Fujitsu Primergy CX1000

THE cloud computing becomes mandatory requirement for companies that significant data growth. However, producers still rare server that offers device supporting high-performance, but low cost. Answering this market niche, offering the Fujitsu server to a cloud computing environment, Primergy Cloud extension (CX1000). This product offers a level of balance between performance and the optimal price, change the design, operational and economic calculations on the data center. Primergy CX1000 has claimed the highest level of scalability making it ideal for cloud computing environments.

“The server optimizes the operational cost component driving power, heat, and space, so a new milestone economic standard data center,” said Nuraini Kurnia, Regional Marketing Manager Marketing of PT Fujitsu Indonesia, recently.

According to a beautiful woman who was familiarly called Nia, Primergy design since the early CX1000 is designed to be able to provide computing power as possible per square meter, with the lowest possible price. Server, he said, to accommodate up to 38 server nodes in a rack so that the savings achieved at least 20 percent in the case and cooling costs compared to standard rack configuration.

“CX Primergy servers are a new class of complete line of Fujitsu x86: Primergy blade model (BX), Rack (RX), and the tower (TX). Along with PRIMERGY CX1000, Fujitsu introduced a new architecture, Best-Central, which could save the use of the room to eliminate hot aisle in a data center.

Hot aisle is the space behind the shelves where the hot air exhaust from the back of the server.

“CX1000 has his own hot flue channel hot air from the top shelf standard sizes. Without hot aisle, shelves can be arranged Primergy CX1000 backs to each other so that saves space by 40 percent,” said Nia.
Fujitsu is a revolutionary approach that leads to a reduction in carbon consumption central data.Fujitsu Group itself was incorporated in the Green ICT initiatives, the Green Policy Innovation which aims to help customers meet environmental commitments.

Meanwhile, the design ethos that brought back to basics in line with redundant system supports the needs, as well as components that can be dismantled without turning off the system pairs (hot pluggable). In a massive application and environment management systems tervisualisasi, service on the server that failed could be transferred to another server with the help of software. Built with standard components, simple design concepts to the CX1000 can Primergy servers to replace the individual nodes that the system failure occurred, and replace the failed components offline. Addition and subtraction nodes can be done quickly because the infrastructure is divided on Primergy CX1000.

“The need for cloud computing a trap for the operator of data centers into a vicious cycle between performance and cost,” said Head Regional Business Platform Fujitsu Motohiko Uno.

“Today is a vicious cycle that can be defeated by a balance between price and performance. CX1000 introduced the Primergy boundary solution scalability limitations, especially in the cloud computing environment,” he said.

Primergy systems using new generation CX1000 process Xeon 5600 series is capable of providing power terbesar.Director process Cloud Computing Marketing of Intel Corporation Raejeanne Skillern said, “Intel and Fujitsu already has a history of successful long partnership to provide a valuable combination of Intel-based Primergy servers. With the launch of Intel’s latest Xeon 5600 (code name Westmere-EP), welcomed the arrival of Intel’s new generation of servers from Fujitsu Primergy product line, “he said.

Further said, Primergy CX1000 available in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam from the end of March 2010.

Dell XPS M2010 $4,018

Dell XPS M2010

It’s no secret that we like our beer cold and our gadgets small. So a desktop/notebook hybrid called “The Showstopper” had us worried. The result was better than we’d hoped. A 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo CPU and an ATI Mobility Radeon X1800 graphics card kept processing speedy-and a glossy 20” WSXGA display turned out an exemplary performance on gaming and multimedia applications. Extra goodies like a detachable Bluetooth keyboard are great-but honestly, a better graphics card and more than 2 GB of RAM would make more sense given the price. Style-points aside, the Showstopper is a quality PC with screaming power and generous features, but what good is going to a show if you can’t afford the cost of admission?

• RAM Size: 2 GB
• Clock Rate: 2.16 GHz
• Hard Drive Size: 240 GB

• Style: Desktop replacement
• Screen Type: High-gloss
• Processor Manufacturer: Intel
• Manufacturer: Dell
• Price: $4,018

BFG Tech Deimos X-10 (Gaming Laptop)

BFG Tech Deimos X-10

Geeks might know BFG Tech as a veteran graphics-card maker. Now the hardware manufacturer is moving into high-end laptops. Its first effort at portable computer is nothing if not record-breaking. At 13 pounds, the Deimos X-10 is the heaviest laptop we’ve tested, and its 18.4-inch LCD marks the biggest display we’ve seen. Its 48 minutes of battery life is the shortest we have on record, and while its $4,423 price tag isn’t the most expensive laptop we’ve encountered, it’s pretty close.That’s probably not a critical data point. Few users will spend that kind of money on a laptop from a company with virtually zero track record in the portable space.That said, maybe they should: The Deimos X-10 broke all our benchmark records too, setting new high scores for both general applications performance and gaming — turning in a ridonkulous 220.4 frames per second on Quake 4. The face-palming specs for those numbers are due to top shelf components: 2.53-GHz Core 2 Extreme processor, 8 gigs of RAM, dual 500-GB hard drives and SLI-enabled Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M graphics cards. Yowza, most desktops don’t even have it this good.

Alas, while BFG has earned its keep under the hood, it’s got a lot to learn in the industrial design department. In short, this is a hideously ugly computer, with lots of ’90s-inspired ground effects (you pick the color of the LEDs!), gaudy touch-sensitive panels, a programmable macro pad (where the LED color doesn’t quite match) and, to be honest, a chassis design that can be described as clunky at best. The battery pack, for example, has to be screwed into the underside of the machine. With a screwdriver. No, really.For sheer performance, the Deimos X-10 is unbeatable. But aside from the occasional billionaire who does nothing but go to LAN parties, we simply aren’t sure who will actually buy this machine.

Apple's new LED Cinema Display

Apple LED Cinema Display

Apple’s new LED Cinema Display is designed specifically — nay, exclusively — with MacBook Pro owners in mind, giving them a simple way to dramatically increase their screen real estate with an extra 24 inches of incredibly gorgeous video. This 1,920 x 1,200-pixel resolution monitor includes all the trimmings you’d expect from Apple: beautiful industrial design, spare controls (there isn’t even a power button), and unparalleled performance and brightness.There’s a catch, however, and that’s that if you don’t have a MacBook Pro (with its mini DisplayPort connector), you’re pretty much hosed. A single cable with three connectors splitting off from its terminus snakes out from the back of the LED Cinema Display: the mini DisplayPort plug, a MagSafe charger, and a USB connector. Plug them all into your Mac laptop and you’re ready for business, no additional setup required. But if you have any other type of machine, you’ll find this monitor is pretty much useless — it won’t even work with your MacBook Pro if you try booting into Windows via Boot Camp. Booooo!

Nokia's Booklet 3G is cute and quaint

Nokia's Booklet 3G

Try as we might, we just can’t see the point of this so-called smartbook.Sure, Nokia’s Booklet 3G is cute and quaint. It’s got Mac-like svelteness and would look equally at home on the desk of a CEO or graphic designer. But why would either of them bother to put it there?The smartbook, as near as anyone at Nokia has been able to explain, is a device that melds a smartphone with netbook. I’ve long imagined such a beast would perhaps look like the handheld HP computers of yore — a monstrous phone you could edit a spreadsheet on. But in 2009’s reality, the smartbook is emerging as something quite different, and far more boring: Basically, it’s a netbook outfitted with a wireless network card.Sure enough, that’s exactly what Nokia’s Booklet 3G is: A netbook with a 10.1-inch screen (1028 x 720 pixels), a 1.6-GHz Atom processor, a paltry 1 GB of RAM, and a 120-GB hard drive. It comes with Wi-Fi and a WCDMA 3G wireless card, with service courtesy of AT&T. Our test unit had Windows 7 Starter Edition is preinstalled.

And for that measly configuration, Nokia wants you to fork over 600 bucks. Sign up for two years of data service with AT&T and you can have it for a mere $300, a touch less than other netbooks of this general size and shape.And that’s the head-scratcher. You can pick up a USB 3G adapter from the carrier of your choice for next to nothing and use it on every computer you own. Or you can pay $300 for this single-purpose machine with a minuscule keyboard, dim screen and downright awful performance, while paying a monthly fee for the thing every month for the next two years. Rest assured, that’s all you’re getting: There’s no phone in the Booklet 3G by any stretch of the imagination; it can’t even make voice calls.

Overall, the Booklet 3G (and, to be fair, all smartbooks that follow) is really a back-to-the-drawing-board proposition. As sexy and long-lived, battery-wise, as it might be, it’s simply too slow and far too expensive for anyone to seriously consider buying when far more credible alternatives (like, say, any netbook on the market) are available. Turn this into a free-with-service gimmick and maybe we could see getting behind it. Maybe.

The Asus Server TS500-E6/P4

Asus TS500-E6 P4

The Asus TS500-E6/PS4 is the only dual processor 5U server sold by the manufacturer. The TS500 is sold as a barebones server, so you have to buy it through a reseller. The base price is $699, which is low, considering you can outfit it with two Intel X5500 processors—and remember, that price is before you include processors—or much else. Asus did not provide us with the price for the configured test server, we had to ask a reseller: Colfax sells it with the 24GB of memory that Asus tossed in for $4,450 After factoring the design, management and that price, it’s clear the Asus TS500 is a good deal for businesses that require a super fast server, but it’s not cheap if you want it this fast. Less RAM and a lower price might make it even more attractive.

Design and Setup
The TS500’s tower case (5U) is about the same size as the HP Proliant ML330 G6. By contrast, Dell chose a standard PC case for its PowerEdge T110 server series. Like the HP ML330, the TS500 protects the drive bay with a door. The front bay can house four full-size hard drives. At the bottom right, in an unusual arrangement, Asus placed the audio ports above two USB ports. On the back, Asus kept the old style setup: PS/2 ports for keyboard and mouse, VGA, serial port, and two USB ports. Finding two Ethernet ports was a nice surprise, especially considering the base price of this server. With two network connections you can do a little more than just run line of business applications. For instance, you can squeeze more horsepower out by running multiple virtual machines, and even segment your network with virtual LANs to manage your VoIP communication or comfortably run Exchange Server by separating the external and internal access to the mail server.

The TS500 I tested arrived with two Intel X5560 quadcore processors, 24 GB of memory and a 1 TB drive. There’s ample room for PCIe cards, a couple of optical drives and an extra drive bay. The motherboard supports eight more drives. A large fan in the back keeps the server cool. The case is large enough to dampen most of the noise from the air flow inside it. For safety, the server includes a power switch for the side panel. Opening the panel triggers the switch and an alert message is generated in the Asus System Web-based Management software (ASWM).

The TS500 is sold barebones, so pricing varies depending on the components you add. The unit I received was configured by Asus, and came without an operating system. After slapping Windows Server 2008 on it, I installed ASWM for management. ASWM integrated well with Windows Server 2008 and was able to discover all components and peripherals.

Management
The ASWM matches some of the functionality of the Dell OpenManage software on the PowerEdge T110, but it has some shortcomings. You can’t manage client connections unless they use the internal VNC server in ASWM. ASWM cannot shutdown the server as easily as OpenManage. There is an agent that you can set up to shut down the server but the options are more restricted. Yet, the interface is friendly and simple to use.

With the ASWM interface you can identify alerts quickly, and set high and low thresholds with graphical sliding bar. The layout of the inventory is intuitive, even for novice administrators. ASWM performs a thorough software inventory of the TS500. You can even stop and start services and track the resources consumed by processes.

Performance
After running Geekbench 2.1 64-Bit on the TS500, I got a whopping score of 14,711. Of course, the two X5560 processors and the 24 GB of memory bumped its performance by a large margin. By contrast, the HP ML 330 with only 8MB of memory and one quad-core CPU scored 5,430 on the same test. We took out DIMMs from the Asus and retested it and still got a great 14,364. With Cinebench R10 64-Bit CPU test, the TS500 managed to top at 26,456 with 24 GB, and did even higher at 28,771 with 8GB; the HP ML330 scored 10,975. Obviously, the dual quad-core processors are doing all the heavy lifting in these tests, less memory didn’t change much.

I also ran the IOzone 3.321 network file system benchmark to test disk I/O and RAID performance. Unfortunately, IOzone could not execute on the command line. It got exceptions every time I ran it. But I saw no other problems with the RAID performance of the server.

Bottom Line
The Asus TS500-E6/PS4 server can certainly run the most demanding line of business applications on the market, as performance tests showed. Moreover, the two Ethernet ports put it on the same level as the HP ML330 for usefulness. The barebones system is an incredible deal, and even over-configured as it came to us, the price of $4,450 isn’t totally outrageous. It’s worth serious consideration for any office that can afford it, but for most might be overkill.

Pogoplug only supports USB 2.0

pogoplug

Pogoplug was a PCMag Editors’ Choice in its first version. Now CloudEngine’s latest iteration of its multimedia sharing device has been updated with several new features including a lurid purple-pink cable stand. It does what it did before: give you fast access, locally or remotely, to your USB storage devices—up to four of them, instead of just one. There are multimedia enhancements: you can stream almost any video file, do automatic media synching, and perform improved contact management. All of which helps make up for the $30 price increase from the original.

Although it does have more USB ports as well as a 1 GB Ethernet port, this little, Linux-based device isn’t significantly larger than the first-generation. Its presence certainly wouldn’t overwhelm a small, home office. Maybe the sheer number of external devices you can connect to it will. Also nice: the price includes the fee for cloud-based sharing service for the life of the device.

Already own the first generation Pogoplug? No worries, as you can get the new software features as a free upgrade. You’re just stuck with the 1 USB port.Pogoplug doesn’t do anything much differently than other NAS devices except it doesn’t come with on-board storage.However, it does allow you to easily setup content and device sharing. A reader asked how Pogoplug differs from a service like LogMeIn Hamachi which provides hosted VPN and requires no specialized hardware. Both PogoPlug and LogMeIn can achieve remote access to your computer. However, for non-IT folks and home users, the idea of a VPN can be daunting. PogoPlug is effortless sharing, and is ideal for a home or small business where there is no IT presence.

Pogoplug only supports USB 2.0 and older devices and the following disk drive file systems: NTFS, FAT32, Mac OS Extended Journaled and Non-Journaled (HFS+) and EXT-2/EXT-3. The Web-based management console can be accessed via any modern browser.

Setup
The folks at Pogoplug tout how fast it is to get the device setup and they are not joking. The time to connect the device to a router, then to a 150 GB USB Verbatim external drive, powering it all up, to seeing my drive’s files on mypoloplug.com (the device’s Web-based console) took a scant 2 minutes and 19 seconds. The longest part of the setup was getting up off my chair and walking to the router.

What’s New
There really aren’t any noticeable changes in the Web-based interface since the last version. There is improved contact management. Anytime you type in an email address to send an invite to share a file, that name is automatically remembered. Such addresses make up your address book within the system. There’s no way currently to import contacts, like from Hotmail or Gmail, but perhaps that will be on Pogoplug’s roadmap.

Pogoplug next gen supports a wider range of video file types that can be streamed to other users as well as to iPhones and Android phones. Blackberry isn’t supported but Pogoplug says it’s in the works.

Pogoplug now supports automatic medic synch. You can setup one-way synch from any media source to folders on the storage devices attached to Pogoplug. It offers location independent, global search; search across any drives connected to any of your Pogoplugs—that’s right, you can run multiples Pogoplugs on your network, so you could have more than four USB storage devices to access.

A new fun, feature is the ability to create slideshows. You don’t get the bells and whistles of Microsoft PowerPoint, but creating business presentations isn’t the purpose. I quickly put together a slideshow of pictures and a video by dragging and dropping them into the slideshow creation screen and added accompanying music. Note—Pogoplug doesn’t support all media files. I had no problem with .MP3s, but could not drag and drop a Windows Media Audio (.WMA) file into my slideshow. There’s also no way to control slideshow speed.

You can opt to use the free, downloadable client to access Pogoplug rather than a Web browser. The client treats the Pogoplug as another local hard drive on your machine, accessed via Windows Explorer, even when remote. Clients are available for Windows 32- and 64-bit desktops, Mac OS X and there’s a beta version available for Linux. Of course, as mentioned in the last review, there’s a terrific client for accessing files (not just video) from your iPhone.

Security
One thing I was concerned about was security. It was a bit disconcerting to fire a device up and see my personal files pop up via the Internet, even though I had to login to the Web-based client first. There is under-the-hood security, though. Both the Web-based and desktop clients use 256-AES encryption—security that is very difficult to crack. To ensure the highest security, it’s a good idea to access the web client using https://my.pogoplug.com rather than through HTTP.

Testing
This device is really peppy. Of course, much of the performance relies on Internet connection speed, but if this were sloppily-engineered, it could slow even the fastest broadband. When I disconnected the Verbatim drive and added a USB stick, I saw the contents of the memory stick online in under 3 minutes. I got this while connected to a DSL line that’s not the fastest broadband available, either.

I reconnected the Verbatim drive and three USB memory sticks to the Pogoplug simultaneously. The device does a nice job of scanning each newly connected device and I nimbly switched back and forth between each device’s libraries in the Web client.

Big warning—make sure you eject any drive you want to physically disconnect from Pogoplug using the eject command in the interface (it’s the same eject symbol you see on DVD and Blu-Ray Players.) I pulled the Verbatim drive while “hot,” that is, without clicking the eject button and the drive got hosed. It was inaccessible through Pogoplug and through Windows Explorer. No big loss for my test equipment, and this isn’t the norm for USB devices, of course, so your mileage may vary. But consider yourself warned.

Bottom Line
This really is a neat little device. It innovates by harnessing the power and flexibility of the cloud, without having your data actually reside in the cloud. With Pogoplug, you can access and share files over the Internet but the actual data remains in your control on your storage devices. The second-generation Pogoplug performs even better than the first, and the multimedia enhancements make it of even greater value, especially if you want to share. This version is as heartily recommended as the previous, despite the ghastly colored cable stand.

The Polywell MiniBox P5500C with a 23-inch widescreen monitor

The Polywell MiniBox P5500C

The Polywell MiniBox P5500C ($1,850 direct, $2,099 with a 23-inch widescreen monitor) isn’t as sleek as the Falcon Northwest FragBox or AVADirect GT3 gaming systems, but what it does have is a lot of internal space for components, while keeping the spirit of a small form factor gaming rig intact. The MiniBox P5500C comes with Intel Core i7-870 power and a single ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card, so it has the power to smack your opponents on the game grid. A Blu-ray player and over 3TB of drive space make it a video workstation worth considering if you need to equip a news or a film-support van.

Design
The MiniBox sits in a reasonably compact case (9.5 by 11.5 by 14 inches, HWD), which is a lot smaller than mid-tower chassis, but it’s still a lot bigger than the 15.5- by 4.5- by 12.5-inch (HWD) chassis of the AVADirect GT3. It won’t win any beauty contests, but it does have a windowed side panel showing off the ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card (Card makers put ATI’s mascot Ruby on the cards for that reason). There’s a handle on the front so it’s easier to move, though the Falcon NW Fragbox is more convenient since the handle is on the top. The build quality is decent though unremarkable, and the system’s fan noise is present while the system is in operation (not quite noise-cancelling headset levels, but you will hear it in a quiet room).

Features
The MiniBox has 4GB of DDR3 memory, 3.5TB of drive space spread over 3 drives (one is removable), a Blu-ray player (with DVD burner) and a plethora of input/output ports, including ten USB 2.0 ports, two FireWire, HDMI, eSATA, and a DisplayPort. Like other small system builders, Polywell keeps the included software load light: The system came with Windows 7 Ultimate, and all the drivers for the Blu-ray drive and other components. The system did come with 90-day subscription to Notron Anti-Virus.

The system had some buzzing when we turned it on, likely a consequence of rough shipping, but once it was on and running awhile it was fairly quiet. There is some fan noise from the case fans and the Radeon graphics card, but these only made their presence known when the system was working hard on our benchmark tests. If you’re really obsessive about noise, then I’d recommend using a pair of noise-cancelling headphones during gaming sessions. Good headphones are standard for gaming sessions anyway.

Performance
The MiniBox P5500C’s Intel Core i7-870 processor and ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card helped it achieve top-notch gaming performance, compared with other gaming systems with Core i7 and a single graphics card. It scored class-leading, playable frame rates on three of our four gaming tests: Crysis at 1,280 by 1,024 (95 frames per second), World in Conflict at 1,280 by 1,024 (124 fps) and 1,920 by 1,200 (46 fps). The P5500C’s Crysis score at 19 by 12 is unplayable at 20 fps, but you’d need multiple “highest-end” graphics cards like three Radeon 5870 cards to get playable frame rates for that test. Compare these scores to those of our current Editors’ Choice the Velocity Micro Edge Z30: Crysis 84fps and 18fps, WiC 103 fps and 44 fps. This is one fast gaming rig.

Likewise, the P5500C is fast at our multimedia tests: 28 seconds at our Windows Media Encoder test is best in class, while 1:18 at our PhotoShop CS4 test is no slouch (the Z30 is fastest at 1:09). The combination of a speedy Core i7 processor, speedy DDR3 RAM, and lots of hard drive space means that the P5500C would serve a multimedia maven as well as a hardcore gamer.

Compared with the competition, the P5500C is good, if a little expensive. If you delete options like the Blu-ray drive, Windows 7 Ultimate in favor of Win 7 Home Premium, and one or two of the hard drives, then you’d come closer to the prices of competition like the AVADirect GT3 ($1,367), Velocity Micro Z30 ($1,299) and Gateway FX6801-03 ($1,279). As is, you can get the same gaming and multimedia performance for a lot less money by going with the competition. The Polywell does have the dual-graphics upgrade space that the GT3 lacks. Ultimately, the Velocity Micro Edge Z30’s bang for the buck wins out, and that model retains the Editors’ Choice for mid-priced gaming systems. I’d recommend the P5500C more for the semi-nomadic multimedia maven, one that needs blazing performance and a lot of drive space in a semi-portable package.

The Apple iMac 21.5-inch (Core 2 Duo) is perfect as an all in one PC

The Apple iMac 21.5-inch (Core 2 Duo)

The iMac 21.5-inch (Core 2 Duo) is a study in duality: It has the Apple design and mystique that looks and feels pricey, but the system is also a lot less expensive than the 27-inch version. Less expensive in Apple’s case means a starting price of $1,199, and while the competition is cheaper at similar screen sizes, those competitors have to compromise on features like less memory or downgrading to slower Intel Pentium Dual-Core processors. The “baby” iMac still manages to fit true 1080p HD screen resolution, a speedy 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo processor, and wireless everything into an attractive aluminum and glass all in one desktop. It’s the Mac desktop to get if you want to get multimedia work done, and as such earns our nod for Editors’ Choice.

Design
The “less expensive” Apple iMac is a bit smaller than its 27-inch big brother, but that also means that it seems more proportional to the included wireless keyboard and Magic Mouse. The compact wireless keyboard in particular looks like a toy when placed under the 27-inch iMac. The 21.5-inch iMac looks similar to its 20-inch predecessor, but the 16:9 screen makes it a little wider. This wider stance minimizes the “Jay Leno chin” of previous models, but there’s still a bunch of chassis visible below the screen. The back panel is now aluminum like the front (the old back was black polycarbonate plastic), and there are still Apple icons strategically placed to remind you of what you’ve bought.

Features
The system contains the same 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E7600 processor found in the base 27-inch iMac. The system comes with 4GB of DDR3 SDRAM, 500GB hard drive, integrated Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics, and a slot loading DVD burner. The memory, graphics, hard drive, and processor can all be upgraded when you order it from Apple, but the base configuration we look at here is pretty good on its own. The 21.5-inch model’s 1,920 by 1,080 (true 1080p) screen resolution is an improvement over the old 20-inch model’s 1,680 by 1,050 resolution that couldn’t quite show all the pixels in HD movies bought from iTunes. Unfortunately, none of the iMac models can be equipped with a Blu-ray player; you’re limited strictly to downloads and Web videos.

The system is essentially wireless, with the only tether that’s absolutely necessary being the power cord. The keyboard is wireless, the Magic Mouse is wireless, and the system has 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2,1+EDR for everything else. You can of course hook up hard drives to the iMac’s four USB ports or single FireWire 800 port. I’d like to see an eSATA port on a future Mac, but for now FireWire 800 is fast enough. The iMac has a Mini DisplayPort output for extending the desktop or mirroring, but you’ll need to upgrade to the 27-inch model if you want Mini DisplayPort input. You’ll need an adapter to connect the iMac to anything but Apple’s 24-inch LED Cinema Display. One other nit is the new SD card reader: it only accepts SD cards. Single-slot media card readers on Windows systems will usually accept SD, Memory Stick, and xD cards with or without an adapter. Good thing the majority of digital cameras these days use SD.

Like other Macs, the iMac comes with Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), iLife ’09, and a few other programs like Photo Booth and Front Row. Apple should be applauded for limiting the software to useful programs and avoiding all the bloatware and trial software that seems to infest some Windows PCs. You can run Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7 on the iMac in Boot Camp, but of course, you’ll have to buy Microsoft’s OS separately. Windows 7 isn’t officially supported at this time, but we were able to install Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit without any trouble.

Performance

The 21.5-inch iMac is a power miser: it uses only 70W while idling with the screen on, and 91W while under load on our CineBench R10 test. This is very good, considering its 27-inch big brother idled at 120W and ran at 150W, and matches the energy use of the Lenovo A600 (3011-4BU). It’s a little more than leading energy-saving SFF desktops like the Lenovo ThinkCentre M58p ECO (40W idle, 76W load), but then again the iMacs and A600 have built in screens using power.. This is in addition to Apple’s recycling programs, EPEAT Gold certification, Energy Star 5.0 certification, RoHS compliance, and reduction in packaging. All this earns the iMac our Green Tech Approved award.

The iMac is a better performer on the benchmark tests than its predecessor the iMac (Nvidia GeForce 9400M), thanks to a faster processor. It completed the PhotoShop CS4 test in just under two minutes (1:58), while the older iMac took 2:23. The new iMac was a good performer in Windows 7 as well: it took a sprightly 49 seconds for the Windows Media Encoder test and 1:32 for CS4. In fact the iMac’s CS4 score was better than the quad-core powered Gateway One ZX6810-01 (1:39), a notable achievement. I could certainly see artists on deadline switching their iMacs from the Mac OS to Windows in order to save a few minutes here and there to meet a deadline. The iMac’s 3D performance wasn’t groundbreaking, but it was at least able to complete our 3DMark Vantage and 3D game tests at 1,280 by 1,024 resolution. That said, the iMac’s performance at Crysis (10 frames per second) and World in Conflict (12 fps) were essentially unplayable. Older games should work fine on the integrated Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics, but if 3D games are important to you then consider one of the upgraded iMacs with ATI Radeon HD 4670 discrete graphics.

Compared with rivals, the Apple iMac 21.5-inch comes across as a bang for the buck win. It’s cheaper than the Gateway One ZX6810-01, yet performs similarly in day-to-day and multimedia performance. It’s certainly faster overall than other all-in one desktops like the Averatec D1200, HP TouchSmart 600-1055, and Lenovo IdeaCentre A600 (3011-4BU). The iMac 21.5-inch doesn’t have the HDMI-in capability of the HP TouchSmart, nor does it have Blu-ray capability, but that’s not a deal breaker at the sub $1,200 price point. The TouchSmart 600-1055 is really in a higher price category at $1,599 list. Plus the iMac certainly isn’t encumbered by the bloatware that all these Windows PCs have.

At $1,199, the Apple iMac fits neatly in the mid-price slot between the two other Editors’ Choice all-in-one desktops: the $1,599 HP TouchSmart 600-1055 and the $549 Lenovo C300 (3012-2DU). The HP TouchSmart 600 is more HDTV-consumption oriented, and the Lenovo C300 is an inexpensive nettop better suited to viewing Web sites, photos, and videos rather than actually doing multimedia projects. The Apple iMac 21.5-inch (Core 2 Duo) is perfect as an all in one PC for those that want to get some work done, whether for business or pleasure. If you want a $1,200 system with a decent screen resolution that also has multimedia processing power to spare, get the iMac 21.5-inch.

The VAIO VPC-L117FX/B looks like it could be a Sony Bravia HDTV

Sony VAIO VPC L117FX B

Among the all in one all-in-one desktop PC, the Sony VAIO VPC-L117FX/B ($2,000 list) is certainly one of the best looking. It has the look of a 24-inch HDTV, an intentional design choice. Inside that sexy shell is the heart of a power user’s PC: quad-core Intel processor, 6GB of memory, 1TB hard drive, Blu-ray burner, and a decent Nvidia graphics card. Placement in the kitchen, den, home office, and living room come to mind, but like its Sony VAIO all in one predecessors, it will even work in the most design critical room in the house: the bedroom.

Design
The VAIO VPC-L117FX/B looks like it could be a Sony Bravia HDTV. That is one of its greatest strengths, since it can blend in anywhere a smaller (20- to 36-inch) HDTV fits. It can even replace a TV in the bedroom, since it has a built-in Blu-ray drive, ATSC tuner, and HDMI-in ports. Viewing Blu-ray videos on the VAIO give you that “view through a window” effect that makes it seem like the action is happening on the other side of the display glass. We tested the system with films made before (Coming to America, The Warriors) and after the advent of CGI (Star Trek, Mission Impossible II). All of the films looked great. The picture is vivid, accurate, and noise-free. The HDMI-in port lets you connect a game system like a Sony Playstation 3 or a set-top box like the one from you cable TV company. The built-in tuner grabs over the air HDTV signals and displays them in Windows 7’s built-in Media Center interface. There’s a slot built into the base of the unit, so you can stow the wireless keyboard out of the way when you’re not using it, and the keyboard and mouse can easily reach a bed or couch 10 to 15 feet away. The system is wall mountable with a kit you can buy separately.

The all-in-one comes with five USB ports, a FireWire/i.Link port, and that 24-inch 1,920 by 1,080 resolution screen (which is true 1080p HD). This is truly a power-users’ system, and it better be one for $2,000. The system also comes with 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and an IR remote control so you can work almost completely wireless.

Features
The system’s touchscreen is responsive, though it takes a few seconds for your finger to learn exactly where to point to get the screen to recognize your commands. The HP TouchSmart systems are a little more forgiving with finger placement, but both the Sony and HP all in one PC’s screens are multi-touch enabled and can use standard Windows 7 touch command functions like swipe, flick, pinch, and rotate. The system’s quad-core processor makes the Sony VPC-L117FX/B just a little more responsive than the TouchSmart 600, but you’re unlikely to notice the difference unless you have the two side by side. Aside from the usual Windows 7 apps, the VAIO VPC-L117FX/B comes with VAIO Media Gallery, a unified multimedia viewing interface that lets you quickly view all your music, photos, and videos on a variety of formats, including neat calendar-organized formats. This serves a range of users from the “messy but organized” types to the obsessive compulsives that have to have their photos organized by time stamps. Media Gallery allows you to group photos arbitrarily or via searchable criteria; then you can create a quick slideshow with a couple of touches, then export to VAIO Movie Story. VAIO Movie Story is a quick way to create well, if not edited, then concatenated home movie made of your pictures, clips from your digital camera, and clips from your cell phone. Movie Story can either use music you choose, or it will check the videos with an algorithm and automatically suggest or add music. You can then burn the resulting movie to DVD or Blu-ray disc, save the file in a variety of media formats (including MPEG-2, MP4, etc.), or export your file to a Sony Media device like a PSP or a Mylo. I’d like to see an integrated export to iTunes/iPod or better yet an export to Facebook or Youtube, but you could of course do that manually after you create a file.

The VAIO VPC-L117FX/B comes with Google’s Chrome as its default browser, but like all Windows 7 PCs, it also comes with Internet Explorer 8. I found that touch navigation works better in IE8, since I couldn’t scroll slowly in Chrome—it only recognized flick commands like page forward/back and page up/down. Scrolling up and down in IE8 using finger gestures was smooth and worked as expected. I’m sure Google will improve the interface over time, but for now IE8 is the better touch-enabled browser on the VAIO.

Aside from the useful software above, there’s very little in the way of bloatware on the VAIO VPC-L117FX/B. There’s a copy of Microsoft Works, which is useful. Then there’s an installer for a 60-day trial of Microsoft Office, which is the right way to both satisfy Microsoft’s agreements with Sony, and to avoid the dreaded “pre-installed Office” syndrome. Likewise, there’s a link to Quicken’s Website for offers on QuickBooks and Quicken, but you have to download and install them. Believe me, this is a good thing. You don’t have to install Office or Quickbooks unless you want to, so there’s nothing to clean up and therefore no stray .DLL files or leftover detritus to muck up your hard drive. If there’s any drawback to the Sony VAIO Media software, it’s that it’s not as modular as HP’s TouchSmart interface, with its widgets and iPod Touch-style apps. On the other hand, VAIO Media Gallery and Movie Story are some of the most intuitive and easiest to use pack-in multimedia apps outside of Apple’s iLife (iMovie, iDVD, etc.).

Performance
The VAIO VPC-L117FX/B’s performance is very good, thanks to its Intel Core 2 Quad 8400S processor and Nvidia GeForce GT 240M graphics, though it’s tied for the class leader in only one of our standard benchmark tests. The VAIO is speedy at the PhotoShop CS4 test with a class-leading 1 minute 39 seconds, tied with the Gateway One ZX6810-01. It’s also only one second behind the Gateway FX6810-01 at the Windows Media Encoder test (43 seconds), which makes the VAIO VPC-L117FX/B an excellent choice for the multimedia enthusiast. It’s other scores are competitive in the field of multimedia all in one desktops, including the dual-core powered Apple iMac 27-inch (Core 2 Duo), Lenovo IdeaCentre A600 (3011-4BU), and the Editor’s Choice HP TouchSmart 600-1055 PC. The VAIO VPC-L117FX/B can be used for light gaming: it played World in Conflict at a smooth 39 frames per second (fps), but is a little too slow playing Crysis at our standard settings (30fps). If you push the quality levels and/or resolution down you can likely get a playable frame rate in Crysis. The GPU does help with programs like Microsoft’s Virtual Earth and HD video playback from the web.

As a high-end all-in-one desktop PC, the Sony VAIO VPC-L117FX/B is a little pricey at about $2,000, but you can just about rationalize the added expense if you consider the system has one of the best quality screens in the business, Blu-ray burner (as opposed to just a player for the Lenovo A600 and HP TouchSmart 600), and its looks more like an HDTV than a PC, unlike the iMac, Gateway One, Lenovo IdeaCentre, and HP TouchSmart. That said, these other four are a lot less expensive, especially in the case of the Gateway One and Lenovo A600 (both $1,399 list). The Gateway One is the performance leader overall, with a speedy Solid State Drive (SSD) helping its quad-core processor take five wins out of the seven benchmark tests. However, the Editor’s Choice winning HP TouchSmart 600-1055 has the most polished implementation of touch technology in Windows 7, along with the best bang for the buck ($1,599 list) out of all the multimedia all in ones. The Sony VAIO VPC-L117FX/B is a “better quality” choice if you’re willing to spend the bucks, but you’d have to be a individual who’s really hard to please to justify an almost $500 price premium.