1. Apple iMac 27in
Price: $1,690
Website: www.apple.com
Ratings: 5/5
Apple
iMac 27in
The 27in iMac is the ultimate home PC -
faster and more connected than ever before. Sandy Bridge Core i5 and i7 chips
are more powerful yet more frugal - although an expected Ivy Bridge refresh
failed to appear at WWDC 2012. Still, it does come packing ATI graphics, a
higher than hi-def IPS screen, and two ultra-fast Thunderbolt ports. There's no
Blu-ray drive, nor a touchscreen control, but with a Magic Track-pad and OS X
Mountain Lion's gesture controls, you won't need it. And there's simply no
other desktop PC that can match its all-in-one aluminum design.
Killer feature
Using Thunderbolt you can turn it into a
three-screened monster.
Verdict
The all-in-one Mac is now more powerful,
but just as gorgeous. And - whisper it - great value
2. Zotac ZBox Nano XS AD11 Plus
Price: from $551
Ratings: 5/5
Zotac
ZBox Nano XS AD11 Plus
51 A PC for the post-PC era, the Zotac
manages to pack a dual-core 1.65GHz AMD Fusion processor, 2GB of RAM and a 64GB
SSD into its sub-Mac Mini frame - making it the ultimate net-top or media
center. You'll need to supply your own OS, mind you,
3. Alienware X51
Price: $1,341
Ratings: 5/5
Alienware
X51
This is a PC that's as happy sat by a TV as
it is under a desk. It's the size of an Xbox 360 but runs a whole lot faster -
and it's whisper-quiet. A Core i7 processor - upgraded to Ivy Bridge - 8GB of
RAM and 1GB of Nvidia GTX 555 graphics give it plenty of punch.
4. Apple Mac Mini
Price: $624
Ratings: 5/5
Apple
Mac Mini
No computer is more beautiful than the
seamless, aluminum Mac Mini. It's refined, too, operating with barely a whisper
and using thimblefuls of electricity. But it's pricey, especially for the more
powerful Radeon version, and the lack of DVD limits its outlook.
5. Apple Mac Pro
Price: $3,000
Ratings: 5/5
Apple
Mac Pro
Apple has always had the edge over PCs in
looks and design, and with the Pro it has the performance to back it up. Put
simply, although it doesn't come cheap, this is one of the most powerful
desktop systems you can buy.
6. Dell Studio XPS 8300
Price: $873
Ratings: 5/5
Dell
Studio XPS 8300
With a reputation for churning out
dull-as-dust office PCs, you might not expect Dell to bother with high-powered
systems. However, the XPS has proven that Dell can do objects of desire and the
7100 sits at the top. Raw power and brilliance, but boring looks
7. Sony Vaio VPCL
Price: $1,838
Ratings: 5/5
Sony
Vaio VPCL
It's expensive, but the Sony has sufficient
style and power to justify the cost. The brilliant 24in multi-touch screen
makes the most of the built-in Blu-ray player, and the pokey mobile processor
and graphics chew up all but the most CPU-crushing games.
8. Dell Inspiron 620s
Price: $487
Ratings: 4/5
Dell
Inspiron 620s
The Inspiron is a lot of PC for a low
price, with a bunch of options of how you want to load up the inside of the
machine. The slim design means you decide whether you want it horizontally or
vertically, and this makes for a classy mid-level home computer.
9. Lenovo IdeaCentre A720
Price: $1,838
Ratings: 4/5
Lenovo
IdeaCentre A720
Apple's iMac may still be the best
put-together all-in-one out there, but the A720 is a similarly sized 27inch
machine with a more powerful processor and an even sleeker design. With a
higher-res screen, it could be the ultimate all-in-one.
10. HP Touchsmart 610
Price: $1,363
Ratings: 4/5
HP
Touchsmart 610
HP deserves high fives for trying to inject
some originality into the uninspiring desktop market. The Touchsmart's
touchscreen struggles to rise above novelty status, but anyone who likes their
PCs stylish and media savvy will find it a strong contender.
Instant expert
Deep Thought
While Apple’s brand-spanking-new Retina
Display MacBook Pro hogged the headlines at WWDC 2012, the venerable Mac Pro
(apple. com/in) range was also quietly refreshed. The lack of an announcement
from Apple was hardly a surprise, considering that there were no flashy
upgrades such as Thunderbolt ports - as a matter of fact; the machine's case
remains identical. Instead, the upgrade is purely internal, courtesy of some
updated components. The base model has 3.2GHz quad-core Intel Xeon brains and
6GB of RAM. The 12-core (2 x 2.4GHz six-core Xeon) model on the other hand has
12GB of RAM. Both configurations come with a 1TB drive and there’s a quad-core
server edition too. Pretty speedy
The Mac Pro range was quietly refreshed at
WWDC 2012.
What to look for
1. Processor speed
Still the defining component of a PC's raw
power, look for one of Intel's Core i5 or i7 CPUs, or AMD's Phenom II X6, if
you want the best. Remember, a fast processor may also need a lot of cooling,
which could be noisy.
2. Graphics chip
If you want to game on your computer, look
for a graphics chip by Nvidia or ATI and ensure that it has discrete memory. A
sign that it's fast enough for fragging is if it supports DirectX 11. Powerful
graphics also speed up tasks such as video encoding.
3. Screen quality
Don't buy an all-in-one unless you're sure
its screen is one you can look at all day. Ideally you'll want a color-rich IPS
or MVA panel for accurate photo editing.
4. Storage
The fastest computers combine solid-state
drives and hard disks for raw speed. Media center? Get at least a 1TB hard disk
for recording TV, and look out for Blu-ray drives.
