Dell, HP, Apple Consumer Reports' Best Desktops

PCs still own the desktop.

Yesterday we took a look at Consumer Reports’ latest laptop ratings and saw that Apple cleaned up all three segments with MacBooks taking home all top scores. Could Apple do the same thing again for desktops with its iMac, Mac Mini and Mac Pro? Nope.

In the four desktop categories – standard, multimedia, gaming and all-in-one – HP topped one and Dell took the remaining three.

Well, actually Apple managed to sneak in at the top of the standard desktop rating with its Mac Mini as the HP Pavilion Slimline s3620f, which took top spot with 61 out of 100, is discontinued. The Mac Mini shared a rating of 59 out of 100 along with the HP Pavilion a6600f and HP Pavilion a6700y.

Dell ruled the multimedia desktop class, taking the top four spots out of the six computers ranked. The top four in order were the Dell Studio XPS, Studio Mini, Studio Slim and the Insprion 518.

Only three gaming desktops were ranked by Consumer Reports, with the Dell XPS 630 taking the highest score on the page with 81 out of 100. The other two were the HP Pavilion Elite d5000t ATX and the HP Pavilion Elite m9450f, both with 78 points and both discontinued.

In the all-in-one category, one that’s popularized by the iMac, Apple only managed to take second place with its 20-inch offering. The leader of that pack was Dell with its 24-inch XPS One Red. Dell also grabbed third place with the 20-inch version of the XPS One.

Check out the latest Consumer Reports for the full ratings (or subscribe to the website).