 7550 (2.7 GHz), 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 500 GB Standard, NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition, Personal computer

The Bottom Line: HP's Pavilion p6110y isn't necessarily an offensive system, and its case might even entice you to give it a second look. We just wish HP had taken a more substantive approach to help this desktop stand out. Its FireWire port might sway you, but otherwise you can find more interesting features from other PCs on the shelf.

Specs: Intel Pentium E5300 (2.6 GHz), 6 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 640 GB Standard, Intel GMA 3100, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition, Personal computer

The Bottom Line: HP's Pavilion Slimline S7310t is a great example of the strengths of the slimtower PC. Fast, loaded with features, and attractive enough to put almost anywhere, this SlimLine is a competent, economical alternative to the new crop of affordable all-in-one computers--especially if you already have a display in need of a PC to put it to work.

The Bottom Line: The HP Pavilion Elite m9515y is not an elegant PC, but it has enough features where it counts to set it apart. If performance or seamless living room integration are your goals, look elsewhere, but anyone after digital media functionality will find this HP more capable than its competition.

Specs: AMD Phenom X4 9850 (2.5 GHz), 8 GB DDR II SDRAM, 750 GB Standard, NVidia GeForce 9600GS, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP 1