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CNET Reviews - Top Rated Computer Systems

Rank Most Popular Titles
1 HP Blackbird 002
HP's Blackbird 002 earns the highest rating this editor has ever given a desktop PC. Its design rivals the Apple Mac Pro, it takes risks that benefit your upgrade path, it's fast, and it's competitively priced. If you can afford it, and you want a high-end gaming PC, buy this one. End of story.
2 HP Pavilion Slimline S3330f
The HP Pavilion Slimline S3330f delivers a remarkable combination of features, value, and flexibility. It excels as both a traditional desktop, and a full-fledged living room PC, complete with a Blu-ray and HD DVD drive. Any nongamer in the market for a sub-$1,000 PC should put this system at the top of their list.
3 Atlas Micro PS 5000
Awesome performance and features delivered at a rock-bottom price. Heartily recommended.
4 Falcon Northwest Mach V
Cheap, it is not. But the Falcon Northwest Mach V combines top-notch performance and first-rate components like no other.
5 Intel Core 2 Duo E6700
Intel's Core 2 Duo E6700 offers the best price-to-performance ratio we've seen in a desktop chip. For half the cost of AMD's top-of-the-line chip, you get identical if not superior performance and better power efficiency. AMD surprised us last year with its completely dominant dual-core chips, but Intel regains the crown with Core 2 Duo.
6 Falcon Northwest Mach V (Intel Core i7-965 Extreme Edition)
Falcon Northwest's latest Mach V provides a model for the coming trends in high-end computing. From the latest Intel CPU, to solid-state storage, to copious amounts of memory, there's lot to admire about his PC. You will also have to pay for it, which unfortunately will thwart all but the most well-off gamers and enthusiasts.
7 Velocity Raptor Special Edition - P4 3.2 GHz - 21" CRT
The Raptor Extreme Edition provides a delicious computing experience, provided you can stomach the price tag.
8 Polywell Mini Qbox 845-3000
Have your space and features, too. The diminutive yet powerful Polywell Mini Qbox packs a punch without taking up much room.
9 Lenovo ThinkPad X31 2672 (Pentium M 1.6 GHz, 512 MB RAM, 40 GB HDD)
With loads of features, speedy performance, and awesome battery life, the ThinkPad X31 series is the ultimate ultraportable for executives on the go.
10 Dell XPS 710 H2C Edition
Thanks to its market muscle, Dell's XPS 710 H2C delivers state-of-the-art gaming power for significantly less than its boutique competition--and with (basically) identical performance. That fact and the near-silent operation granted by its brand-new cooling hardware make this desktop a CNET Editors' Choice winner.
11 Lenovo ThinkPad T30 2366 (Pentium 4-M 1.8 GHz, 256 MB RAM, 40 GB HDD)
The thin-and-light IBM ThinkPad T series offers an innovative design, top-notch performance, and tons of features.
12 ABS Awesome series
Buying into the leading edge of technology is always frivolous, but that's never stopped anyone. The ABS Awesome 3600 has the goods to deliver on anything you ask it to do.
13 Apple Power Mac G5
Whether it's the world's fastest PC is up for debate, but the Power Mac G5 delivers top-notch performance for creative pros and power users.
14 Velocity Micro Vision FX AVD
The Velocity Micro Vision FX AVD serves up the features and the performance needed for digital-video creation.
15 Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800
AMD's Athlon 64 FX line has worn the desktop CPU performance crown for over a year. The king is dead. Intel's new flagship Core 2 Extreme X6800 not only hands AMD a defeat on all of our benchmarks, but it's also a more efficient, better designed chip overall.
16 Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700
If you thought dual cores were over the top, get ready. Intel presents the Core 2 Extreme QX6700, a single CPU with four distinct processing cores. At $999, the first quad-core CPU will remain an enthusiast part for a while, but as a glimpse of the future, it's clear that clock speed is out and core counts are in.
17 Velocity Micro Raptor DCX (ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT)
This high-end gaming PC doesn't quite cross into ludicrous territory, and by staying disciplined Velocity Micro has come up with one of the best deals we've seen. You still might wait for a clearer picture of the next-generation gaming scene, but based on what we know today, this PC is a winner.
18 Falcon Northwest Mach V (Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800)
This newest Falcon Northwest Mach V isn't shy about its price tag, but it also dominated our gaming tests thanks to two fast ATI 3D cards and an overall top-notch configuration. The current uncertainty regarding next-gen PC gaming is the only issue holding this system back.
19 HP MediaSmart Server ex475
Microsoft's Windows Home Server is the best, easiest-to-use answer to backing up and corralling all of the disparate media files in a networked home. And delivered in this petite, relatively affordable MediaSmart Server ex745 from HP, you get plenty of storage in a well-designed hardware package. We recommend this system all the way to anyone looking to take full control of their data.
20 HP Pavilion Slimline s3200t
The HP Pavilion Slimline s3200t offers perhaps the strongest bang for the buck we've ever seen thanks to its HD DVD/Blu-ray hybrid optical drive and its strong overall configuration. It outclasses every other HD-equipped system we've seen so far. If you're shopping for a living room PC and want complete HD format flexibility, this is the system we'd buy.
21 Dell XPS 630
With its second full-fledged gaming PC, Dell shows that it understands the mainstream gaming desktop as well as the high-end. The Dell XPS 630 delivers everything a gamer would want in a sub-$2,000 PC, from its components, to its case, to its powerful software. We've seen no better system in this newly competitive category.
22 Intel Core i7-965 Extreme Edition
Thanks to an expensive new motherboard requirement, Intel's new Core i7 desktop processors will remain enthusiast and professional-level parts until more affordable complementary hardware comes out later next year. Speed never comes cheap, however, and if you're willing to spend for it now, you'll find yourself in possession of the fastest CPU on the market.
23 Dell Latitude C640
The Dell Latitude C640 thin-and-light notebook offers an unbeatable combination of speed and features.
24 Falcon Northwest Mach V (Athlon XP 2800+)
The Falcon Northwest Mach V is a flashy, eminently functional gaming box backed by superior support.
25 Maingear F131 SLI
Maingear's F131 SLI takes it to the high-end PC competition, earning itself an Editors' Choice in the process. Without having the full picture of DirectX 10 performance, you're potentially taking a risk buying a high-end gaming PC now. But if you need to make that purchase today, we recommend Maingear with enthusiasm.