Conclusion

With an assembled price of under $1,400 (sans operating system, keyboard, mouse and monitor), we were able to build a system that features excellent performance, stylish looks, low power usage and instant-on capabilities using the latest and best components available.

Of course, a savvy system builder could easily shave some bucks off of the configuration and come in at a much lower price. Conversely, a system builder could go in the other direction and add more storage, discrete graphics and other options to bring the cost and performance of the system up. It all comes down to what customers want and how much they are willing to pay.