NEC introduced two new lines of all-in-one desktop PCs: ValueStar N, and ValueStar W. The launches push the company's monolithic all-in-one design approach further, into the realm of luxury PCs. The ValueStar N comes in three bezel colours: black, white, and cherry red. The main unit packs the 21.5-inch full HD display, and all the hardware otherwise found in a mini-tower. Under the hood is an Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 processor, 4 GB of memory, NVIDIA GeForce 9400 GT graphics, and 1 TB of storage.

There is also a 19-inch variant with a display resolution of 1440 x 900 px, and 500 GB storage. Both variants pack a DVD Super Multi drive. A media-center remote is bundled along with the keyboard and mouse. The ValueStar W on the other hand, packs beefier hardware with its Core 2 Quad Q8200 quad-core processor that is watercooled, 4 GB of memory, digital TV tuner, 1TB of storage, Blu-Ray drive and a 22" LCD. Better as it seems, ironically, this display features an underwhelming resolution of 1680 x 1050.

Intel made an addition to its desktop processor lineup, by making Core 2 Duo E7400 official. The E7000 series dual-core processors mark the company's attempt to offer the benefits of the 45nm Penryn architecture with great value. Intel on its part, has respected the US $133 mark, with the new chip displacing the older E7300 chip to $113.

The Core 2 Duo E7400 is based on the 45nm Wolfdale-3M core. It features a clock speed of 2.80 GHz, and FSB speed of 1066 MHz. What it also means, is that it comes with a relatively high 10.5x FSB multiplier value. The processor features 3 MB of L2 cache.

The Intel Core 2 Duo E7000 series has brought in great performance at a low price point. They are basically current 45nm Wolfdale core based processors with 3 MB of L2 cache and 1066 MHz FSB. What it also means that it comes with higher FSB multiplier values to achieve the designated clock speeds. For applications that aren't cache intensive, and for users with appropriate tweaking skills, the E7000 series is a boon. Sources claim that on October 19th, Intel will release the Core 2 Duo E7400 processor, a successor to the current E7300. The release also affects prices across its segment.

The E7400 comes with a 2.80 GHz clock speed. It comes with a FSB multiplier of 10.5x for and 3 MB of L2 cache. Coming to its price, it displaces the E7300 from its current price of US $133 and pushes it down to $113, the E7400 will be priced at $133. In its segment, the E7400 will compete with AMD's Phenom X3 8750 and Phenom X4 9550, though it is expected to perform better than AMD's offerings in that price-range given today's applications.