The Dell Inspiron may look unassuming, but it houses a system that is suitable for all your computer-related tasks. The 10th generation Intel Core i5-10400 CPU and eight-gigabyte DDR4 RAM is more than sufficient for office work and web browsing. The Intel UHD Graphics 630 graphics processor supports light gaming and high definition video if you want a bit of entertainment between all the work. The Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity let you reduce the wires around your desktop for a sleeker workspace. Connecting peripherals and transferring files is convenient with four USB 2.0 and four USB 3.0 ports. If you’re looking to pack more power into this computer, the 260-watt power supply opens up more possibilities for upgrades and expansion. All that hardware lies inside a compact, 14.8-litre case that sits comfortably on your desktop.

Why we love it:

— Space saving size — Multiple media ports — One terabyte hard drive space

While Dell’s Optiplex won’t win any awards for being the most advanced computer, it is a dependable machine for your basic computing needs. The Intel Core 2 Duo CPU provides enough power for basic tasks such as document writing and web browsing. The 4-gigabyte RAM provides sufficient memory for a bit of multitasking to keep your workflow efficient. This computer comes with a 150Mbps WiFi USB adapter for wireless connectivity. It’s also pre-installed with a 64-bit Windows 10 operating system so you can get started right away.

Why we love it:

— Six USB ports — 30-day Microsoft Office 365 trial — Easy system recovery

Running the latest games won’t be an issue with Vibox’s I-23 gaming desktop computer. The computer’s AMD Ryzen 3 3200G APU has an integrated Nvidia Geforce GT 1030 chip that allows you to run games with gorgeous graphics for an immersive experience. The 16-gigabyte DDR4 RAM handles all the heavy memory stuff from large-scale games for a seamless gaming session. Apart from the spacious one terabyte hard disk drive, this computer also has a 240-gigabyte solid-state drive for faster boot-up and load times. Online gaming isn’t a problem as well. The 600Mbps wireless Wi-Fi network adapter lets you play without lag and connection issues.

Why we love it:

— Pre-installed with Windows 10 — RGB gaming case — Fast performance

If you’re hunting for something on the smaller side, that you can bring with you on your business trips, but is still capable of keeping up with all your business and personal needs, then this mini PC from SNUNMU is perfect for you. Small enough to fit into the palm of your hand, and great for slipping into your bag or even your pocket, this mini PC is capable of supporting multiple devices at once, with 2 HDMI ports, 4 USB ports, 2 for 3.0 and 2 for 2.0, 1 RJ45 port, 1 VGA port, and 1 audio output port, this little computer can run your office needs, your home computer needs, and even your gaming needs. The Intel Celeron N3350 processor can support dual Wi-Fi, and it also comes with 4GB of RAM, perfect for all your travelling needs.

Why we love it:

— Comes with pre-installed Windows 10 Pro — Can support additional storage space through connecting a mobile hard drive — Auto power on options for a busy lifestyle

You’ve read our conclusions and now you’re wondering how we came to them.

Reviews often lack context. We’ll give out a score and analyse the finer points of desktop performance, but how do we reach those conclusions? How do we test these machines?

Allow us to lift the veil. Here we’ll explain the benchmarks we use for objective testing and the perspective from which we approach subjective topics. We don’t expect everyone to agree with our opinions, but we hope that sharing our process will leave you better equipped to decide what desktop best fits your needs.

SSDs and graphics cards are premium upgrades that will be worth it to help keep your desktop running smoothly for years. Prices for SSDs have come down in recent years, but you don’t have to spend extravagantly for a high capacity solid-state drive to reap the rewards. Instead, students on a budget can go with a dual-drive strategy, combining a more manageable and speedy SSD with enough capacity to store the OS and frequently used applications, while resorting to a less expensive and expansive hard drive to house larger files. In addition to the storage, you’ll also want to explore how much memory you’ll want on your desktop, and most PCs today will ship with at least 8GB of RAM. 16GB is worth the price for gamers and heavy web users, but 32GB and above is only really useful for high-end tasks like video editing and rendering.

Even if you’re not a gamer or heavy content creator, having discrete graphics can be beneficial. With more apps offloading some of the heavy lifting from the processor to the GPU, a decent graphics card can help speed up some Office tasks and web browsing where GPU acceleration is enabled.

But while graphics cards can help some tasks, their main function is gaming and if you aren’t doing that, you don’t need to spend much on a big, powerful one — especially since they can easily become the most expensive component in your system. High-end cards, like Nvidia’s ray tracing-capable RTX 2080 or 2080 Ti are overkill for most, but they’ll give you excellent frame rates and details. If you want something more respectful of budgets, considering a midrange GTX 1660 Super or RX 5600 XT instead.

The best CPU will depend on how you’re using your desktop. Gamers who want the utmost performance will want an overclockable Intel Core i9-9900K found on most high-end systems, while creatives looking at juggling large media files will want something with more cores. That means AMD, which offers 12- and 16-core chips in the form of the Ryzen 3900X and 3950X. If you can benefit from even more, you’ll want to go with AMD’s Threadripper 3000 CPUs, which offer up to 64 cores, though they do get rather expensive.

If you’re working primarily on Office files and use your desktop to browse the web, scaling down to an Intel Core i5 or Core i7, or a Ryzen 7 or Ryzen 5 CPU, would help make substantial savings without impacting performance much.

USB-C is beginning to show up in more desktop builds, but it’s still more common on laptops. It’s not strictly necessary, as there are plenty of USB-A to USB-C cables out there, but if it’s a must for you, keep an eye on the case that your new system comes in. That will or won’t have USB-C as standard.

Thunderbolt 3 is even less common on desktops, though it does offer the most bandwidth of any USB-based wired connection available at this time. If you want it, you’ll need to go with an Intel system, though if it’s not standard on the chassis or motherboard, you could always get a PCI-Express add-in card that has it.