ZT Systems Affinity 7225Xi: loads of extras buoy this inexpensive desktop.(REVIEWS: DESKTOPS)(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)

WITH BUDGET DESKTOPS, it's not wise to hope for much more than a decent price: Performance from systems costing less than $750 is often 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 DGL4300 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-equipped 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 ...