ZT Systems Affinity 7225Xi

ZT Systems Affinity 7225Xi
Loads of extras buoy this inexpensive desktop

WITH BUDGET DESKTOPS, it's not wise to hope for much more than a decent price: Performance from systems costing less than $750 is ofte adequate at best. But ZT Systems' Affinity 7225Xi is an exception to the rule.
After you purchase the $749.99 machine, you can go to the ZT Systems Web site and claim a rebate that will also net you an 80GB Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini portable hard drive, the PC Mover migration utility (for moving files, programs, and settings from your old computer to your new one), and a D-Link DGL-4300 GameLounge wireless gaming router all in all, more than $200 of additional value.
But even discounting the premiums, the Affinity 7225Xi still comes across well. With its 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor, 4GB of DDr2 RAM, a 500GB hard drive, a 512MB ATI Radeon HD 3450 graphics card, and Windows Vista Home Premium, the system is well-euipped in terms of hardware, and it kept pace with machines costing almost twice as much in our benchmark tests (except in gaming, where it's rather far from ideal).
You'll also need to contend with somewhat limited port connectivity (no FireWire or surround-sound audio) and restricted interior expansion room.
There's space for one external 5.25-inch drive, one external 3.5-inch drive, and three internal 3,5-inch drives, but no more RAM. In terms of slots, one PCI Express X1 slot is blocked by the graphics card's cooling assemby, and of the other two PCI slots, one contains a modem. On the plus side, a multiformat card reader has been included up front.-M.M
source: Computer Shopper September 2008.

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