$400 - $500 Desktops

The Bottom Line: At a glance, the Asus Essentio CM5570-AP003 offers adequate performance compared with other midtower budget desktops, but an older Gateway outshines Asus with faster performance and more versatility for a little more, leaving us unenthusiastic about this system.

Specs: Intel Pentium E5300 (2.6 GHz), 6 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 750 GB Standard, Intel GMA X4500, 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: The Averatec D1130's wimpy processor and paltry features give consumers little incentive to choose this Nettop over a faster budget PC or the mobility of a Netbook. If you're dead-set on a Nettop, the Lenovo C300 is a less terrible decision, but you can stretch your dollar much further with a budget slim tower system like the Gateway SX2800-01.

Specs: Intel Atom (1.6 GHz), 1 GB DDR II SDRAM, 160 GB Standard, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950, Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

The Bottom Line: Extra performance by way of a low-wattage AMD chip helps Averatec's D1133 All-In-One stand out from its dismal Nettop competition, but it remains a below-average deal in the grand scheme of budget desktops. We see the appeal of Netbooks, but the benefits of Nettops like this Averatec continue to elude us.

Specs: AMD Athlon X2 3250e (1.5 GHz), 2 GB DDR II SDRAM, 250 GB Standard, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium

The Bottom Line: Despite its quirky case design, Acer's Aspire M3800-U3802A is an affordable, feature-competitive midtower that you might find appealing if you're in the market for a cost-effective desktop to use for upgrading. If you want the best PC for your dollar, you can spend just a bit more on another system and get much faster performance.

Specs: Intel Pentium E5200 (2.5 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: 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

Specs: Intel Pentium E5300 (2.6 GHz), 6 GB DDR II SDRAM, 640 GB Standard, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium

Specs: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 (2.5 GHz), 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 750 GB Standard, NVIDIA GeForce 7100, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition, Personal computer

Specs: AMD Athlon X2 7750 (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

Specs: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 (2.5 GHz), 3 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 500 GB, Integrated Intel GMA X4500HD Graphics, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English