Gateway One ZX6810-01

The recent rash of cheap, underpowered all-in-one (AIO) “nettop” PCs powered by Intel’s Atom processor (such as Lenovo’s C300) or AMD’s low-voltage CPUs (like the MSI Wind Top AE2010-02SUS) has lowered our expectations of just what a typical all-in-one is capable of. Those systems, after all, aren’t capable of much more than basic productivity apps, standard-definition video playback, and Web browsing. They can’t even handle Hulu.com playback without stuttering. So when Gateway’s One ZX6810-01 arrived in our labs, we were initially impressed by its large 23-inch, 1080p (1,920x1,080) screen, but we weren’t expecting to be blown away by the PC's performance.

As soon as we started testing the PC and perusing its hardware list, however, we realized that the ZX6810-01 was a different beast entirely. Underneath its unassuming glossy black plastic shell, this system is arguably, as of this writing, the most powerful all-in-one PC on the planet. The $1,399 model we tested houses a four-core, 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Quad 8200 CPU, 8GB of DDR3 memory, and a surprisingly capable Radeon HD 4670 graphics card (much more on that later). Plus, it had a 64GB Samsung solid-state drive (SSD) for programs and the OS (Windows 7 Home Premium), and a 1TB hard drive (huge for an AIO) for media storage. Other much-appreciated extras include a TV tuner and remote, a multi-touch-capable touch screen, and a wireless keyboard and mouse. About the only component this system seems to lack is a Blu-ray drive—the slot-loading optical drive is, sadly, a plain-old DVD±RW.