HP Pavilion p6210y

HP Pavilion p6210y

The Gateway SX2800-01 has become the gold standard for budget desktops ever since it rolled through our lab a few months ago. Most recently, the $579 Dell Inspiron 545s-3055NBK narrowed the gap, at least in terms of price and performance, and the HP Pavilion P5210y now offers a similar system for the same price. Unfortunately, this HP still lags behind the Gateway and looks outdated next to its impressive list of motherboard connections and aggressive CPU. The Gateway SX2800-01 remains our top budget PC for anyone hunting for a solid, affordable computer. Although the design hasn't changed since the P6230y, we're still digging the clean, glossy black finish and the muted blue LED-lit power button. The bottom panel drops down to reveal a set of headphone and microphone jacks, and the optical drive and expansion bay both sit flush behind two covers as well. A media card reader on top rounds out the hardware on the front. The HP Pavilion P6210y and the Dell Inspiron 545s-3055NBK are priced the same and look similar on paper, but the HP distinguishes itself with a quad-core AMD CPU that gives it a slight advantage in the multitasking test.