Asus W90Vp-X1

Processor: 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9600
Memory: 6GB RAM
Storage: 320GB hard drive
Optical Drive: DVD+/-RW
Screen: 18.4 inches (1,920x1,080)
Graphics: Dual ATI Radeon HD4870 (CrossFire, 512MB)
Weight: 11.5 pounds
Dimensions (HWD): 2.5x17.4x12.9 inches
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium (64-bit)

Every so often a notebook comes along that is so impressive that it raises the bar for all comers. The Asus W90Vp-X1, available exclusively at Newegg.com, is that notebook. Not only does this desktop replacement set new 3D-graphics and productivity-speed records, but it also features a beautiful HD display, a powerful audio system, and an easy-to-use overclocking utility that lets you squeeze a few extra clock cycles out of the processor. All this, plus a generous warranty program and a relatively affordable $2,199 price, earns the W90Vp-X1 our Editors’ Choice award.

Measuring 2.5x17.4x12.9 inches (HWD) and weighing in at 11.5 pounds, the W90Vp-X1 is one of the heaviest laptops we’ve seen, outweighing the dual-screen Lenovo ThinkPad W700ds by nearly half a pound. Factor in the gargantuan power brick (it alone measures 7.7x3.7x1.7 inches and weighs 2.2 pounds), and you’re looking at nearly 14 pounds of total travel weight. Fortunately, Asus includes a free Republic of Gamers backpack for those who want to take their game on the road.

Beneath the brushed-aluminum lid, you’ll find a gorgeous 18.4-inch LCD with a 1,920x1,080 resolution and a 16:9 aspect ratio, which means it can display HD content at 1080p without stretching or scaling. The brightly lit screen delivers incredible color quality and wide viewing angles, making it ideal for gaming and viewing videos. We only wish the high-gloss coating weren’t so reflective. Alas, this particular model lacks a Blu-ray drive, so you’ll have to settle for watching standard-definition DVD movies, which nevertheless look great on the big screen. Asus assures us that a Blu-ray model will be available through the retail channel in the near future, however.

A 2-megapixel Webcam embedded in the screen’s upper bezel makes conducting video chats and capturing and editing video and still images easy, especially with the included Asus LifeFrame software. The camera’s image quality tends to be grainy, but it's more than adequate for Skyping and chatting purposes. As with the Asus N80Vn-A1, the last notebook we reviewed from Asus, the Webcam can be used with the SmartLogon software as a face-recognition security tool.

The spacious keyboard deck sports a black brushed-metal finish with a glossy black bezel that frames the keyboard, which is roomy and features a dedicated number pad on the right side. The touch pad is also sizable and much more responsive than the one that comes with the N80Vn-A1. A fingerprint reader is sandwiched between the two highly polished mouse buttons, and a set of touch-sensitive media-player controls and a volume slider are positioned to the left of the keyboard.

Above the keyboard are a touch-sensitive display-brightness controller and six function keys, including a speaker-mute control, a touch-pad on/off button, a zoom button that magnifies the area of the display where your mouse cursor is positioned, and a Turbo Gear key that lets you enter into a power-saving mode and toggle between standard and overclocking modes. The Turbo Gear utility lets you bump up the W90Vp-X1’s bus speed incrementally by 3, 5, 10, 15, or 17 percent, which in turn speeds up the processor clock. At its highest setting (17 percent), the CPU runs at 3.28GHz (versus 2.8GHz, its native speed).

There’s also a key that launches the LifeFrame application, and the Splendid key lets you switch among five preset display modes (normal, gamma, vivid, theater, soft). At the far right is the main power button, and an Express Gate button is on the far left. The Express Gate button lets you launch specific applications, including a Web browser, a photo viewer, a media player, a gaming portal, and Skype, without having to boot into Windows. Audiophiles will appreciate the W90Vp-X1’s robust sound system, which consists of four speakers plus a subwoofer and provides lots of volume with booming bass.

The W90Vp-X1 uses an Asus X38-based motherboard populated with a Core 2 Duo T9600 processor (2.8GHz) and a whopping 6GB of DDR2 memory. Video is driven by two ATI Radeon HD4870 controllers running in CrossFire mode. This powerful combination churned out some very impressive scores on our benchmark tests, and in some cases, took top honors compared with the best-performing notebooks we've seen. On FutureMark’s PCMark Vantage 64-bit productivity test, the W90Vp-X1 turned in a leading score of 4,665, beating out Gateway’s P7808u by a single point and besting the Alienware M17 by more than 1,100 points. We overclocked the CPU to 3.28GHz and ran the test again for a score of 5,040 (an 8 percent increase). The system completed our iTunes encoding test in a quick 3 minutes and 9 seconds, giving it the number-one spot in its class.

Its Windows Media Encoder time of 5 minutes and 16 seconds was also above average but trailed the Lenovo ThinkPad W700ds and the Toshiba Qosmio X305-Q708 by more than a minute and a half. It completed the same test in 4 minutes and 29 seconds with overclocking enabled.

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AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition

Socket Type: AM3, AM2+
Number of Cores: Two
Operating Frequency: 3.1GHz
Front-Side Bus: HyperTransport 3.0
L2 Cache: 2MB

The Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition processor offers the same architecture, 45-nanometer (nm) manufacturing process, and unlocked multiplier for easy overclocking as AMD’s flagship CPU, the quad-core, $245 Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition—just with half as many CPU cores. But we came to a surprising conclusion with this $102 dual-core chip: For most users, it's actually a much better value than AMD's quad-core speedster, which costs nearly two and a half times as much. At 3.1GHz, it’s clocked just a hair slower than the 3.2GHz Phenom II X4 955, and for users who don’t regularly edit video or work with large files in Adobe’s Creative Suite, it's a very smart purchase. Not only does this dual-core CPU offer speedy performance with the right amount of cores for most users, but it supports older AM2+ motherboards and cheap DDR2 RAM. If you’re strapped for cash, you can drop this X2 processor into an existing AMD-based system right now for a quick-and-easy speed boost. Later on, when the cost of the surrounding hardware falls, you can carry it over to a newer AM3 motherboard that uses speedier DDR3 RAM.

With all the hype surrounding expensive quad-core processors like Intel’s Core i7 and AMD’s Phenom II X4 lines, it’s easy to forget that relatively few programs can actually take advantage of more than one processor core at a time. Having multiple cores is important for multitasking, of course, so that one processor-intensive task doesn’t bog down your whole system, but the average user isn’t likely to be doing more than a couple of these tasks at once. Apart from multithreaded programs like Sony’s Vegas Pro 9, Adobe’s Creative Suite, and a handful of other apps, the vast majority of programs aren’t written to make use of more than one processor core simultaneously. That means for the average PC user—and, for that matter, even the hard-core gamer—a quad-core processor is overkill, even wasteful, considering that half the processor is going to be idle (but still often sucking power) nearly all of the time. As a result, smart, budget-conscious PC builders and upgraders who want speed but don’t often use the aforementioned apps would be smart to stick to dual-core CPUs such as the Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition. Chips in its class offer speed and up-to-date architecture, without the cost of extra cores that are likely to go unused.

In our tests, the Phenom II X2 550 proved that it has more than enough muscle to tackle today’s everyday-computing tasks. It's significantly speedier than AMD’s recent $79 Athlon X2 7850 Black Edition, and in tasks that don’t tax multiple CPU cores, it wasn’t significantly slower than the flagship Phenom II X4 955 chip. The Phenom II X2 550 took 4 minutes and 39 seconds to complete our CPU-intensive Sony Vegas 8 MPEG-2 Render test, a task that the quad-core Phenom II X4 955 completed in 3 minutes and 25 seconds, a little more than a minute faster. By contrast, the Athlon X2 7850 CPU came in a distant third, taking nearly twice as long (9 minutes and 10 seconds).

In our PCMark Vantage test, a comprehensive system hardware workout, we didn't note nearly as dramatic a difference between the dual-core offerings running in our test rig as we did in the Vegas test. The Phenom II X2 550 scored 4,623, and the Athlon X2 7850 managed 4,109. (The Phenom II X4 955, on the other hand, scored a decidedly better 6,152.) In our Cinebench 10 test, which is written specifically to tax multiple CPU cores, the scores were more equidistant, with the Athlon X2 7850 turning in 4,777, the Phenom II X2 550 bumping up nicely to 6,697, and the high-end Phenom II X4 955, predictably, hitting five digits with a showing of 10,454.

Finally, in our iTunes AAC conversion test, we saw just how little multiple CPU cores matter in many real-world apps, especially when the clock speeds of two given CPUs are similar. The 3.1GHz Phenom II X2 550 took 3 minutes and 8 seconds to convert our 11 test files; the 2.8GHz Athlon X2 7850 took 23 seconds longer, while the quad-core 3.2GHz Phenom II X4 955 got the job done only 10 seconds faster.

Like all Black Edition processors, the Phenom II X2 550 is unlocked for overclocking, which adds to its value, as well. (Note, though, that AMD does temper that support with a clear caveat that damage from overclocking isn't covered by warranty.) AMD's OverDrive 3.0 software app offers extensive control over speeds and voltages, like earlier versions, and it has a number of features to simplify the overclocking process. The first, Black Edition Memory Profiles, lets you automatically set optimal performance for supported DDR3 memory modules. Another, AMD Smart Profiles, can adjust settings on the fly for specific applications and games. For example, if a game takes advantage of only one of the Phenom II X2's two processor cores, AMD OverDrive can boost the speed of that one core, while reducing the performance of the other. The initial release of OverDrive 3.0 includes 20 Smart Profiles, focusing on games and benchmarking applications; you can also create your own.

Averatec D1200 25.5-Inch All-In-One PC

Processor: 2.5GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core E5200
Memory: 4GB DDR2
Storage: 320GB
Optical Drives: DVD±RW
Monitor: Integrated 25.5-inch LCD
Graphics: Integrated Intel GMA X4500
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium (64-bit)

Traditionally, the trade-off for buying an all-in-one desktop like the Apple iMac or our recent favorite, the Lenovo ThinkCentre A600, is that it typically costs hundreds of dollars more than comparable hardware in a typical tower with a separate LCD. For many, that added cost is well worth the convenience and aesthetic, space-saving pleasure of having your whole computer neatly boxed up behind your LCD. But with the Averatec D1200 25.5-Inch All-In-One PC, we're pleased to report the price is very reasonable.

In fact, we priced the parts from our favorite online outlet, and found it almost impossible to build a desktop system with the D1200's specs (including a 25.5-inch, 1,920x1,200 monitor, 2.5GHz Pentium Dual Core E5200 processor, 4GB of RAM, a digital TV tuner with remote, and a 320GB, 7,200rpm hard drive) for under $900. There's definitely room for improvement with the D1200, and we lament the fact that there's no Blu-ray-drive option to show off the large 1080p-capable screen to its best advantage. But if you're looking for an all-in-one PC for around $1,000 that also does double duty as an HDTV, this is the best choice on the market today.

We prefer the design of Lenovo's ThinkCentre A600 to the Averatec D1200's comparatively boring piano-black look. But the ThinkCentre A600 has a smaller 21.5-inch screen, and the $999 configuration ships with a slower processor, no TV tuner or remote, and a wired keyboard and mouse set, while the D1200 ships with all-wireless peripherals, though the keyboard's a bit of a clunker.

The other all-in-one PC to get a fair amount of press lately is the Dell Studio One 19. That system has a touch screen (which we didn't find all that useful), but it doesn't have an integrated TV tuner. And while you can configure a Studio One 19 with a wireless keyboard and mouse (and a faster Core 2 Duo processor) for about $1,000, its screen is much smaller at just 18.5 inches, and its resolution is too low to support 1080p content.

Then again, because there's no Blu-ray drive (or even an upgrade option), it isn't exactly easy to get 1080p content onto this machine (legally, anyway), as over-the-air HD content is broadcast in lower-quality 720p or 1080i. We did view a few 1080 trailers on the D1200; the system had no problems playing the files, and the screen looked great displaying them. Annoyingly, although there is a DVI connector on the back of the back of the D1200, it's an "out" port for connecting an external monitor, not an "in" port for hooking up an external video device. We really wish makers of all-in-ones with HD screens would add an HDMI port so the screen could be connected to an HD gaming console or an external Blu-ray player. That would make something like the D1200 the ultimate dorm-room or bedroom PC, but sadly we haven't seen a single all-in-one with an HD input.

There are a fair amount of other ports on the Averatec D1200, though. Along the right side, below the standard slot-loading DVD-recordable drive, reside headphone and microphone jacks, an MMC/SD/Memory Stick card reader, a standard USB port, and a nifty USB/eSATA port that we don't often see on anything other than laptops. Around the back, you'll find additional headphone and mic jacks (along with line-in), S/PDIF (digital audio out), a Gigabit Ethernet port (802.11n Wi-Fi is also included), a DVI port (in case 25.5 inches of screen real estate isn't enough), four more USB ports, the coaxial connection for the integrated ATSC digital TV tuner, and a pinhole button to pair up the wireless mouse and keyboard. There are also three fans at the back, which seemed to keep the system from getting too hot during testing, though that might change if you position the D1200 into a cramped entertainment center.

Appile Mac Book

Processor: 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8400
Memory: 2GB RAM
Storage: 160GB hard drive
Optical Drive: DVD±RW
Screen: 13.3 inches (1,280x800)
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 9400M (256MB)
Weight: 4.5 pounds
Dimensions (HWD): 1x12.8x8.9 inches
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)

Apple's new entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro ups the battery life, adds a much-requested SD-card slot, and brings back the FireWire port, all at a lower price than its non-Pro MacBook predecessor. At $1,199, the new MacBook Pro is now more competitive with Windows notebooks, and it's a strong competitor in the thin-and-light notebook category, too.

Our 13-inch MacBook Pro is the base model, featuring an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 processor running at 2.26GHz, with 2GB of DDR3 1066 SDRAM, a 160GB hard drive, a slot-loading 8x DVD burner, and the Leopard version of the Mac OS (OS X 10.5.7). Though the laptop ships with OS X, it can dual-boot a copy of Windows XP or Vista that you provide using Apple's Boot Camp software and drivers.

Despite its low price (low for a MacBook Pro, that is), it exhibits all the refined construction you'd expect from the line. Its solid-aluminum "unibody" (weighing in at 4.5 pounds) and thin design (just a hair under an inch thick) make it nearly identical to the previous 13-inch MacBook on the outside.

Opening the MacBook Pro's lid reveals a full-size 78-key Chiclet-style keyboard. Its styling is distinct, but its feel is merely decent. For touch-typing, the nearly flat, wide-spaced keys aren't as comfortable as those on high-quality traditional keyboards, such as the one found on the Lenovo IdeaPad Y650, but it's one of the quietest keyboards we've used. Our favorite keyboard feature is its LED backlighting, which can turn on automatically when the brightness in the room drops.

More impressive is the huge glass-surface, multi-touch-capable touch pad. If you haven't used one of these before, it takes a bit of getting used to, as it lacks buttons. To click, you press the entire pad; press down with two fingers to right-click. We had some initial troubles with dragging and dropping, but the large size of the pad and the nice library of gestures for window and picture manipulation make the learning curve worthwhile. By default, you have to hold the touch pad down (keeping the button engaged) while you drag an icon, text, or other item, and then release the button when you drop it. There are options in the control panel to turn on tap-to-click and the ability to double-tap to select an icon for dragging, but they're switched off by default.

The backlit, 13.3-inch screen has a resolution of 1,280x800 and, according to Apple, a color gamut that's been improved by 60 percent over the previous MacBook screen. The panel is very bright and crisp, and it offers vibrant and accurate color reproduction. It's covered edge-to-edge by glossy glass, which makes images pop but also results in glare and reflections under some lighting conditions. The display is driven by the integrated Nvidia GeForce 9400 chipset, which offers reasonably good gaming support and superb video playback. Unlike the larger MacBook Pro models, there's no option for adding a discrete internal GeForce 9600 graphics card. An integrated iSight Webcam sits just above the screen.

Audio-playback volume and clarity aren't quite as good as on the 15-inch MacBook Pro, which features speakers right next to the keyboard, but the sound quality is still above average. We did encounter an issue when running either Windows Vista or Windows 7 under Boot Camp: The maximum volume was about half of what we could achieve running OS X.

Intel Core i7-975 Extreme

Socket Type: Intel LGA1366
Number of Cores: Four
Operating Frequency: 3.33GHz
Front-Side Bus: Intel QuickPath Interconnect
L2 Cache: 1MB

Intel’s Core i7 processors continue to dominate the desktop world in terms of raw speed. The new quad-core 3.33GHz Core i7-975 Extreme Edition is a few hairs faster than the previous champ, the 3.2GHz Core i7-965 Extreme Edition, and it has the same stratospheric $1,000 price tag. If your pockets are as deep as your desire for bragging rights, or you're a media professional who can really use this much processing muscle, shelling out for the fastest desktop processor money can buy might be worth it. But for everyone else, the Core i7-975 Extreme Edition is all kinds of overkill.

We were certainly impressed with the initial Core i7 CPUs when they debuted late last year. After all, they offered unprecedented performance far above and beyond the capabilities of any CPU from competitor AMD. Now, more than six months later, the 3.33GHz clock speed of the Core i7-975 Extreme Edition is only a notch faster than that of its Core i7 predecessor, but in our benchmark tests, it still dominates the top-end CPU from AMD, the Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition. That said, that Phenom II chip can be had for under $250, while Intel’s high-end chip costs four times as much. And much to the dismay of both CPU makers, there still isn’t a whole lot of software around these days that takes full advantage of four processing cores. That's why we think, for most users who want smart, top-value CPU speed, AMD’s dual-core Phenom II X2 550 is such a wise choice at around $100.

If you go with the Core i7-975 Extreme Edition, aside from the grand you’ll have to shell out for the processor, you’ll also have to pony up several hundred additional dollars for a compatible X58 motherboard and triple-channel memory. AMD’s Phenom CPUs, meanwhile, are backward-compatible with last-generation AM2+ motherboards and exceedingly cheap DDR2 RAM. The Core i7-975 Extreme Edition is worth the price for video and graphics professionals who typically spend hours waiting for files to render. But for most users, even hard-core gamers and overclockers, the only way you’ll tax a processor like this today or in the foreseeable future is with a benchmark-testing application or a video-editing suite such as Sony Vegas Pro.

Despite those caveats, there’s no denying the Core i7-975’s impressive, though unsurprising, performance in testing. It left AMD’s top-of-the-line Phenom II X4 955 in the dust and, in most cases, outpaced the Core i7-965 by a not-insignificant amount. In our Sony Vegas 8 test, designed specifically to tax all CPU cores, the Core i7-975 Extreme Edition finished our MP4 rendering trial in an amazing 26 seconds, while the Core i7-965 took 50 seconds to tackle that task, and AMD’s Phenom II X4 955 took 1 minute and 24 seconds. In Cinebench 10, another test that taxes multiple cores, the Core i7-975 scored 19,973 to the Core i7-965’s score of 15,740; the Phenom II X4 955 managed just 10,454.

Our iTunes conversion test didn’t have such disparate results, revealing the real-world limitations of these high-end processors when tackling everyday tasks. The AMD Phenom II X4 955 converted our 11 test tracks in 2 minutes and 58 seconds; the Core i7-965 did so 12 seconds faster, and the new Core i7-975 chopped off another 21 seconds, completing in 2 minutes and 25 seconds.

In all of these tests, the Core i7-975 broke new records, but it wasn’t revolutionary. It’s definitely extremely fast, but there’s no reason that anyone who owns a previous Core i7 chip should feel compelled to upgrade at current prices. Like the previous Core i7 Extreme Edition CPU, and AMD’s Black Edition CPUs, the Core i7-975 features an unlocked multiplier for easy overclocking. But frankly, we can't see many applications that would make it worth the effort and risk to try squeezing more speed out of this CPU. It’s the best there is by a fair amount, and the price matches its performance.

HP Officejet 6000 Wireless

Print Technology: Inkjet
Interface: USB 2.0, Wi-Fi wireless, Ethernet
Maximum Paper Size: 8.5x14 inches
Maximum Resolution (Color): 4,800x1,200dpi
Maximum Resolution (Monochrome): 1,200x1,200dpi
Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) Included: Yes
LCD Size (Diagonal): None
Dimensions (HWD): 6.5x18.7x18 inches
Weight: 12.1 pounds

A general rule of thumb in selecting and buying printer: The more you spend, the wider the range of features you get, and the less expensive the cost per page for consumables will be. HP’s Officejet 6000 Wireless helps shatter that stereotype by offering features and functions usually found on pricier models, and at the same time shaving the cost per page down to less-than-laser prices. However, the Officejet 6000 Wireless’ performance is somewhat sluggish, and the print and graphics quality is good, though not great.

The Officejet 6000 Wireless is something of a novelty in the intensely competitive small-office/home-office (SOHO) market in that it’s strictly a printer and not a multifunction device. To offset a perceived lack of value-added functionality, the Officejet 6000 Wireless gives users multiple interfaces—USB 2.0, wired Ethernet, and wireless networking—and a duplexer that allows for easy, trouble-free double-sided printing. If you don’t fax, and you already have a copier or scanner somewhere in your office, why pay extra for those superfluous features?

The black and light-gray Officejet 6000 Wireless is a trim-looking, solid-feeling device, though like many inkjets, it shivers and shakes while printing. There’s no control panel and only four illuminated buttons: power, paper advance, cancel, and wireless. The power button blinks at different speeds, to indicate when it’s printing, receiving data, or in sleep mode. The wireless light illuminates only when the printer isn’t in sleep mode, even if it’s detecting an active Wi-Fi connection. This means that if you hit print while the printer is in sleep mode, you don’t know whether a Wi-Fi connection has been established.

On the front are four additional status lights that illuminate only when it’s time to replace one of the cartridges: magenta, cyan, yellow, or black. Unlike most inkjets, however, the printer continues to operate when one or more of the cartridges runs dry. If you’re connected via a wired or wireless network, you can elect to automatically receive real-time printer-status updates, including low-ink warnings.

The Officejet 6000 Wireless uses a front-loading, over-and-under paper system that can accommodate up to 250 sheets, though the receiving tray—which swings up at a 45-degree angle to assist in paper loading—can hold only 50 pages. Any more, and the pages eject over the top of the minuscule flip-up backstop at the end of the receiver tray. On the back-left side are the ports for the power cord, a USB connection, and/or a network cable. Also at the rear is a 2.5x3.5x11.75-inch duplexing unit, which easily snaps on or off for clearing paper jams. On top is a simple pull-up cover that allows easy access to the ink cartridges.

Setup is simple, if you follow the easy-to-understand, illustrated sheet to the letter. You must snap in an ink-cartridge holder, clip on the duplexer to the rear, and attach the receiver tray over the paper tray. The ink-cartridge slots are color-coded to assist you with correct insertion, and although you can physically put the wrong cartridge in the wrong slot, the illuminated ink-warning lights will blink to tell you which cartridges need to be placed correctly.

We decided to set up the printer as a wireless device, which requires first attaching it to your computer with a USB or network cable. (Both are supplied.) Normally, HP’s wizard-based installation utility works flawlessly, but for some reason, it could see our wireless network but couldn’t connect to it. After the initial failure, it automatically printed out an information sheet with all network settings, just in case we would need to install the printer manually. The printer then twice retried the install, successfully connecting the second time. We had no further installation problems, though it took almost a half-hour to install HP’s software. Why, we’re not sure, since the interface is quite simple and doesn’t include lots of business and personal projects and templates, like the more advanced (and considerably more expensive) HP Officejet Pro 8500.

We were impressed, not only with the Officejet 6000 Wireless’ initial low price, but with the long-range total cost of ownership. If you buy the normal-capacity ink cartridges ($9.99 for each color, plus $19.99 for black), the cost per page is 4.7 cents for monochrome and 14.6 cents for color, about average for an inkjet. But with the larger "XL" cartridges ($14.99 for color, $31.99 for black), the cost per page nosedives to only 2.6 cents for monochrome and 4.7 cents for color, which is less expensive than most entry-level color laser printers. Also, the Officejet 6000 Wireless is an Energy Star-rated device that uses about 40 percent less electricity than color laser printers. And to top it off, the Officejet 6000 Wireless has a monthly duty-cycle rating of 7,000 pages, higher than most inkjets in its class.