The Best Products Of 2008

WINNER: Dell Vostro 220 This was a difficult choice for several reasons, not the least of which is the continuing comment from many solution providers that Dell Inc.—a relative newcomer to the channel—still needs to work on developing trust as a business partner. But in the end, the Vostro 220 proved itself to be a significant enough new product, aimed right at the channel's wheelhouse, that it couldn't be ignored.

The Vostro 220 we reviewed was built with an Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 CPU at 2.53GHz and 4GB of RAM. Testing with Geekbench, the PC scored 2,776—less than the Vostro 200 but higher than the other business desktops we took up for this review. Running a standard workload, the V220 drew 64 watts of power and threw 79 degrees at its vent. Its noise level was below the ambient sound in the lab and our decibel meter's threshold of 50. It was as solid a performer as we've seen this year, list-priced at $319, with no gunkware preloaded to annoy customers. It's simple, it's solid, and it's aimed directly at the heart of small and midmarket businesses.

The Vostro 220 does what it sets out to do—very well—and for that reason it's our desktop of the year.