GATEWAY DX442XP

XP-Retro Multimedia Wiz

The Gateway DX442XP is a new twist on the thousand-dollar PC idea. Rather than spend more money on a discrete graphics solution, the DX442XP instead pours the dollars into the processor, memory, and, in a novel erversal, the Windows XP Pro operating system (which costs money for Gateway support). If you have a lot of old applications that don't work with Vista, and you need more power than you have now, this is your system.

A sliding door on the D4442XP's front panel hides a pair of front USB ports, a headphone jack, and the slot for the Gateway multimedia removable hard drive.
The DX442XP did well on Photoshop CS3 (28 seconds) and Windows Media Encoder (1:02), which shows that it's a good machine for students and those dabbling in digital media. The DX442XP's SYSmark 2007 Preview Overall score (145) is excellent, considering that few quad-core systems even reach 100 points. About the only disappointing score that the DX442XP turned in was a 306 on 3DMark06. This is due to its integrated DMA 3000 graphics, which are good only for light 3D tasks.
With the DX442XP, you get a lot of quad-core multimedia performance. If you're looking for an off-the-shelf PC with the latest technology but don't want to get a Vista PC, take a long look at this desktop.

Specs: 2.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q96600 processor; 3GB 667-MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 500GB, 7,200-rpm SATA hard drive; 256MB integrated Intel GMA 3000 graphics; Windows XP Pro.

source: PC Magazine August 2008.

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