Complete|Mobile Systems

The Asus UL30A and Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 13 are modern 13.3" CULV laptops similar in size and horsepower, but with distinctly disparate personalities. The UL30A has broad consumer appeal, while the Edge 13 upholds its workhorse legacy without the usual drab sobriety of the ThinkPad line.

The Lenovo ThinkCentre A70Z is a black corporate machine powered by a Core 2 Duo E7600 processor and equipped with a 19" matte screen. The Asus EeeTop PC ET2203 is a sleeker home system with a 21.6" glossy screen, a mobile Core 2 Duo T6600 CPU and discrete graphics from ATI. Both mostly succeed.

The Asus UL80Vt is a 14" laptop sporting Hybrid Graphics, the ability to switch between the Nvidia GeForce G210M discrete video card and Intel's integrated GMA 4500MHD graphics. The efficiency of a low power CULV processor and a hefty 8-cell battery offer the rare combination of budget gaming performance and superb battery life.

The newest Asus EeeBox, the EB1501, has the makings of an excellent media extender. It sports a dual core Atom CPU, Nvidia ION graphics, a slot-loading DVD burner, and a wireless keyboard, mouse and remote control.

The IdeaCentre Q110 shares the Q100's tiny form factor and Atom 230 processor, but has more RAM, a bigger hard drive and most notably, Nvidia's ION chipset. As a result, it can play most high definition video formats, making it a candidate for the ultimate SFF media PC.

The Lenovo IdeaCentre Q100 has unimpressive specs: an Atom 1.6 GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, and a 160GB hard drive. What stands out is its tiny size, fanless chassis and extremely quiet operation.

The first Atom-embedded mini-ITX board from Intel to feature the mobile 945GSE Express Chipset. You can hear the cheers from minimalist, green, and silent PC enthusiasts. Along with the lower power profile, the physical profile has also been dramatically reduced, allowing fanless operation in the 1.2-liter Morex T1610 case.

The Pro Studio i7 is meant for use as a digital audio workstation in a recording studio, and has the distinction of being Energy Star certified. StoneWave, an audio computing specialist, says it is very quiet, so we took it for a spin in our anechoic chamber.

Integrated all-in-one PCs are becoming more visible, with morphing nettops, Apple iMacs, and now, Lenovo IdeaCentres. The A600 series is Lenovo's first entry into the home desktop PC market, and it has many of the features that endear iMacs to their users.

The Gateway EC1803h has an 11.6" 1366x768 display, a CULV Core 2 Solo 1.4GHz processor, GMA 4500MHD graphics, is only 1" thick and weighs about 3.2lb. Is it a netbook, an ultra-portable, or something in-between? We explore the first of what appears to be a new class of notebooks.

The market is littered with 10" netbook peas in a pod, not least the dozens of variants by Asus. The 1005HA seems to be special in a few different ways, mainly overall balance and fantastic untethered run time. Our first look since the very first netbooks.

Rated Gold (read: super Green) by EPEAT, the Ultra SFF M58p is a modern corporate PC from Lenovo. Lean and mean is what we expect, and hopefully quiet, too. A matching Gold (yup, read Green again) monitor, the ThinkVision L1940p LCD monitor is part of our review package.

It's an island, but Maui is also AMD's codename for a motherboard and dedicated 5-ch hifi audio amp card designed to take HTPC integration a step farther into broad acceptance. We take a close look at a Maui sample system, and the audio core that is its unique selling proposition.

The VIA Artigo Pico-ITX Builder Kit is a tiny barebones PC that fits in the palm of your hand. Powered by VIA's C7 1.0GHz processor and the VX700 chipset with S3 Unichrome Pro II integrated graphics, it won't be winning any performance contests, but it should at least be power efficient and quiet.