Gateway Desktops

The Bottom Line: We're fond of the Gateway DX4300-11's clever design, but halfhearted performance scores mar its overall worth. The TV tuner and 1TB hard drive may tempt you to stick it in your living room as a media center PC, but your money is better spent on the Asus Essentio CG5270-BP004.

Specs: AMD Phenom II X4 805 (2.5 GHz), 8 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 1 TB Standard, ATI Radeon HD 3200, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition, Media center

The Bottom Line: Gateway's affordable One ZX4800-02 all-in-one isn't the most feature-rich desktop at this price, but it's fast and capable enough that it will handle most basic consumer tasks with aplomb. Don't get too excited about its touch screen, but there's enough to like about this system that we can recommend it as an everyday PC.

Specs: Intel Pentium T4300 (2.1 GHz), 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 750 GB Standard, Intel GMA 4500MHD, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition, Personal computer

The Bottom Line: The Gateway DX-4822-01 makes a convincing pitch with the performance numbers and features to earn its place in your home, but if you're not tied to the midtower design, the older Gateway SX2800-01 offers faster speeds and the option to set it up as a media center PC.

Specs: Intel Pentium E5300 (2.6 GHz), 6 GB DDR3 SDRAM, 1 TB Standard, Intel GMA X4500, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition, Personal computer

The Bottom Line: The Gateway One ZX6810-01 makes a strong first impression for Windows 7-based all-in-ones PCs, with fast performance and an attractive case design. Its touch input and accompanying applications fall flat, but there's enough respectable computer here that it's worth a look. Our only suggestion is that you wait to inspect the rest of the new Windows 7 crowd once they are released.

Specs: Intel Core i7 Q8200 (2.33 GHz), 8 GB DDR3 SDRAM, 1 TB Standard, RADEON HD 4670, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition, Media center

The Bottom Line: Gateway's DX4300-03 is a game attempt at a digital media hub-style PC, but the value proposition just isn't here. Slow performance in particular drags this desktop down, and unless you particularly value a TV tuner, you'll find faster, more capable computers not much farther down the retail shelf.

Specs: AMD Phenom X4 9750 (2.4 GHz), 8 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 1 TB Standard, ATI Radeon HD 4650, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition, Personal computer

The Bottom Line: Gateway's SX2800-01 offers a strong combination of performance and features all wrapped up in a design that fully embraces the merits of a slim tower PC. We recommend this system to anyone looking for a fast, affordable desktop for the home office, the living room, or anywhere in between.

Specs: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 (2.33 GHz), 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM, 640 GB Standard, Intel GMA X4500, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition, Personal computer

The Bottom Line: While the Gateway might appeal to users who value storage over speed, you can find more features in PCs that cost just a little less, and more performance for just a little more. That leaves this Gateway with little to recommend it.

Specs: AMD Phenom X4 9100e (1.8 GHz), 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 640 GB Standard, ATI Radeon HD 3200, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition, Personal computer

The Bottom Line: The affordable Gateway LX6810-01 scores high points for offering high-end components right off the shelf. We recommend this system for multimedia editors and light gamers who can make use of its hard-working Nvidia 3D card and full 8GB of RAM. However, if you're looking more at straightforward performance, Dell offers a system with a faster CPU and a similar feature set for about the same price.

Specs: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 (2.33 GHz), 8 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 640 GB Standard, NVIDIA GeForce GT 120, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition, Personal computer

The Bottom Line: With lots of useful features (some cleverly hidden), Gateway's FX6800-01e stands out from the boring mainstream pack. It also uses Intel's new CPU and motherboard combination to provide speed and upgradeability. You can find faster PCs for a similar price, but few with this much promise.

Specs: Intel Core i7 920 (2.66 GHz), 3 GB DDR3 SDRAM, 750 GB Standard, ATI Radeon HD 4850, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Service Pack 1 64 Bit, Personal computer

The Bottom Line: The Gateway GT5692 is a reliable PC that will easily get you around all the standard tasks of a budget desktop. This triple-core system also includes 64-bit Windows and enough RAM to make it a very strong photo-editing desktop for its price.

Specs: AMD Phenom X3 8450 (2.1 GHz), 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 500 GB Standard, ATI Radeon HD 3200, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition, Personal computer