An All-in-One Winner -> Lenovo IdeaCentre B500

PRICE: $1,399 direct

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The IdeaCentre B500 eschews trendy features like a touch screen and HDMI inputs in favor of rocksolid HD and multimedia performance. You won’t miss the touch screen once you put this entertainment oriented system on your desk and rock out to World of Warcraft while simultaneously listening to music. Granted, you’ll pay a couple hundred dollars more for the B500 than for its rivals, but that premium is worth it.

The B500 has an angular look, setting itself apart from the more minimalist all-inones, such as the Apple iMac and Gateway One ZX6900 series. The JBL stereo speakers sit low under the 23-inch widescreen and are highlighted by a show-through perforated grill with orange accents.

The system has a decent number of connections and is mostly wireless, with 802.11n and Bluetooth for the keyboard and mouse.

A Workstation For Tight Spaces -> HP Z200

Price: $2,496 direct

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The HP Z200 small-form-factor (SFF) PC offers workstation-level performance in a surprisingly small package. Sure, you won’t get the myriad expandability options of a tower, but how many of your workers actually need 16TB of hard drive space anyway? The Z200 works best as a workstation for the space-constrained staffer with a heavy multimedia-oriented workload. It’s got many advantages and a few drawbacks, but the main thing that might make potential buyers retract their wallets is the steep price.

The Z200 looks just like the $800 PCs you buy your rank-and-file employees, but at roughly 4 by 13 by 15 inches (HWD), this diminutive workstation hides a good amount of internal power. It supports Intel Core i3, i5, and quad-core Xeon processors and has.....

A Gaming-Multimedia Crossover -> Dell Studio XPS 7100

Price: $1,149 direct
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The Dell Studio XPS 7100 is a genre-straddling desktop PC. On one end, it has a quick six-core AMD multimedia processor and 1.5TB hard drive. On the other, it comes with an ATI Radeon HD 5870 graphics card, so it’s a contender as one of the better entry-level gaming rigs. It’s packed with a lot of future-proof technology, and its price tag won’t break the bank.

The XPS 7100 comes in a silver version of the tower on the XPS 8000. The system is angled, so it appears to be leaning back, making it easier to access the media card bays and optical drives. The XPS 7100 also has some internal expansion room, including space for one PCI card, two hard drives, and one optical drive. You’ll need a screwdriver to get inside, but everything is well laid out and easy to access. Also notable is the fact that this system comes free of bloatware.