Acer Veriton 7600G

WHAT'S HOT: Part of Acer's corporate line with fast processors, the Veriton 7600G features a 3-GHz Pentium 4 CPU, 1GB of 333-MHz DDR SDRAM, and an 800-MHz frontside bus. At $1937, it is also the least expensive system with a 3-GHz processor that we've seen. Proprietary extras include network management software, one-button system restore, and a USB lock that guards against unauthorized file transfers.

WHAT'S NOT: Though the Veriton 7600G has business savvy, it stumbles when it comes to entertainment features. We had major gripes with the included 17-inch Acer AL722 LCD monitor. Paired with an NVidia GeForce4 Ti 4200 graphics board with 128MB of memory, the monitor rendered colors that looked too dark and overly orange on a DVD movie, as well as in games and photo screens. Text looked better, though it appeared smudgy at 7.5 points and smaller. The monitor also lacks an auto-adjust button, which is inconvenient when you need to quickly recalibrate a display's appearance.

The speakers provided with our test system were integrated into the monitor--but their sound quality made us want to head to the nearest store for a separate set. In our tests they produced thin, tinny trebles and difficult-to-hear bass notes.