Even if The Tech Report's Systems Guide is in direct competition with our own Hardware Leaderboard, it is always nice to have a second opinion especially if you need some advice on Mobile Sidekicks.  Their builds include the Econobox at roughly $600, the Sweet Spot at $1,000, the Editors Choice at $1,500, and the Double Stuff Workstation at $3,000 for those who need the ultimate machine.  There are also alternative components offered for each of these builds so take a look through their recommendations and see if it inspires you.

"We've refreshed our famous system guide to account for AMD's new A- and FX-series processors, the latest GPU releases, and of course, the arrival of Windows 8."

Here are some more Systems articles from around the web:

Systems