Dell reported another quarter of declining profits and revenue Thursday as CEO Michael Dell continues his fight to take the company private.

Dell’s profit for the quarter, ended May 3, was $130 million, down 79 percent from $635 million a year earlier. Revenue declined 2 percent to $14.07 billion.

Dell’s PC division was particularly hard hit. Sales for the quarter were down 9 percent to $8.9 billion, Dell said, and the group’s operating profit skidded 65 percent lower to $224 million. Laptop sales were hit especially hard.

Part of the problem is that Windows 8 has failed to drive PC sales. “Windows 8 has been, from our standpoint, not necessarily the catalyst to drive accelerated growth that we thought it would be,” CFO Brian Gladden said on a conference call to discuss the results.

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Dell's thumb-sized PC called Project Ophelia, which is the size of a USB stick, will start shipping in July for around $100.

The Android-based device will plug into a display's HDMI port so that it can run applications or access files stored remotely. It will have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities and is aimed at users who do most of their computing on the Web.

Ophelia can turn any screen or display into a PC, gaming machine or a TV set-top box, said Jeff McNaught, executive director of cloud client computing at Dell. Users will be able to download apps, movies and TV shows from the Google Play store, McNaught said. Users will also be able to run Android games or stream movies from Hulu or Netflix.

It is meant to be an inexpensive alternative to tablets and PCs, McNaught said. However, users need to be close to a TV screen, display or projector with an HDMI port to use it.

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Dell intends to move workstations into the data center and then serve up intense multimedia and engineering applications to remote users over the cloud or in virtualized environments via thin clients.

To that end, the PC maker Thursday introduced the Precision R7610 workstation, which is designed like a 2U rack server but with the power of a typical workstation using Intel’s latest Xeon processors and support for up to four graphics cards. The workstation will host virtual machines in data centers so that applications can be run on thin clients, PCs or mobile devices in remote locations.

Workstations typically have been relegated to the desk, using the combined processing power of CPUs and GPUs to make movies or to run CAD/CAM applications. The R7610 workstation can host up to four GPUs to centralize processing for data-intensive applications such as engineering and multimedia, which can then be rendered to mobile devices, PCs, or thin clients like Dell’s Wyse P25.

The R7610 supports graphics processors from Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, which are able to serve virtual desktops with the help of improved memory management and interfacing with hypervisors.

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Mobility has all but eclipsed speed and anything else as the capability garnering the most attention in desktop processors.

Today, the chip world is seemingly focused on producing low power chips with integrated graphics accelerators that perform swiftly and extend battery life.

But clock rate speeds still matter to some.

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Lenovo’s ThinkCentre Edge 92z is a handsome all-in-one with a 21.5-inch, IPS, 10-point touch-screen display and several business-class features, including Microsoft Lync-qualified VoIP features. Opt for the discrete graphics option, as our eval unit was equipped, and you have a pretty good gaming system, too. Curiously, the graphics option isn’t available direct from Lenovo. We could find such a configuration available only through resellers such as Amazon, Best Buy, and New Egg.

Design, Input Ergonomics, and Ports

Styled in shiny black, the Edge92z is a looker, if not quite in the same league as an iMac. It's thin and quite light for an all-in-one. That’s an important characteristic if you plan to take advantage of the unit's VESA mount point and attach it to an articulated arm. The 92z's two front feet can be removed for a cleaner appearance in that configuration, and Lenovo sells the ThinkCentre Extend Arm, which clamps to your desktop, for a reasonable $90.

In its default configuration, the 92z sits on the aforementioned feet, leaning back on a spring-loaded kickstand. This leaves enough room to slide the keyboard between the feet, but the stand blocks much of the rest of the area behind unit.

Robert Cardin

As is typical of business-oriented desktops, the mouse and keyboard are of the wired USB variety. Consumers will likely prefer wireless peripherals, which are a $39 option if you buy the machine direct from Lenovo (but then you can’t get the discrete graphics option).

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Acer got a few things right and a number of things wrong with the Predator (specifically, Predator model AG3620-UR12). On the “right” side of the ledger, it has one of Intel’s better processors—a 3.4GHz Core i7-3770—and 32GB of DDR3/1600 memory. With those components, the asking price of $1299 is very reasonable.

On the “wrong” side of the ledger, the Predator has an AMD Radeon HD 8760 video card (the OEM version of the milquetoast Radeon HD 7770), a chintzy custom motherboard with just one PCIe x16 slot (occupied), and a miniscule 16GB SSD that serves as a cache to the 2TB, 7200-rpm mechanical hard drive.

The all-steel case is wrapped in painted satin black, with glossy black accents on top. Three doors in its face flip down to reveal 5.25-inch drive bays. Of these, one is occupied by a 16x DVD burner, and a second has a slide-out tray with SATA power and data connectors in the rear of the bay. Though this isn’t a hot-swappable drive bay, it does provide an opportunity for data backup that you can remove to an offsite location.

Also included are two empty 3.5-inch drive bays (accessible only from inside the case), but you’ll need to supply your own SATA cables and Molex-to-SATA power adapters if you decide to populate them (leads from the 500-watt power supply are available).

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Times are tough. The economic recovery still hasn’t rained pixie dust on your bank balance, but you’re still determined to play the latest PC games in their full visual glory. Sounds like an impossible situation, right? Not so fast. You don’t have to choose between a first-rate gaming experience and paying the rent. With the right midrange graphics card, you can get your game on without having to move into a van down by the river.

In fact, AMD and Nvidia are clamoring to place one of their cards in your system for less than $200. Just last month, AMD announced the Radeon HD 7790, a gaming card that delivers considerable performance without a high cost. Then, one week later, Nvidia announced its own budget card, the GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost, the successor to the GeForce GTX 650 Ti.

Three different cards, at three slightly different price points. Which one is best? To find out, we staged a battle royale of budget graphic cards, since the benchmarks never lie. First let’s look at the contenders, and then we’ll turn to the test results.

MSI Radeon HD 7790

The Radeon HD 7790 fills the gap between the 7770 and the 7850 in terms of price and performance, and emerges as a great entry-level card for budget-conscious PC builders. For $150 you get 1080p gaming for cheap. Up until the 7790’s release, Nvidia’s GTX 650 Ti had no competition at the $150 price point, giving Nvidia a monopoly in the budget-minded-enthusiast space.

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When a vendor sends us a demo system, it typically take great care to ensure that we experience the system exactly as the maker intends us to. So when VESA, the trade group responsible for the DisplayPort standard, said that it was sending PCWorld a multiple-monitor demo system similar to the one it exhibited at CES in January, I expected it to arrive bundled with a detailed guide and all the software needed to present DisplayPort in its best light.

Imagine my surprise when an MSI GX60 gaming laptop, two 24-inch Dell U2413 displays, and a 21.5-inch HP Elite L2201x showed up in the PCWorld Labs without so much as a user manual for any of the four devices. “Wow,” I thought. “They must be pretty confident that setting all this up will be self-evident.”

Robert Cardin

As things turned out, setup was pretty much self-evident. The GX60 has HDMI and VGA video outputs, but obviously I was more interested in its Mini DisplayPort. Both of the Dell monitors have full complements of digital video inputs (HDMI, DVI, and full-size DisplayPort, along with ports labeled ‘DisplayPort In’ and ‘DisplayPort Out’), but the HP display has only a DisplayPort input.

I connected the full-size DisplayPort on the first Dell to the notebook, plugged a second cable to that monitor’s DisplayPort Out, and connected that to the other Dell’s DisplayPort In. Then I attached a third cable to the second Dell’s DisplayPort Out and plugged it into the HP display to complete the chain.

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Vintage: 1982

Original price: $595

Sold on eBay: From $49 for a specimen with damage to $545 for a machine in like-new condition with the original box, cables, and manuals still wrapped

The best-selling PC of all time featured an 8-bit MOS Technology microprocessor, 64KB of RAM, and a 16-color video palette. You could hook one up to a TV and skip buying a monitor. At the C64's peak, 40,000 of these were rolling off assembly lines each month. The C64 maintains a cult following as fans revive the machines for a round of Centipede or Platoon. Old Commodores, however, are among the items the Computer History Museum does not need donated. Don’t expect your old Commodore to pay for your kid's college, unless it’s rare (like this Commodore 65 prototype that recently sold for $7625).

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The launch of the touch-centric Windows 8 spawned a host of new all-in-one (AiO) designs, most of which leave something to be desired. But with a little patience and forethought, Dell has delivered a considerably more usable touchscreen AiO: the OptiPlex 9010. And all they had to do was to put the touchscreen within easy reach.

Dell worked this minor miracle by engineering a double-jointed stand that allows you to move the display up and down and slightly forward, along with the tilt adjustment most AiO's provide. Even better, the 9010 has a standard VESA mount point, so you can also use a fully articulated wall- or desk-mounted arm for truly versatile placement. Add a minor landslide of options, top-notch security features, excellent service and warranty options, and you have an AiO that corporate America can embrace.

Design and ergonomics

Dell also remembered something that many vendors seem to forget: It's not just about looking sexy; reducing cable clutter and wasted space are equally important. In a market filled with AiOs that block the usable surface area behind them, the 9010's minimal footprint leaves all the surrounding area accessible. This allows you to either fill it up with other stuff, or to enjoy the serenity delivered by an uncluttered vista.

To keep cables to a minimum, Dell ships the 9010 with a wireless mouse and keyboard. This keyboard is one of the first Chiclet-style units we've seen on a desktop. Its action is just a hair soft, but thanks to the support of the surrounding plastic, the keys don't have the sloppy feel that you get with some Dell units. The mouse tracks well and has a nice heft, thanks to the battery inside.

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By gaming standards, the HP Envy Phoenix h9-1420t's appearance is positively subdued. This midsize tower PC has some red backlighting and a clear pane so that you can gaze at the liquid cooling unit, but aside from that it could easily pass for a conventional HP desktop. Although it doesn't have much in the way of bling, the Phoenix delivers better-than-average performance at a cheaper-than-boutique price. Down-the-road upgrade options, on the other hand, are limited by its decidedly nonenthusiast motherboard.

Components and performance

Our $1840 h9-1420t test configuration sported an unlocked 3.5GHz Intel Core i7-3770K processor. Thanks to the liquid cooling unit, the system had no problem maintaining 4GHz, and it likely has at least a little more headroom. The Pegatron (that’s Asus’s OEM arm) 2AD5 motherboard offers minimal overclocking controls in its BIOS, but it isn't completely locked down. You can set each core's maximum frequency multiplier separately, but you get no provisions for tweaking the operating voltage, for instance. The board also has just a single full-size PCIe slot, so you can forget any dual-card graphics upgrade via SLI or CrossFire.

Fortunately, HP picked a strong graphics card, inserting an Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 with 2GB of GDDR5 memory. With that card in place, the Phoenix managed a playable frame rate in Dirt Showdown right up to the 2560 by 1600 resolution of our 30-inch test display. The game wasn’t as silky smooth at that resolution as it was at lower ones, but it was certainly playable. Should you decide to buy an h9-1420t online, HP allows you to customize the configuration to a degree, but your options don’t include Nvidia’s best GPU, the GeForce GTX 690.

The other core components on our test machine included 12GB of DDR3-1600 memory and a 2TB, 7200-rpm hard drive, which helped the h9-1420t produce a very good WorldBench 8 score of 87. A solid-state drive would have boosted the score even more, but that option wasn’t available when we ordered our evaluation unit. HP has since corrected that omission, but there’s no getting around that single multilane PCIe slot, which is a puzzling design decision in a PC whose primary reason for existence is performance.

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The desktop PC isn't dead, it’s just shrinking. There’s a new breed of miniature marvels on the market, and they boast a nonexistent footprint when attached to the back of a display. Unlike some micro-size, micro-priced computers—the $35 Raspberry Pi, for example—these incredibly small machines provide more than enough processing power for all but the most strenuous computing chores.

New generations of powerful but cool-running CPUs are largely responsible for this sudden onset of wee-ness, so it makes sense that AMD and Intel would both conjure tiny PCs to demonstrate what’s possible within the confines of an ultra-small size. Intel has christened its concept the Next Unit of Computing (NUC), while AMD’s primary manufacturing partner, Sapphire Technology, has dubbed its effort the Edge VS8.

Alas, neither the NUC nor the Edge VS8 Is cheap.

Intel’s Next Unit of Computing

What the heck is a Next Unit of Computing? It's Intel's vision of a miniature-size computer. It measures four inches square by two inches high, and it's available in three kits: The $323 DC3217BY features a Core i3 3217-U processor, an HDMI audio-video port, and a Thunderbolt port (supporting DisplayPort 1.1a); the DC3217IYE ($293) has the same CPU and dual HDMI ports; and the $172 DCCP847DYE is outfitted with a Celeron 847 processor and dual HDMI ports. (Video resolution through HDMI maxes out at 1920 by 1200 pixels for all three models).

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Digital Storm's Bolt doesn't look as intimidating as those ginormous gaming PCs that glow and take up a third of your desk, but don't let this machine's slender profile fool you. This little monster is brimming with powerful components and stands ready to crush any game that gets in its way.

Design and ports

Measuring just 3.6 inches wide, 14 inches tall, and 15 inches deep, the Bolt is the Micro Machine of performance systems.

This sleek rig isn't plastered with decals, and it doesn't boast a fancy paint job or bright LEDs that can double as a nightlight. It's available in just two colors: white or gunmetal gray. The only decoration aside from the stylishly functional black air vents is the Digital Storm and Bolt logos. The design is fetchingly minimalist.

The front of the system houses only the DVD drive, and that's about all that would fit. Two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, and the microphone and speaker jacks are inconveniently located on the bottom right-hand side of the case, which means you'll be dropping to your hands and knees each time you need to plug in a thumb drive or your headphones.

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Two months ago, everything about i-mate’s Intelegent Windows 8 phone screamed vaporware. Today, the handset is back, with specs that suggest it's very much real. Shoot, PCWorld has even seen videos of it in action.

Yes—Windows 8 on a phone

It's no wonder the Intelegent made waves when it was announced earlier this year. In addition to the phone itself—which, to be clear, runs the full-blown Windows 8 operating system, not the Windows Phone OS—i-mate promised a docking station that would turn the Intelegent into a desktop workstation. It was all the Windows 8 you could need, all in one place.

However, i-mate wasn’t actually demonstrating the device in public.

An exclusive story by Brier Dudley of the Seattle Times showed only product renderings, and claimed that the Intelegent would be “unveiled” at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. (Press materials were prepared by i-mate for the show, but the company didn’t release them publicly.) On i-mate’s website, a short message promised “More information coming soon.” And that message remains on the site today.

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China took the title of world’s largest market for PCs in 2012, and a survey by IHS iSuppli revealed that computer buyers in the country had unique preferences compared to counterparts worldwide.

The research firm said that last year a majority of PCs in China shipped without an operating system pre-installed, and a large chunk of laptops had a 14-inch screen. Desktops remained well and alive in China, with shipments equalling laptops in 2012.

Last year, PC shipments to China totaled about 69 million units, making it the world’s largest end-market for laptops and desktops. China topped the U.S., which was the top PC market as recently as 2011 and where shipments totaled 66 million last year.

The new numbers were a revision from iSuppli’s projections in January of PC shipments in China totaling 79.9 million in 2012. Shipments to China grew at double digit rates between 2008 and 2011, when growth hit 10.4 percent. iSuppli didn’t report PC shipment growth in China for 2012, but it was in the single digits.

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The future of computing comes to Paris this week with the annual Computer Human Interaction (CHI) conference, which showcases new approaches to the way users connect with electronics.

CHI brings together researchers across multiple disciplines from technical to design and engineering with the hope of “cross pollination,” said Patrick Baudisch the technical co-chair at CHI responsible for choosing the research that will be presented.

“It’s basically a way for us to digest very large topics by bringing specialists with different backgrounds together,” he said.

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In an attempt to rationalize its Windows PC lineup, Samsung announced Friday that it will gather all its Microsoft boxes under the ATIV brand.

The move will affect Samsung’s Series 3, 5, and 7 all-in-one computers and more than half a dozen of its laptops.

The all-in-one models, which were announced last summer, will be called the ATIV One 3 (Series 3), ATIV One 5 (Series 5) and ATIV One 7(Series 7).

Samsung’s laptop models will be renamed the ATIV Book 2 (the Series 3 300), ATIV Book 4 (the Series 3 370), ATIV Book 4 (the Series 5 510), ATIV Book 5 (the Series 5 Ultra), ATIV Book 7 (the Series 7 Ultra), ATIV Book 6 (the Series 5 Chronos), ATIV Book 8 (the Series 7 Chronos), and ATIV Book 9 (the Series 9).

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We’ve had about six months to play with Windows 8 (like it or not) and with the first generation of hardware designed for the new OS. So now, with PCs based on Intel’s Haswell CPU poised on the horizon, it’s time to take stock of the best Windows 8 hardware available today. You may be able to snap one up for a bargain-basement price as the industry clears out inventory in anticipation of second-gen machines.

Our top picks among first-gen Windows 8 devices offer touch capability, along with something deeper: a new take on what it means to be a tablet, a laptop, or a hybrid that lies somewhere in between. As for desktops, members of the latest generation of all-in-ones provide generous screen real estate for both Live Tiles and touch features. We applaud all of the following machines for the way they’ve risen to the Windows 8 challenge.

Windows 8 tablets: The best and the boldest

Yes, the Surface Pro is the best available Windows 8 tablet. Though it’s not quite the iPad killer Microsoft should have created, it’s a huge improvement over Surface RT, thanks to a vastly better display, Ultrabook-caliber components, and a full version of Windows 8 Pro.

Surface Pro can run all of the legacy desktop applications you need for serious productivity—and run them well, outpacing many full-fledged Windows 8 hybrids. And who doesn’t love its smart industrial design? Its VaporMg chassis still inspires us today, offering a level of fit and finish missing from competing tablets.

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Last week, the PC industry was rocked by news that Q1 computer shipments had declined by as much as 14 percent, year on year. Analysts cite various factors, but they put most of the blame on a consumer shift toward tablets and other mobile devices.

At PCWorld, we wonder how humankind would survive on tablets alone. Tablets are great for casual Web browsing and catching up on email, but can they deliver everything we need in the so-called post-PC era?

Before you answer, walk with me through a tour of the PC’s greatest talents. These are the benefits you’ll give up when your last PC dies and you decide you can get by without a replacement.

PC sales suffered a 14 percent drop in the first quarter, the largest drop for a single quarter in the 20 years that IDC has been tracking the data. Fingers immediately began pointing at Windows 8, but the new Microsoft OS isn’t to blame—at least not in the way you might think.

Traditional PC sales are down. There's no arguing that. However, it’s misguided to assume it’s the result of a failure on the part of Windows 8. Rather, it's because the definition of "PC" is evolving.

In addition, Windows 8 runs well on older hardware and was offered at a bargain price. That means there has been less incentive to buy a new PC, even for users who wanted Windows 8. Many who did purchase new hardware for Windows 8 chose a Surface Pro, another tablet, or a tablet-PC hybrid. This skews the data because analysts aren't tracking PCs and tablets as a unified market.

Don't hate Windows 8

Windows 8 is a dramatic shift from earlier versions of Windows. Its Modern interface was designed with touch-enabled gadgets in mind, and Windows 8 is an attempt to straddle the line between a traditional PC and a tablet. Microsoft melds the two, but in a Jekyll-Hyde, split-personality way that many users aren’t comfortable with. Plus, of course, there’s no Start button (gasp!). Yet, Windows 8's desktop mode is nearly identical to Windows 7, and you can easily simulate the Start button with a third-party add-on.

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The bad news keeps rolling in for Microsoft and PC manufacturers with market research firms Gartner and IDC Wednesday reporting record declines in global PC shipments for the first three months of 2013. Gartner said PC shipments saw an 11.2 percent decline compared to the prior year, while IDC said it was closer to 14 percent.

The numbers may differ, but the basic message is the same: The PC market ain’t what it used to be, and, for PC makers, something needs to change.

Since the introduction of Window 8, PC makers have focused on high-priced ultrabooks, convertibles, and hybrids to take advantage of Windows 8’s touch-centric start screen. Take Samsung’s latest notebook, announced Thursday. The Series 9 Premium Ultrabook with Full HD is sure to appeal to road warriors looking for a sleek PC, with its 13.3-inch display featuring 1920-by-1080 resolution, a 2.0GHz Intel Core i7 processor, 4GB RAM, and a 128GB solid state drive. But with a cost of $1400, the Series 9 Premium is not exactly priced to fly off the shelves.

Computer makers like to produce machines like this because the margins earned on them are higher, meaning you can move less product for more profit. But the PC market’s bread and butter has always been about delivering large numbers of low-cost PCs to businesses and consumers year in and year out. And that’s one reason why declining PC shipments are such big news.

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Computers may have become a lot more user-friendly over the past decade, but they’re still far from perfect—PCs require a certain amount of configuration and maintenance to operate at their full potential. Unfortunately, because we humans are also far from perfect, we frequently don’t put in the work we should, and we end up with a slower, sloppier, less secure machine as a result.

No more excuses! Whipping your PC into the best shape it can be requires but a dozen simple tasks. None are complicated, most take a matter of minutes, and all will have a major effect on how well your computer works for you. Even better, by the time you’re finished you’ll never have to worry about doing many of these tasks again.

Clean the case, keys, and display

The first task is the most basic: Are you keeping your computer clean? It’s not just important because a dirty PC looks gross, or is less pleasant to use. Simply put, a clean computer can last longer. Dirt and dust buildup in and around your computer can clog the fans and air intakes, causing your hardware to run hotter, which lowers its expected life span. So if your PC is looking a little musty, take the time to clean it.

Photograph by Robert Cardin

To do so, you need to have only a few things on hand: a Phillips-head screwdriver, a can of compressed air, paper towels, and rubbing alcohol.

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Teaching little kids to use computers is a great idea, but the thought of exposing innocent minds to the drek that flies across the Internet is enough to make a sane parent think about relocating to Amish country.

I'm a new parent myself, and as a long-time tech enthusiast, I'm struggling to find the best way to teach my kids about PCs. Letting a kid run wild on a computer with an online connection is a recipe for disaster—there’s simply too much inappropriate content and too many ways to reach it, even accidentally.

Sure, you can spend a few hours setting up Windows parental controls, blocking certain content, and installing software to monitor what your kids are doing online. But not only is that a lot of work, it’s beyond the technical capabilities of many PC owners.

Luckily, the solution is out there, though it's in the place you'd least expect: the world of Linux. The good people of the open-source Linux community have created specialized operating systems and environments that make the process of setting up a kid-friendly PC a breeze.

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Every computer, from the smallest of home theater PCs to the most hulking of gargantuan gaming rigs, generates heat during operation—heat that can kill your PC's precious internals if you're not careful.

While you don't have anything to worry about if you bought your computer from a big-box retailer or straight from a manufacturer like HP, you'll be faced with a potentially crucial decision if you're building (or custom-buying) a fire-breathing, benchmark-eating computer: Should you chill your PC with a traditional air cooling solution or a pricier, yet more efficient liquid-cooling system? That question has many aspects to consider before you can answer it.

Cooling methods explained

The secret to harnessing the cooling power of air lies in fans—lots of fans. Your typical air-cooled PC is packed with case fans, graphics card fans, and a CPU fan or two—positioned atop a big metal heat sink—to keep your expensive components nice and frosty.

A water-cooling system, on the other hand, employs a series of coolant-filled tubes, a radiator, water blocks (the equivalent of heat sinks), and a couple of other components to keep your PC feeling refreshed. You'll even need a few fans to push around all the water! Our guide to setting up a liquid-cooled PC explains a basic (ha!) system in exacting detail.

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Manufacturers have tried to put PCs in our living room for years, with mixed success. One of the most recent example is Alienware’s X51, which looks great in a home-theater rack, but delivers underwhelming performance when you use it to play high-end games with all their graphic settings cranked up.

But this January, the "PC as a gaming console" construct took a new twist. Valve Software, the developer of the Half-Life game series and Steam digital distribution network, confirmed long-running rumors that it's working on a "Steam box"—a prebuilt PC that plugs into an HDTV, and runs the entire lengthy list of games available on Valve’s network. But there won't just be one Steam Box on the market. Instead, the Steam Box will become its own hardware category, filled with prefab PCs from multiple manufacturers and endorsed by Valve.

At CES 2013 in January, we saw the first of many Steam Box PCs to come when modular PC manufacturer Xi3 debuted the Piston, a prototype PC designed with input (and financial investment) from Valve.

Built to fit inside a home entertainment center, the Piston looks cool; but with its expected AMD APU, it probably won't be able to run demanding PC games on a big HDTV without serious performance problems.

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Power supplies are a frequently misunderstood—and overlooked—PC component. Many users choose a power supply based on total wattage alone, assuming that higher is always synonymous with better.  Others pay no attention to their PSU selection at all, and settle for whatever abomination arrived with their machine. But considering how important a good power supply is to a system's stability and long-term reliability, it’s a shame that PSUs get so little attention in comparison to sexier components like graphics cards and SSDs.

It doesn’t help that the power-supply market is awash with products from unscrupulous manufacturers that use substandard components and overstate the hardware’s capabilities. Indeed, the abundance of PSU-related misinformation and deception in the marketplace would be comical if it weren’t so harmful to consumers. But finding a solid, efficient power supply is possible if you arm yourself with the right knowledge. We can help.

Choosing a power supply

There is no single, universal rule for selecting a high-quality power supply. Nevertheless, various indicators provide circumstantial evidence of PSU quality, and some guidelines are generally helpful.

First, always buy a power supply from a reputable manufacturer, and look for reviews of it before you buy. Avoid cheap, generic power supplies, which tend to be substandard. Look for reputable brands that offer solid warranties and support. Corsair, Seasonic, and Antec are three manufacturers with reputations for producing high-quality power supplies, though even they may offer a few duds among all the studs. Do your homework!

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Trying to keep your PC running smoothly sometimes feels like an impossible task. Windows is prone to all kinds of bloat, which can bog down your PC or—in severe cases—even render a system functionally useless. Over time, it’s almost impossible to prevent unsavory apps and other files from infiltrating a Windows PC, regardless of how careful a user you may be. There are simply too many ways for junk to seep its way in.

With regular maintenance and a bit of effort, however, it’s possible to keep a Windows system relatively clean and performing at its peak. Some of the things we’re going to cover here may be second nature to long-time PC aficionados, but these tips should come in quite handy for casual users. At the very least they’ll help you keep your system clean, updated, and better protected from potential threats.

Update, update, update

Vulnerabilities in Windows and many popular applications are quite common. To mitigate the possibility of such vulnerabilities being exploited on your system, it’s important to keep your OS and all of your applications patched and up to date. If you haven’t already set Windows to automatically update, do so now by opening the System and Security settings in the control panel, clicking Windows Update near the bottom-left of the window, and then clicking the Change Settings option. Should you want to install updates manually, remember to do so about once a week. Microsoft tends to release most updates on “Patch Tuesdays”, but if a severe vulnerability is found and fixed quickly, MS may release a patch at any time.

It is also important to keep your antivirus and antimalware utilities patched and updated. Nefarious malware programmers tend to be a couple of steps ahead of the good guys, so it’s important to keep your digital defenses as current as possible. Antivirus and antimalware apps should update themselves daily (or even hourly), but if a problem has occurred (or your system is already infected), auto-updates may have been disabled. Check the status of your antivirus and antimalware apps often to ensure they’re updated and enabled.

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A new year is upon us, and that can mean only one thing: resolutions. For most folks, these tend to be of the "get in shape" or "quit smoking" variety. But if you're a PCWorld reader, consider adding some PC-specific resolutions to the mix.

I have three suggestions for improving the quality of your computing life in 2013.

1. Make regular backups: I know you've heard it before. Like flossing your teeth and emptying the cat box, backing up your PC is one of life’s annoying necessities. Consider what the consequences would be if all your data—your Word files, photo library, Quicken data, and everything else—were to vanish suddenly. It’s a chilling thought, but it happens to unprepared people all too often.

It doesn't have to happen to you, though. Make 2013 the year you sign up for a cloud service—CrashPlan, Mozy, or SugarSync, for example—and configure it to archive your most important files and folders automatically. Once the configuring is done, you'll never have to worry about it again.

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Full-featured PCs are getting smaller every day, and Intel's new "Next Unit of Computing," or NUC, is yet another example of the ever-shrinking personal computer.

At 4.6 by 4.4 by 1.5 inches—about the size of a very small box of chocolates—the NUC contains a Core i3 processor and two SODIMM memory slots, and can be upgraded with both a Wi-Fi card and mSATA SSD internally. I was most intrigued by Intel's DC3217BY model, which includes an HDMI as a video connector and a Thunderbolt port for storage.

Hmmm. HDMI. And a Thunderbolt port. The feature set made me think this particular NUC would be an ideal platform for building a compact media streaming box—or even a full-fledged home theater PC.

Home theater PCs are often massive beasts, shipped in cases the same size as beefy A/V receivers. Those are great if you want massive amounts of storage, or want to build in a high-end 3D card for PC gaming from your couch. But to me the diminutive NUC seemed like an ideal platform for streaming video from the Internet or local server storage. And if you wanted to, I thought, you could connect a hard drive to that Thunderbolt port, enabling the NUC to act as a light-duty DVR.

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Building a fast gaming PC is easier than ever. Building a fast gaming PC on a tight budget is a little harder—not because of the building, but because of the shopping. You have to scour the web (or your favorite retail stores) for the right prices on components.

I've built gaming rigs that cost under a grand a number of times in the past. Typically, I'd hunt around for the lowest-cost set of components that could hit the price point. But given the rapid pace of change in the PC industry, this edition of the $1,000 gaming rig required fewer sacrifices. This time around, I felt free to take a different approach. I wanted a PC that could be gracefully upgraded in order to keep pace with technical advancements. To achieve this, I had to spec out relatively modern core components, particularly the motherboard. I spent a lot of time number juggling to get a faster CPU, but also wanted a graphics card that could deliver good performance at 1080p.

In the end, I barely squeaked under that magic $1,000 mark, mostly due to the current high prices of hard drives. I'll walk through the component list, and then take a look at performance.

The build list

I'm providing two lists of components. The first, with all the entries boldfaced, are the components I actually used. The second is an alternate list, with a few changes to drive the price even lower.

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