When we last checked Gateway 23-inch All-in-one PC, the Gateway One ZX6810-01, we award it an Editors’ Choice for its high-end parts, which made it the most powerful all-in- One PC on the planet at the time. The current iteration of the Gateway One ZX6900-01e, offers the same design as last year’s model, but it outfits with less powerful components and a few less features. The ZX6900-01e also addresses the major weakness in the former model is a Blu-ray drive, a required element, in our mind, for an all-in-one PC with a display capable of full HD (1080p) playback capabilities.

Despite seemingly drastic cuts from the previous model (trade with an Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Dual-Core Core i3, halving the memory to 4 GB, instead of the 64 GB solid-state hard drive and 1 TB hard drive tandem with a pedestrian 640GB hard disk, and ditching ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics card for Intel Integrated GMA HD graphics), was the ZX6900-01e performance in the real world testing (in everything but gaming) on a par with or actually exceeded the show’s ZX6810. The only users who will be disappointed with the change of the properties will be players who tarket usually not the priority for all-in-one PCs.

In the middle of the Gateway One ZX6900-01e is a 23-inch touch screen LCD. A glossy black bezel frame of the display and a 2.25-inch speaker bar along the bottom edge. Two clear plastic legs sit at both ends of the front of the computer, and a pivotal support in the back, they create a tripod support to the PC. The pivoting adjustable rear leg to the right to display a tendency to be related to, but in our tests, we could not throw the screen in a vertical position enough to glare and reflections on the shiny screen. We landed a thin Paperback stuck under the back foot on the screen to our liking position. The clear Lucite plastic to create the two front legs are still a thin frame around the black bezel. The appearance is attractive enough, but it can not compete with the ease and simplicity of the Apple iMac or the Dell Studio One. In fairness to the Gateway One ZX6900-01e, it is also $ 200 less than the cheapest iMac while boasting a screen is 1.5 inches larger.

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The Gateway One ZX6900-01e is equipped with a touchscreen LCD, a feature that Apple’s iMac is missing. In the normal operation of Windows 7, you can make your finger to open applications, process window, and so on. Gateway TouchPortal software can also be accessed via a physical button on the bottom right corner of the display bezel, or by touching the upper right corner of the screen. The different sets TouchPortal Touch software applications, even though they are more for the novelty and disclosure of entertainment than real use. In comparison, the HP Touch bundle of software on the TouchSmart 600 more meaningful, and you can use your fingertips to navigate to specific versions of Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, Rhapsody and, for example.

In contrast, the Gateway TouchPortal a handful of apps, you probably putter around with for the first week or two to have the system and then never go again. The TouchMemo app mimics sticky notes that you would probably use as fast memories. But the app is more trouble than it’s worth, because the letter with his finger on a vertical screen much slower and more cumbersome as input. If it is like hand-written notes hold an old-fashioned tape on your desktop easier and faster. Other TouchPortal apps to control your multimedia files (music, movies, photos) with a touch of the finger, but we found a mouse under the regular Windows 7 interface was more efficient. Last are three Microsoft Surface applications include: Surface Globe, collage, and the lagoon. They also offer some passing conversation, but little lasting value.

The content of entertainment value in this machine comes largely from the slot-loading Blu-ray drive, something was missing last year’s model painful. With a 23-inch screen packing a 1920 x1, 080 (1080p) native resolution, with Blu-ray playback in all its glory on this screen is a pleasure. HD video looks vivid and smooth on the ZX6900-01e’s 23-inch widescreen display. The accompanying audio from the built-in stereo speakers is passable, suitable for YouTube video and HD trailers on Apple’s site (in large part because the system itself runs very quiet). Watching movies from more than a few feet away or listening to music in all but the smallest rooms, but you probably have reached for an external set of speakers, although the AIO will drive aesthetic ruin. That is, the PC supports 5.1 audio.

Two features which are not the leap from the ZX6800 ZX6900-01e TV tuner and remote control. With the amount of Web video from Amazon, Hulu, iTunes, Netflix and the like, we do not think most will complain All-in-one PC buyers the lack of a TV tuner. And the included wireless keyboard and mouse combo you can sit at some distance from the machine, but we want the keyboard with touchpad or trackball to easily control the cursor when not sitting at a desk or near a flat surface. The keyboard is compact and feels a bit cramped, so if you want to enter a lot, you might want to opt for more space.

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The port lineup remains the same as the previous model, with one important addition: HDMI. The HDMI output allows the connection of the Gateway One ZX6900-01e to an HDTV for cases in his own 23-inch display is not wide enough. We are too picky here, but we also want to see an HDMI input that can connect to a game to the system were on the screen of the console. (With integrated Intel graphics, sophisticated PC games is not otherwise much an option.) For data expansion, the ZX6900-01e provides six USB 2.0 ports and one eSATA port. Two of the USB ports are conveniently located on the left side, the remaining four on the back. Networking options are excellent, with 802.11n Wi-Fi Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet. Along the right side are headphone and microphone jacks, and a multi-format flash card reader. Below the card reader is a small button that is to light, that the framework and provide the light shine down on the keyboard. A webcam is located above the display.

We were pleasantly surprised by the Gateway One ZX6900-01e performance surprised to use, especially on our benchmark tests, the real applications. With a 2.93 GHz Intel Core i3-530 CPU, 4 GB of DDR3 RAM and integrated Intel GMA HD graphics, matched or bested the more expensive model ZX6800, despite the earlier model double dose of processor cores and memory, and ATI graphics dedicated.

The ZX6900-01e in an identical score of 3 minutes and 44 seconds on our Windows Media Encoder 9 video-encoding test as ZX6800 shot last year. More and caused concern of the ZX6900-01E 3 minutes and 1 second transcode to test our 11 audio tracks in our test iTunes 7. She took 44 seconds before the last year ZX6800. Last, Cinebench 10 is a synthetic benchmark that is strong, the CPU, the ZX6900-01e score of 9116 to 6 percent faster than the ZX6800 score of 8603rd We attribute the difference in clock speed as the most important factor in the performance of Delta, the Core i3-530 to 2.93 GHz to the Core 2 Quad 8200 clocked 2.33 GHz.

On our PCMark Vantage test, however, which measures overall system performance, the Gateway One was ZX6900-01e score of 5956 by 26 percent slower than the ZX6800 brand of 8076. That may seem a big blow to the ZX6900-01E, but the difference between the results is mainly due to the older model gaming-friendly graphics and additional RAM. And if you are not interested in gaming on Flash games, or Farmville, you will not be putting to use those extra features anyway. In anecdotal testing, both systems felt snappy, even under heavy multitasking scenarios.

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Surprisingly, it enables us to eke out just over 30 frames per second on Company of Heroes, an older 3D games, with a modest resolution of 1,280 x1, 024 with the selected settings is disabled or down. Game play was still choppy, though, and we met a couple of crashes. We propose to put the Web-based games on this machine, or the trio of amusing games in the Gateway Touch touch with the portal system.

At the end of Gateway One ZX6900-01e again earns an Editors’ Choice because it is a significant chunk lops off the price of its predecessor while delivering a functional, more in tune with the needs of most buyers of all-in-one PCs. His performance is more than meets the needs of mainstream users, and the addition of a Blu-ray drive makes it easy for the lack of a TV tuner and remote control. And while it does not match the aesthetic of Apple’s iMac, the ZX6900-01e design is certainly not to offend, but with more space on the screen, Blu-ray playback and a touch screen that small for a good deal as the entry-level iMac.

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