Gateway P-7811FX 
$1,628 
A loaded feature set and modest cost make this workstation a contender for work and play.
Apple MacBook Pro 17-inch $2,799 
Excellent performance and great battery life tarnished by a stiff price and lack of HDMI and eSATA connections.
Acer Aspire 8920G $2,599 
This monstrous 18.4-incher rates high in performance scores. Unfortunately, scratchy speakers shackle the beast.
The big boys among PC makers are retooling their machines to seem friendly and fun. HP did more than slap on some new paint (though it did that, too). With a stunning 18.4-inch screen, a TV tuner, the fastest processor available (2.8 GHz), dual 160-GB hard drives running at 7,200 rpm, and a huge pantload of RAM, this desktop replacement is ready for anything you might throw at it.