HP Pavilion Elite HPE-510y

HP Pavilion Elite PC HPE-510y

The HP Pavilion Elite PC HPE-510y ($949.99 list at Best Buy) has all the fixings that make it a solid multimedia mid-tower desktop PC: Blu-ray drive, Wi-Fi, big 1.5TB hard drive, and a plethora of connectivity options. Cut from the same cloth as the HP Pavilion Elite PC HPE-410y ($929.99 street, 3 stars), the HPE-510y does nothing to waver from the black boxy design. The face of the desktop has a smooth glossy finish: The only I/O ports that aren't hidden behind doors are located at the top of the tower; there are two USB 2.0 ports, and a multimedia card reader that takes xD, MD/CF, SD/Mini/MMC, and MS/PRO formats. The top of the HPE-510y has an indented tray to put your MP3 players and other devices to connect to the aforementioned ports. Behind a closed panel on the bottom of the faceplate is a composite input (red, white, and yellow), USB 2.0, S-Video, and audio inputs, perfect if you need to capture video from an old school VCR or camcorder. The back of the desktop contains 4 additional USB 2.0 ports, audio jacks, Ethernet, HDMI, TV tuner, S-video, DVI-I, stereo audio composite input (red and white), and a digital audio input. Needless to say, you'll be well equipped to connect to any kind of TV, projector, or monitor.