HP Pavilion Slimline s5-1060

Where many small form-factor (SFF) desktops settle into a niche somewhere between nettops and value-priced entry-level desktops, the HP Pavilion Slimline s5-1060 ($829.99 direct) inhabits this in between space by combining the compact convenience with high-powered components, respectively. Thanks to its powerful Core i5 processor, a spacious 1TB hard drive, a Blu-ray optical drive, and a wealth of entertainment features, the Slimline s5-1060 is one of the smartest buys in the SFF space right now.

Design and Features
Measuring 12.28 by 6.21 by 15.43-inches (HWD), the Slimline puts several high-end features into a small form factor (SFF) desktop one-third the size of a traditional PC tower. Unlike value-priced SFF units, the Pavilion Slimline s5-1060 fills its compact chassis with some surprisingly good components (more below). The Slimline is equipped with an array of entertainment options, bundled with HP's Media Center remote control, a TV tuner card, Blu-ray player/ SuperMulti DVD-reader/writer, and multiple audio connections. The size of the tower also means that it can be set up in places that are normal PC tower won't fit, allowing it to be tucked out of the way behind a monitor or integrated into a home entertainment center.

The front of the Slimline is covered in glossy black plastic with accents of blue glowing LED lights and a dull metallic looking plastic panel. Along the top edge, is a blue indicator light, and a glowing blue power button to match. All of that black plastic is molded into gently curved front panel, which includes a door that covers the vertically oriented Blu-ray optical drive. Just below the drive door is an eject button. Continuing down, you'll find two USB 2.0 ports, a 6-in-1 card reader (SD, SDHC, MMC, MS/Pro, xD), and a stereo headphone jack.

On the back of the Slimline is a healthy collection of ports and connections, most of them intended for entertainment use. In addition to several video and audio connections, there are four additional USB 2.0 ports, an Ethernet port, and a coaxial cable input for connecting a TV antenna. The integrated TV tuner allows you to tune in to digital HD broadcast television, a feature that not everyone will use, but it's still a nice addition. Of far more use is 802.11n Wi-Fi, which lets you hide your system in an out of the way spot, even if your cable modem and router are in the next room. It would have been nice to see a USB 3.0 or USB/eSATA port on the Slimline, but those ports are rarely seen on systems of this size or price. On the back of the Slimline s5-1060 you'll also find input and output connections for HP's IR sensor, for use with the bundled with HP Media Center remote control. The remote lets you enjoy your media while kicking back in comfort, the IR sensors can be set up to keep that functionality even when the Slimline is hidden out of sight.

The Slimline comes bundled with both a wireless keyboard and optical mouse. The keyboard has a lightweight, low-profile design that fits well with the compact size of the SFF. In addition to comfortable, cord free typing, the letter B has been replaced with the stylized Beats Audio logo, and serves as a function key to toggle Beats Audio on and off. The accompanying wireless mouse is no match for top of the line mice, like the Logitech Marathon Mouse M705 but it is substantially better than the cheap-feeling wired mouse included with the cheaper Slimline. Additionally this wireless combo shares a common wireless USB receiver, so you'll only lose one of your 6 USB ports.

Though it doesn't come with a monitor of its own, the Slimline offers DVI and HDMI outputs, along with a DVI to VGA adapter to connect to nearly any monitor or TV display. Dual-monitor support also means that you can connect a monitor for everyday computing and an HDTV for all your entertainment needs. The Slimline also offers several audio connections. A digital audio output lets you enjoy 7.1 surround sound, when connected to a sound system via HDMI or optical digital cable, and a handful of other audio jacks let you connect individual stereo speakers, subwoofer, and run a microphone/line-in as well. Sound options go beyond plugs and connections, however, with Beats Audio providing studio-quality sound?exemplifying the bass and depth in music.

Unlike most SFF desktops, the Slimline s5-1060 does leave the door open for an upgrade or two. Though the interior is a bit crowded, the s5-1060 has two unoccupied PCIe x1 slots, and two open DIMM slots let you upgrade up to 16GB of RAM. The HP Pavilion Slimline s5-160 comes equipped with a 1TB, 7,200rpm hard drive, the same capacity and speed as the drive in the Lenovo IdeaCentre K330-11691AU ($599.99 list, 4 stars), our Editors' Choice in entry-level and midrange systems. A full terabyte of storage gives you enough space for even a healthy-sized media collection, with room for over 250,000 songs or 500 hours of HD video.

On that hard drive, HP has loaded on a selection of software samples and utilities that may warrant an hour or two to clean off. Several sample games, toolbars from Google and Bing, dedicated website links to sites like Hulu, Netflix, and Ebay, and no less than five programs for reading ebooks and news feeds are included. Among the bloatware are a few useful programs, like Microsoft Office Starter 2010, a 60-day trial of Norton Internet Security, and HP LinkUp, a proprietary program that lets you access any other Windows 7 computers that are on the same local network. It's ideal for anyone that may have a desktop and laptop, allowing screen mirroring and file transfers without any complicated docks or cables.

Performance
The HP Pavilion Slimline s5-1060 comes equipped with a 2.9GHz Intel Core i5-2310 processor, a dual-core processor that functions like a quad-core thanks to Intel's Hyper-Threading Technology, which allows each of the two cores to handle two different computing threads simultaneously. This dual-core powerhouse is coupled with 6GB of memory. In terms of productivity, the Core i5 will shoulder most any task sent its way. It's PCMark 7 score of 2,530 points may not be much of a match for the Asus Essentio CM6850-07 ($829.99 list, 3.5 stars), which scored 3,038 points with its quad-core Core i7 processor, but when compared to the 1,667 points scored by the Pentium equipped HP Pavilion Slimline s5-1020 ($429.99 list, 3.5 stars), it's miles ahead. It's 4.77 points in our Cinebench R11.5 rendering test beat-out every competitor but the Asus Essentio, which scored 6.12 points.

All of this processing muscle helped the Slimline to perform well in multimedia-creation tests. When running through our Photoshop CS5 test script, the Slimline completed it in 3 minutes 33 seconds, faster than both the Dell Inspiron One IO2305-4429MSL ($849.99 list, 4 stars) (6:59) and Editors' Choice Lenovo IdeaCentre K330-11691AU (3:49). It was nearly matched by the Gateway DX4860-UB21P ($599.99 list, 3.5 stars) (3:38), but it was beaten by the Asus Essentio (3:00). The Slimline performed even better when dealing with video. It completed our Handbrake video encoding test in 1 minute 23 seconds, beating out ever other competing system. The only one to come close was the Gateway DX4860-UB21P, which matched it with a time of 1:24.

The only area where performance really lagged was in graphics and gaming. Despite having an AMD Radeon HD 6450 (512MB) discrete graphics card, the Slimline just didn't have what it takes to be a competitive gaming machine, which is to be expected. Its 3DMark 11 scores of 953 points (at medium settings) and 160 points (at higher settings and native resolution) are certainly respectable for a SFF desktop, considering most of its peers couldn't run 3DMark at all. In actual gaming benchmarks, the performance was admirable, scoring 29 frames per second in Crysis 2 (at medium quality) and 13 fps in Lost Planet 2. That's good enough for casual games, like Sims 3 and World of Warcraft, but even then, you'll need to dial-down the eye-candy.

With high performance components, like a Core i5 processor, 1TB hard drive, and a slew of entertainment options that include a Blu-ray player/ DVD-R/W optical drive, integrated TV tuner, and several audio outputs, the HP Pavilion Slimline s5-1060 stands head and shoulders above most other small form-factor competitors. Even when stacked up against our entry-level Editors' Choice Lenovo IdeaCentre K330-11691AU, the pint-sized Slimline s5-1060 offers better performance across the board. Add it all up, and the Slimline s5-1060 is clearly one of the best in its class.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS:

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the HP Pavilion Slimline s5-1060 with several other desktops side by side.

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