The CNET editors' guide to desktops clues you in to what you need to know, from finding the type of PC that fits your lifestyle to catching up on all of the latest trends. 1. Find the specs that are just right 2. Choose a case: big or small 3. Select the processor and memory 4. Grade system graphics 5. Find the drives you need to succeed 6. Connect your digital devices 7. Pick the right peripherals 8. Protect your investment
Like most consumers, you probably have an idea of how much you want to spend on a desktop. But how do you ensure that you get exactly what you need? The different shapes and sizes, wide range of configurations, and seemingly constant arrival of new and faster processors all make for a difficult decision. To help you find the right mix, we've outlined five common user types.

Family

Although a PC can play many roles in the home, most families will be best served by a mainstream model. Spending around $1,500 (add a couple hundred dollars if you want an LCD instead of a CRT display) will net you enough power to quickly run productivity apps, view and edit vacation photos, manage MP3s, and even play many of today's games. Be sure to add a DVD burner and a large hard drive if you have a DV camcorder.
KEY FEATURES: Pentium 4 or Athlon XP processor two or three rungs down from the fastest model 256MB or 512MB of DDR memory 80GB or 120GB hard drive Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 or 5600 or ATI Radeon 9200 or 9600 graphics card CD burner and--in many cases--a DVD-recordable drive 17-inch CRT or 15- or 17-inch LCD 2-piece or 2.1 speaker set Windows XP Home Microsoft Works Suite

Student

With college costing what it does, price is of primary concern for students and parents already footing the bill for tuition, book (and beer) money, and a PC. More students are turning to notebooks for taking notes in class and writing papers in the quad, but a desktop is still a common sight in dorms. Unless you are on the seven-year plan, a budget system should have sufficient performance and features to get you from orientation to graduation.
KEY FEATURES: Fast Intel Celeron or slow Pentium 4 or midrange Athlon XP processor 256MB of DDR memory 40GB or 60GB hard drive Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 or ATI Radeon 9200 graphics card
CD-RW drive 17-inch CRT or 15-inch LCD 2-piece or 2.1 speaker set 10/100 Ethernet port for plugging into the campus network Windows XP Home Microsoft Works Suite

Power user

Serious gaming, graphic design, and video editing all require a high-class PC with an equally high price tag. Look for a fast processor, lots of speedy memory, and a top-notch graphics card. If you plan to transfer and edit home movies, you'll also need a massive hard drive, a FireWire port, and a DVD burner.
KEY FEATURES: 3.2GHz Pentium 4 Extreme Edition or 64-bit AMD Athlon 64 FX-51 processor 512MB or 1GB of DDR400 SDRAM (PC3200) 120GB or 200GB hard drive(s) Nvidia GeForce FX 5950 Ultra or ATI Radeon 9800 Pro graphics card DVD-recordable drive 19- to 22-inch CRT or 18- to 21-inch LCD 5.1, 6.1, or 7.1 surround-sound speaker system Windows XP Pro Microsoft Office, DVD-authoring program, free game bundle

Couch potato

Like your entertainment to be more passive than interactive? Then you are a candidate for a Media Center PC. You'll get a fully functional PC that can moonlight as a TV and a digital video recorder. New models with compact or all-in-one designs are great for small apartments and dorm rooms. And the software and the remote let you control entertainment features without getting off the couch.
KEY FEATURES: High-end (not necessarily the highest) Pentium 4 or Athlon XP processor 512MB of DDR memory 120GB or 200GB hard drive(s) Midrange ATI or Nvidia graphics card TV tuner card (or ATI All-in-Wonder graphics card) DVD-recordable drive 17- to 21-inch LCD Wireless keyboard and mouse Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 (or Sony's Giga Pocket DVR software)

Business user

Graphics are less of a concern for most businesses. You'll want a system with enough power for multitasking your daily office chores, and the money you save on the graphics you can put toward a flat-panel display and a better warranty.
KEY FEATURES: Pentium 4 or Athlon XP processor 256MB of DDR memory
40GB or 60GB hard drive CD-RW drive Integrated graphics 17-inch LCD Windows XP Pro Microsoft Office or Works
Like notebooks, desktops now come in all shapes and sizes. Traditional towers are still popular because they offer the most room for expansion. But space-saving small-form-factor PCs, once found only in corporate cubicles, are now available for home users as well, and sleek all-in-one PCs have finally found a foothold.

Small-form-factor

Even the most powerful notebook can't push the same number of frames per second as a desktop, which is why small-form-factor (SFF) PCs are popular with the LAN-party set. While not exactly portable, these compact models can be moved occasionally--some CPUs even have handles on top. Internal expansion is still limited, but with Pentium 4 and Athlon XP processors, full-size graphics cards for 3D gaming, and USB 2.0 and FireWire ports, you may never miss it.

Polywell Mini Qbox 845-3000

All-in-one

Popularized by the iMac, the all-in-one PC is a desktop with a built-in monitor. The desktop components (processor, memory, hard drive, and such) may be in the base--as in the iMac--or hidden behind the flatpanel display. Like a SFF desktop, an all-in-one limits expansion, but many boast advanced features, such as DVD burners and TV tuners.

Apple iMac

Midtower case
The box no longer has to be beige, but the basic design of the tried-and-true midtower case remains the same: several internal and external drive bays, AGP and PCI slots for expansion, and a long list of ports on the back and increasingly the front for connecting peripherals such as digital cameras. The midtower case can still be found under many desks.

Dell Dimension 4600

Full-tower case
If you are a serious speed junkie, then this is your hot rod. First, the interior space and the hefty fans provide better airflow for overclocked processors. Second, this design offers tons of room for expansion, with many internal and external bays for both optical drives and hard drives. Finally, it includes an AGP slot for a high-end 3D gaming card, as well as at least five PCI slots.
Velocity Micro Vector VX-W
Desktops specs (and prices) vary widely, from budget boxes for basic tasks such as word processing and e-mailing to performance PCs for playing the latest 3D games or editing digital video. The speed and type of processor and memory you choose will play a large role in determining overall system performance. Here, we'll help you navigate the many choices you have in this area.

Processor

The brains of any PC is the CPU, or central processing unit. It is the single most important component, but that doesn't mean you need to rush out and splurge on the processor with the fastest clock speed. Both Intel and AMD charge a premium for their top-ofthe-line CPUs. For most users, we recommend scaling back a notch or two. You'll save a lot of money, and generally speaking, you get better bang for the buck with more memory.
PROCESSOR Intel Celeron Intel Pentium 4 DESKTOP TYPE Budget Mainstream PROS AND CONS Inexpensive, but a bit slower than Intel Pentium chips. The majority of today's PCs use a Pentium 4. A good all-around chip, though the current speed leader always carries a steep price premium. Stealing a page from its Xeon processor, Intel recently announced the P4EE, which increases performance not by cranking up the clock speed but by adding a third layer of cache. It's the most powerful Pentium chip, but it's incredibly expensive and in limited supply. Much-anticipated next-generation CPU from Intel. Being developed under the code-name Prescott, it will replace the Pentium 4. A good bargain, but has long been fading from the market. Cheaper at every level than their P4 counterparts, Athlon XP processors don't quite live up to their performance rating in the model numbers (the 2800+, for example, is more on a par with a 2.6GHz P4). The first 64-bit CPU for Windows desktops, the Athlon 64 has native support for today's 32-bit applications and operating systems, and it delivers blistering performance that will only improve when Microsoft releases a 64-bit version of Windows and software developers begin to roll out 64-bit apps. Apple's old performance chip, jointly developed by Motorola, can now be found on the mainstream iMac and the budget eMac. Its clock speed tops out at only 1.25GHz and, like all products from Apple, it's not cheap. The first 64-bit processor for a desktop of any kind is a huge leap for Apple. Co-developed with IBM, the G5 was an impressive performer on CNET Labs tests, and it boasts a clock speed of 2GHz. It'll cost you, though. It's inexpensive, and its low power consumption means that it runs cool and quiet, making it a popular choice for SFF PCs. You sacrifice performance, however, as the fastest C3 processor runs at a clock speed of only 1GHz.

Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition

Performance

Intel Prescott
Mainstream and performance

AMD Duron AMD Athlon XP

Budget Mainstream

AMD Athlon 64

Apple PowerPC G4

iMac and eMac

Apple PowerPC G5

Power Mac

Via C3
Budget and small-form-factor PCs

Memory

The speed and the amount of memory you choose go a long way toward dictating your system's level of overall performance. For a machine running Windows XP, 256MB is the bare minimum. Double it to 512MB, and you'll see a big difference, especially when running multiple apps concurrently or using intensive image- or video-editing applications. The speed of the memory is also critical. Only the most spartan of budget systems uses old SDRAM; make sure the memory is DDR (double data rate) SDRAM. Midrange PCs can get by with 333MHz memory, though faster 400MHz memory won't set you back too much more. Written in one of two ways, memory speed is referred to by the speed in which it communicates with the CPU (400MHz, for example) or by its data bandwidth (3.2GB per second or PC3200). Though faster memory is available, today's chipsets do not support anything faster than 400MHz (without overclocking).
When deciding on the graphics subsystem, you'll come to a fork in the road. One path leads to integrated graphics, which share a system's main memory and are sufficient for basic computing tasks such as working on e-mail, browsing the Web, and giving the occasional photo slide show. If your graphics needs go beyond the basics, however, you'll be best served by choosing a dedicated AGP graphics card that has its own allotment of graphics memory. Graphics cards based on ATI or Nvidia technology can cost anywhere from $100 to $400 depending on the features and the amount of memory.

Integrated graphics

Integrated graphics will suffice for basic computing tasks. If you aren't a gamer or a creative professional and you are looking for a computer for e-mailing friends and family, surfing the Web, and creating the occasional Word doc, you need not pony up for a dedicated graphics card. Below are some of the more popular types of integrated graphics.
Intel Extreme Graphics Intel Extreme Graphics 2 Nvidia Nforce-2 SIS 651 Via KM266

Discrete graphics

For the consumer graphics market, only two companies remain: ATI and Nvidia. Each company has offerings for every segment of the graphics market. Here are the latest releases from each.
BUDGET ATI Radeon 9200 Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 MIDRANGE ATI Radeon 9600 Nvidia GeForce FX 5700 PERFORMANCE ATI Radeon 9800 XT Nvidia GeForce FX 5950 Ultra

Multimedia cards

Some graphics cards, such as those in ATI's Radeon All-in-Wonder line or Nvidia's Personal Cinema series, offer up additional functionality, including the ability to input TV, capture video, and connect multiple displays.
First, decide how big and fast a hard drive (or drives) you need. For example, if you plan on working with large video files as you make your way to Hollywood, spend the extra money on a large drive or two. Filmmakers will also want to be sure to invest in a DVD-recordable drive, and music downloaders will definitely want to include a CD burner.

Hard drives

Following the proliferation of digital media content has been an increase in hard drive size. Only four or five years ago, a 2GB hard drive wasn't unusual, whereas the smallest drive you'll find on a PC sold today is 20GB. For mainstream PCs, the norm is a 60GB or 80GB drive. Power users such as DV editors who need to store large video files can opt for a 200GB or 250GB hard drive (or two). Most desktop drives spin at 7,200rpm (the faster a drive spins, the faster you can access its data), and Western Digital has come out with a 10,000rpm drive, though its storage capacity is somewhat limited at 36GB.

Hard drive

A new hard drive interface type made its appearance in the past year. Called Serial ATA (SATA), it offers a faster connection between the processor and the hard drive than the older Ultra ATA interface did. SATA cables are also smaller than Ultra ATA cables, which allow for better airflow inside the case. In CNET Labs testing to date, however, we haven't seen much of a performance boost with SATA drives, so mainstream PC buyers needn't consider SATA essential technology just yet. Most performance systems we've seen recently come with one or more SATA drives. With two or more hard drives, many power users will use a RAID 0 configuration. RAID 0 (redundant array of independent disks), also called data striping, doesn't actually offer any redundancy, but it improves performance by striping data across the drives. The PC sees Serial ATA cable and IDE cable the drives as one drive and can break apart portions of a file and distribute them to the different drives, which speeds the reading and writing process. A RAID 1 configuration, or disk mirroring, is less popular in desktops. It doesn't offer a performance boost, but it gives you peace of mind by copying your data to both drives simultaneously so that, if one of the drives fails, your work won't be lost.

Optical drives

Like CD burners of a few years ago, DVD burners are really coming down in price. We recommend including at least a CD-RW drive in a PC at any price level; it's almost to the point where a DVD burner is a requisite in all but budget-class systems. The fastest CD burner can write to CD-Rs at 52X speed and rewrite to CD-RWs at 24X speed. Some CDRW drives can also play DVDs; these are commonly referred to as DVD/CD-RW combo drives. The DVD-recordable picture is more complicated, with many standards supported by different groups of companies. In one corner, there is the DVD Forum, which supports the "minus" R or "dash" R format and counts among its supporters Hitachi, Panasonic, and Toshiba. In the other corner sits the DVD+RW Alliance, whose members include Dell, HP, Optical drive Ricoh, and Yamaha. Some companies, such as Philips and Sony, support both formats. Lucky for you, many drives now support both formats, and a few even support yet another format, DVD-RAM, which can be useful for regular data backup.
Desktop cases serve up a number of ports on the back panel for connecting the system's peripherals, such as a monitor, speakers, a keyboard, and a mouse. There are also ports for using printers young and old and others for hooking up any number of digital devices, including digital cameras, camcorders, MP3 players, and handhelds.

USB and FireWire

Unless you're particularly attached to an ancient printer, you need not concern yourself with legacy ports such as serial and parallel connections, though they are still being supported by the majority of today's motherboards. USB has replaced these slower ports for connecting printers and other devices such as digital cameras, MP3 players, and handhelds. Many mice and keyboards also use a USB connection instead of the old PS/2 port. At 480Mbps, the newer USB 2.0 offers 40 times the speed of USB 1.1. With so many USB devices out there, we suggest you settle for a minimum of four USB 2.0 ports, and you shouldn't have to look too hard to find six or eight, with a couple of them conveniently located on the front panel.

Most PCs today have front-mounted ports that make it more convenient to connect digital devices such as a digital camera or MP3 player. No longer do you have to reach around to the back of a PC to view photos or refresh the playlist on your MP3 player. Pictured here is the front of a Sony VAIO desktop, which boasts three slots for a variety of media cards (Memory Stick, CompactFlash, and SmartMedia). And below these slots are audio and video ports along with a couple of USB and FireWire ports. FireWire, also referred to as IEEE 1394 and as i.Link by Sony, is another popular port for peripherals. The standard was developed by Apple and is used mostly for connecting digital-video camcorders or external hard drives. Not to be outdone by USB 2.0, FireWire recently received an upgrade that doubles the speed to 800Mbps. The two versions are referred to as FireWire 400 and FireWire 800. One FireWire port should do the trick.

Audio and video ports

Many systems have a blue VGA port that's integrated to the motherboard and accessible on the back panel for connecting the PC to a CRT monitor or an analog LCD. If the system has a graphics card, the card will offer this same port, while some graphics cards will also furnish you with a white DVI connection for digital LCDs. If you want to connect your PC to your TV, you'll need a system with an S-Video port.
As with graphics, a PC can provide sound processing via an integrated chipset or a dedicated card. The latter option generally offers better sound quality and more features, as well as better performance. If you are after a completely immersive gaming or DVD-viewing experience, be sure to spring for a sound card. And if you have a digital speaker set bundled with your PC, make sure it has the appropriate digital-audio outputs, which are called S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface).

Getting online

For connecting to the Internet, it's simple. If you are stuck with dial-up service (or you just love to fax), you'll need a modem port. Sometimes referred to as an RJ-11 port, this is integrated to some motherboards and, at other times, provided by an expansion
card. For broadband, you need an Ethernet port. More often than not, you'll find this integrated to the motherboard and, if not, look for it as an option listed as a network interface card or NIC. Recently, we've seen some systems that contain an integrated wireless receiver. Although your desktop will still need at least one wire (the power cord), integrated wireless functionality means that you will be able to easily add your new PC to your wireless home network.
Choosing how best to fill the inside of your PC's case is only half the battle. You also need to choose peripherals that best complement the type of system you're assembling.

Monitor

There's more to this decision than simply choosing a less expensive but bulky CRT vs. a sleek LCD. For help deciding, read CNET's monitor buying guide.

Speakers

For basic audio, you'll need to choose a monitor with integrated stereo speakers or a cheap twopiece set. If you have any appreciation for music, look for a 2.1 set at the very least. The number 2.1 refers to the two satellite speakers and the one subwoofer. If DVDs are your thing, a 5.1 (or better) set will give you surround sound. For more more information about your speaker options, head to CNET's surround-sound buying guide.

Keyboard/mouse

The wireless revolution has spread to keyboards and mice. Now you can find wireless varieties of each, often powered by rechargeable batteries. They obviously cut down on the dreaded mess of wires that can entangle your desktop, and they also give you more freedom of movement than their wired counterparts. For living-room computing with a Media Center PC, for example, a wireless keyboard-and-mouse tandem makes a lot of sense because you can sit back from the PC (say, parked on your couch) and still view photos, play music, or surf the Web. Many keyboards come with shortcut keys for office or multimedia apps. This editor, for one, couldn't live without the dedicated cut, copy, and paste buttons on the Microsoft Office keyboard that he's typing on right now. Other common shortcut keys you'll find can be used to play a CD, jump from one app to the next, or simply open your favorite apps with one-button ease. The best part? In most cases, you can program the keys to best suit your needs. Mouse functionality these days goes far beyond mere right and left clicks. A scrollwheel has become a necessity for comfortable Web scrolling. Buttons hidden on the side where your thumb rests often let you jump forward and backward between Web pages. A more important development over the years has been the optical mouse replacing its roller-ball forebear. An optical mouse offers better accuracy and won't get all gummed up with dust and dirt. For the latest in mice, keyboard, and joysticks, read our input device roundup.

Printers

Many vendors offer a discount on a printer when you choose to bundle it with your PC. And in some cases, companies will throw one in for free. For help finding the right printer, visit our printer buying guide.

The industry-average desktop warranty lasts one year for both parts and labor. Not all one-year warranties are created equal, however. Some companies will dispatch a repair person to your home if a problem can't be fixed over the phone or online; others offer only depot service, which means you must drop it off at a local service center or ship it directly to the company itself. If the warranty offers the latter, be sure to find out who pays for shipping. Also, check whether you need to save the original boxes for shipping; some warranties require this. Many companies will offer extensions up to three additional years for an added cost. Whether it's worth it to tack on another year or two depends on your comfort level with making repairs yourself (or letting a friend or relative inside the case) and how much you spent on the system. For an experienced user buying a budget system, an additional $149 for a second year of coverage probably isn't money well spent. Many problems can be fixed simply by looking at the included manual or by skimming a company's online-support pages. In our reviews, we try to give you an idea of how extensive the help information is with both printed and online resources. For more information on hardware warranties, please see CNET's quick guide to winning the warranty game.
TOP BUDGET PCS Dell Dimension 2400 eMachines T series iBuyPower Value XP PC Nutrend Centra 4 AMD
TOP MIDRANGE PCS MPC ClientPro All-in-One ZT Home Theatre PC A5071 Sony VAIO PCV-RS430G Velocity Micro Vector VX-W ABS Awesome 4500 Gateway 500 series Dell Dimension 4600
TOP PERFORMANCE PCS Falcon Northwest Mach V Velocity Micro Raptor Extreme Edition Alienware Area-51 Apple Power Mac G5 Polywell Poly 900NF3-FX1 Hypersonic Cyclone TOP BUDGET GRAPHICS CARDS ATI Radeon 9200 PNY Verto GeForce FX 5200 Ultra
TOP BUSINESS PCS MPC ClientPro All-in-One Dell Dimension 8300 Business Dell OptiPlex SX270 HP Compaq Presario 8000T HP d325 business desktop IBM ThinkCentre S50 TOP MIDRANGE GRAPHICS CARDS ATI Radeon 9600 Pro eVGA.com e-GeForce FX 5600 Ultra
TOP MEDIA CENTER PCS ZT Home Theatre PC A5071 HP Media Center PC m300y Dell Dimension 4600C with Media Center Sony VAIO Digital Studio RZ44G ABS Media Center PC 8500

TOP PERFORMANCE GRAPHICS CARDS ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (256MB) ATI Radeon 9800 XT Nvidia GeForce FX 5900 Ultra
TOP GAMING PCS Alienware Area-51 Polywell Mini Qbox 845-3000 Falcon Northwest Mach V FX-51 Polywell Poly 900NF3-FX1 Velocity Micro Raptor Extreme Edition
TOP DVD BURNERS Plextor PX-708A TDK 420N Indi DVD Sony DRU-510A Pioneer DVR-A05
TOP CD BURNERS CenDyne 40X/12X/40X external USB 2.0 Yamaha CRW-F1 44X/24X/44X Samsung SW-252 CD-RW TDK VeloCD 52X/24X/48X Sony MPD-AP20U
TOP 15-INCH LCDS IBM ThinkVision L150p Samsung SyncMaster 152N LG Electronics L1520 HP L1502
TOP 17- AND 18-INCH LCDS Samsung SyncMaster 173P Dell 1703FP NEC LCD1765
TOP 19-INCH LCDS Dell 1901FP NEC AccuSync LCD9V Planar PX191 HP L1925
TOP 17-INCH CRTS Compaq fs7550 ViewSonic G70f
TOP 19-INCH CRTS Samsung SyncMaster 957MB NEC MultiSync FP912SB Samsung SyncMaster 950b BenQ Professional P992
TOP INKJET PRINTERS Epson Stylus Photo 2200 Canon i560 HP Photosmart 7960 Epson Stylus C84
TOP MULTIFUNCTION PRINTERS Dell A940 HP OfficeJet 6110 Lexmark X5150 All-In-One