November 24th, 2008
ZDNet Holiday Gift Guide: Top desktops for any budget
Desktops get little love these days as more and more users opt for notebook PCs. Laptops have closed the gap in recent years in terms of features and performance. But the fact remains that desktops deliver a lot more bang for buck. In fact, you can now get a pretty good desktop and a netbook for when you’re on the road for less than you’d spend on many laptops.
The basic choice between Microsoft Windows and Apple’s Mac OS X remains the same. Apple has updated its product line, but it still really only offers one consumer desktop, the all-in-one iMac that starts at $1,200, while Windows-based PCs come in all shapes, sizes and price ranges–including a couple of decent all-in-ones (more on that below).
Quad-core systems are now commonplace, though dual-core systems with more memory and beefier graphics may still be better for many tasks. Intel recently shipped its new Core-i7 (aka Nehalem) quad-core chips, for performance systems, while AMD will unveil its Phenom II X4s in early January. Based on a new 45nm manufacturing process, these second-generation Phenoms should be significantly faster and they have a lot more cache, so I wouldn’t recommend buying a high-end AMD-based system until after the holidays.
Thanks to plunging prices on memory, even budget desktops now routinely offer 4GB. Over the year or so you’ll notice a transition from DDR2 memory to a new type of memory, DDR3, which is faster and uses less power. Initially DDR3 will be a bigger win on laptops since it operates at a lower voltage, but it is already showing up on many desktops, and as speeds go up and prices come down, it will become standard. Another big surprise: 64-bit computing has arrived. Take a quick cruise through the shelves of your local Best Buy and you’ll notice that most desktops now include 64-bit version of Windows Vista. That’s good news because it means you can take advantage of all that system memory.
Choosing graphics has become a lot more complicated with integrated GPUs, single graphics cards with multiple GPUs onboard, and systems using multiple graphics cards based on AMD’s ATI CrossFireX or Nvidia’s SLI technology (hybrid graphics on laptops adds yet another wrinkle). But the basic choice is still between integrated graphics–typically from Intel–and discrete GPUs from AMD or Nvidia. The latest and greatest are AMD’s ATI Radeon 4800 series and Nvidia GTX260 and GTX280. Other features you may want to look for depending on your budget and needs include DisplayPort, an improved monitor connector; HDMI ports for hooking up an HDTV; eSATA for external hard drives; and Blu-ray.
John Morris is a former executive editor at CNET Networks and senior editor at PC Magazine. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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