All righty, it’s been a while since we’ve done a hardware comparison here.

Lately it seems that all-in-one desktop computers have seen their popularity rise. Since August, Apple has released a fairly large update to the iMac, Gateway unveiled their Gateway One PC (which is way sexier than the Profile 6), and the Dell XPS One.

In this article, I will compare one configuration of the Apple iMac, Dell XPS One, and Gateway One. And if you think you’ve seen this sort of article around here before, well, you’d be right.

First thing’s first

Before I start, I want to get a couple things out of the way. First of all, I am not framing this article to make one company look better or worse, so let’s not even go down that road. These prices are for models as configured on Sunday, November 18, 2007, and are what the manufacturers list on their US online stores (Dell/Gateway Home and Home Office and Apple’s standard pricing). All prices are in US Dollars.

Secondly, yes, I know you can buy a regular tower PC for less than you can buy an all-in-one. Yes, I know you can build a PC for less. Please don’t leave a comment telling me this. In general, all-in-ones are presented as mid-range to higher-end consumer desktops.

A method to this madness

For this little experiment, I set out with some basic specs in mind:

• At least a 2.2 GHz Core 2 Duo processor
• 2 GB RAM
• 320 GB hard drive

I’ll try to get as close to these as possible. Let’s see what we end up with!

High noon at the OK Corral

Note: the Gateway One model used here is only available through Best Buy.

Survey says...

The iMac wins in overall price and has a slight edge in CPU speed. The Gateway topped out at 2 GHz, and wasn’t able to reach to 2.2 GHz I had aimed for. The lower-end Gateway One models come with a 1.5 GHz processor, but I went with the higher end model to get as close to the 2.2 GHz goal I set out for at the beginning. For most users, however, the difference between processor speed shouldn’t be a huge deal. Also, the Gateway has a smaller screen than the Dell and the iMac. The Gateway claims an easy victory for hard drive space and RAM, and wins the silver in terms of price. All three include WiFi (Apple calls it Airport, of course), but the Gateway appears to leave out Bluetooth for some reason. Meanwhile, the Dell has a faster optical drive. The iMac has the venerable Apple Remote and iSight camera, but for whatever reason, Apple has yet to bundle a TV tuner with any of their systems (also, Apple doesn’t include media card readers). Lastly, the Dell XPS One includes a better warranty than the Mac or the Gateway.

Which one should you buy? That I can’t answer. By and large the three systems are fairly close, so I really can’t say one is significantly better than the other. Instead, I will put it this way:

• If price is your top concern, the XPS One isn’t the one for you. Of course, if you’re most concerned about price, you probably won’t buy an all-in-one in the first place, but play along with me here.
• If you want a built-in TV tuner, don’t buy the iMac. If you want the iMac anyway, take a peek at the eyeTV Hybrid.
• If you need raw processing power, got with the iMac or XPS One.
• If you value a longer warranty, consider the XPS One. Apple does sell their AppleCare extended warranty separately for an additional $169 US. I didn’t see any warranty upgrades for the Gateway One model I used.
• If screen space is your priority, the Gateway is at a disadvantage.
• If physical footprint is a concern, you can’t go wrong with any of them!

Remember that this article is just an overview of one configuration from each product line which best fits some criteria I set forth earlier. The Apple iMac starts at $1199, the Dell XPS One at $1499, and the Gateway One at $1299.

So I’m going to wimp out here and call this one a draw more or less. I’ll take one of each, thank you very much.