In Pictures: Best and Worst Desktops

We used to call PCs beige boxes because of their blandness, but nowadays, we test and review many desktop PCs that are much more exciting. This slide show highlights PC extremes--best and worst, fastest and slowest, most and least--from the last year.

Best Paint Job: Commodore Gaming GX

Photograph by Robert Cardin

Commodore Computing's re-entry into the U.S. computer market comes not with Defense Department-look keyboards and my-father-was-a-VAX terminals, but with exotic cases and show-car paint jobs. The GX is preloaded with a Commodore C64 emulator and 50 classic games, which apparently require serious computing power. Otherwise, why would Commodore say this PC "takes your frag count to a whole new level"? We'll post a review of the GX soon; in the meantime, you can look at the GX on the company's UK site.

Worst Paint Job: Cisnet NASCAR PC

Photograph by Robert Cardin

Legions of 8-year-old Jeff Gordon fans will disagree, but until they can legally drive, I'm telling them to go back to their Hot Wheels and leave the design critiques to adults. Criminy--even our own review says "Under the hood...." I think I blew a head gasket over that one. Full Review

Biggest PC: War Machines M1 Elite

Photograph by Robert Cardin

It looks like a tank; lug it across the room, and your lower back will feel as if a tank ran over it. The War Machine M1 Elite is so big, small children and large cats could hide inside it in case of civil unrest and--if you opt for the M1 Elite-LC version--use its liquid-cooling system as a water source. Test Report | Vendor Pricing

Smallest PC: Enano EX7200

Photograph by Robert Cardin

Measuring 9 by 7 by 1.5 inches, the Enano EX7200 contains mostly laptop components but performs better than many desktops do. It's a green PC too, with an Energy Star 4.0 rating and EPEAT certification. You may be able to rack-mount several inside a War Machines M1 Elite, though we haven't tried that yet. Full Review | Latest Prices

Most Expensive PC: Alienware Area-51 7500

Photograph by Robert Cardin

What could you get for $6007, the same price as the Alienware Area-51 7500 desktop gaming system we tested? You could take a few trips to Las Vegas and place some bets (of course, it might end up being only one trip if you're not very good at the games). You could lease a Toyota Yaris for a couple years. You could pay your parents back the money you borrowed. Or you could equip a good-size office staff with a dozen of the PC you'll see in the next slide, the Ajump Prive 336 (the least-expensive PC we tested in the past year). Full Review | Vendor Pricing (Editors' note: Yes, we know there are even more expensive, exotic machines out there, but this is about stuff we've tested.)

Least Expensive PC: Ajump Prive 336

Photograph by Robert Cardin

Tested for our January 2007 roundup of cheap PCs, the $475 Ajump Prive 336 was one of the last machines we tested with a CRT monitor--and a 17-inch one, at that. It came in an awful generic white case with messy innards, had lousy performance, and rendered games unplayable. And of course we hated the monitor. Other than that, we loved it. This particular version is no longer available, but the 336i is very close in specifications, and its price is similar--but only if you get it without a monitor. We'll soon know if Everex's $200 Linux gPC can take the el cheapo crown when we receive one in the next few weeks. Full Review | Vendor Pricing

Fastest PC: Xi Mtower IGE-Stacker

Photograph by Robert Cardin

That's "Stacker," not "Slacker." This system smoked our benchmark, and all the other systems we've reviewed. Its WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 139 was 10 points better than the mark of the second-place system, a CyberPower Gamer Infinity Ultimate. Even the first Penryn-based PC we tested, the CyberPower Power Infinity Pro, trailed, with a score of 120. The IGE Stacker we tested cost only $3299, too--a pretty good price for the performance. Full Review

Slowest PC: HP Compaq dc5750

Photograph by Robert Cardin

The dc5750 is a business PC, so few of the people who buy it will be disappointed in its frame rates when playing Crysis. But we'd worry that this PC might not finish burning our PowerPoint slides to DVD before our meeting begins. When the HR rep sits you down in a cubicle with a dc5750 in it, you know your workdays are going to be long. Full Review | Latest Prices

Most Expandable PC: CyberPower Infinity Pro

Photograph by Robert Cardin

It doesn't have an infinite number of drive bays, expansion slots, and ports, but it seems to. The Infinity Pro we tested had five PCI Express slots, two PCI slots, five externally accessible drive bays, six internal drive bays, eight USB ports, three FireWire ports, and even a serial port and a parallel port--because, you know, this is *the* PC to buy if you still want to use your 56-kbps modem and old dot-matrix printer. Full Review | Vendor Pricing

Least Expandable PC: Apple iMac

Photograph by Robert Cardin

The latest iMac, whose 24-inch version we reviewed, has plenty of storage and a relatively good graphics card. Good thing, because if you want to upgrade the iMac, you'll likely be swapping components, not adding them. The least expandable computer we've tested in recent memory (even less expandable than the Enano EX7200) has zero expansion slots; a single, already-occupied drive bay; three USB ports; and two FireWire ports. And Apple apparently thinks we don't use parallel ports anymore, because none are to be found on the iMac. What's next to go--the buttons on our mice? Full Review | Latest Prices

Most Hard-Drive Space: CyberPower Infinity Pro

Photograph by Robert Cardin

Some of the gaming PCs we test come with cases that look like they're supposed to be servers (see the Most Expandable PC slide). The CyberPower Infinity Pro we tested actually takes advantage of the numerous drive bays inside its monstrous case, with four hard drives totaling 1.8TB of capacity. Our machine had two 150GB, 10,000-rpm Western Digital Raptor drives configured in a RAID 0 array and two 750GB, 7200-rpm Hitachi drives (configured individually) for data storage and backup. You could use all that space for video editing projects--or more likely, to annoy your friends with your braggadocio. Full Review | Vendor Pricing

PC With the Biggest Monitor: HP Blackbird 002 Lci

Photograph by Robert Cardin

A big PC needs a big monitor to complement its...bigness, and the HP Blackbird 002 Lci we tested came with a doozy--the HP LP3065, a 30-inch LCD that doubles as a light source for your hydroponic garden system. It had a big price, too: $5900, nearly enough for it to get docked for being the most-expensive PC we've tested in the past year (the Alienware Area-51 7500 snagged that dubious honor by costing $107 more). Spend the difference on some plant food. Full Review | Latest Prices