For many people the case they choose when building their computer is based more on price than anything else. Computer cases can cost hundreds of dollars for high-end parts made from aluminum with a fancy design. NZXT makes a line of cases that tend to be among the cheapest and offer good looks and performance.

The company has announced a new case called the Tempest Evo that is a mid-tower case designed to E-ATX standards allowing it to accept larger server motherboards. The machine has lots of fans with two in the top, two in front and one on the side and in the rear included.

The desktop computer got its name because at one point the machines all sat on top of the desk rather than beside it as most do today. Dell has announced that its new Zino HD computer is now available in the U.S. and is sized to sit on the desktop again.

The Zino HD starts at only $229 and has HD capable graphics as standard. The device also has an HDMI out making it a great device for an HTPC system. Users wanting a more capable HTPC can add all sorts of options including a Blu-ray drive, more storage, more RAM, and a wireless remote.

Amazon has just expanded the audience for its ebook format with the Beta release of its free Kindle for PC application. That’s a good thing too, considering all of the competition they now have. The app will allow you to read the Kindle format on your Windows PC.

A version for Mac users is “coming soon”. How many of you will use this? Or will you just opt for a different ebook format? If Amazon would do away with the proprietary stuff and use a common standard they would widen their audience even more and we wouldn’t have to sync across a few devices.

Maingear just launched a new range of PCs dubbed Maingear Shift, which they are calling the “personal supercomputer that redefines computing performance, design and support”. The Maingear SHIFT uses the power of graphics processing units (GPU) and is designed to speed up everyday mundane tasks like video and photo editing.

The SHIFT features an aluminum case, steel skeleton and advanced cooling with bottom and top airflow and liquid cooling. Two models in the range are available, the SHIFT Intel P55, which comes with an Intel Core I7 800 series processor, Intel Kingsberg P55 Extreme Series motherboard,ATI Radon or NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards, up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, up to 6 hard drives, or 12 SSDs, and either a Blu-ray or DVD burner.

Cooking tablets and recipe readers are usually very blah, but this one looks like it might actually be great for cooks. The Qooq is a 10.2-inch kitchen helper that features the usual recipes, along with meal prep videos, instructions and even advice on choosing the right ingredients, shopping lists, meal planners and more.

All of that info can be updated monthly with a subscription. It sports a touchscreen, Ethernet and USB ports, SD slot, WiFi, and a built-in stand. There’s no browser, but it does have built-in weather, digital photo viewing, and internet radio apps, which is cool.

Lenovo has a new all-in-one PC. This one is the first in the Lenovo ThinkCentre range, an all-in-one targeted at business users. Lenovo’s Flickr says that this desktop is “Lenovo’s first business class, Think-branded all-in-one PC announcing soon at EDUCAUSE 09.”

We don’t have a spec sheet or even a name, so all we know is the obvious. That it appears to come with a wireless keyboard and mouse, integrated webcam, three USB 2.0 and audio in/out ports

If you’re in the market for a new all-in-one PC you certainly have options. But if you want one that’s affordable, you may want to check out HP’s latest Pavilion MS214.

This machine is priced at $585 and boasts an 18.5-inch widescreen LCD display, an AMD Athlon X2 3250e 1.5GHz Dual-core processor, an ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics card, 2GB RAM, a 320GB hard drive, built-in webcam, a DVD burner, a 6-in-1 card reader, WiFi and Windows 7 64-bit as an OS.

Lenovo introduced a few new computers today, but the most interesting visually is the B500 all-in-one, which sports a sexy and stealth fighter like angular design. The IdeaCentre B500 isn’t just about looks though. It has decent specs.

At it’s highest and most expensive configuration, the 23-inch 16×9 B500 packs a Core 2 Quad processor, 4GB of memory, 1TB hard drive, DVD or Blu-ray, and an optional TV tuner with remote.

And one ring shall rule them all. Want to connect your computer to your home TV, so you can enjoy TV shows, movies and more? Now you can navigate Hulu, Amazon Video on Demand, YouTube and Netflix, play your own videos and music with iTunes or Media Center without a keyboard or mouse while at the couch.

Instead use the Hillcrest Labs Loop pointer, the in-air mouse, which doesn’t look awkward at all. It’s a motion-sensing mouse that moves your cursor much like a Wiimote. It has just four buttons and a scroll wheel and uses your computer’s USB 2.0 port.

Amazon is preparing to launch its Kindle application for Windows PCs. The app will let you download and read content that was previously available for the Kindle. There’s also an iPhone app already available. You don’t need a Kindle to use the Kindle app for Windows, but you will need to create an account.

The thinking is that Windows 7’s new touch features might make it a good reading platform, plus it gets the content into more hands. Don’t worry Mac users, yours is coming soon. Maybe on a Mac Tablet.

Every time I look around there is a new netbook computer being unveiled or a low cost notebook, which is what the masses want thanks to the poor economy. There is a building demand for other types of computers as well like the all-in-one desktop and Acer has unveiled its latest AIO called the Z5610.

The machine will run Windows 7 Home Premium and uses the Touch Pack for Windows 7 for its 23-inch multi-touch LCD. The fact that the machine runs Windows 7 means it should ship sometime after October 22.

Take a look at the pic above. That’s a livingroom inside of a PC. I knew tiny people were living in our PCs, but this is the proof I have been waiting for. But who lives there? How long have they been in residence? Should we be charging them rent? Are they affecting performance? So many questions.

They’ve been in this PC for a while as evidenced by the Cracker Jacks on the table and the tiny copy of the New York Times. They’ve even matched the furniture with the red motherboard.

Sony’s latest all-in-one PC is the Vaio L This sexy all-in-one features Windows 7 support and also has its own multitouch capability for scrolling and zooming through content without any additional software. Sony’s custom touch portal, Media Gallery, lets you use touch to edit photos and videos.

The Vaio L series starts at $1,300 and goes up from there. The basic unit comes with a 24″ full HD display, Intel Pentium 2.7GHz dual core processor, 4GB RAM, a 320GB hard drive, a DVD writer and a GeForce G210M integrated chipset that handles both 3D and HD video decoding. You can pre-order today, with shipping happening in November.

Check out this totally funkadelic PC case mod that glows like a toxic night-lite. This one comes from modder JJ-Sky5000 and was created for a Coolermaster contest. The Project ‘Cool’ Boombox PC Case Mod. Cool doesn’t even begin to describe it.

Obviously the mod uses an old boombox from 1990s to great effect. I see some groovin’ dude carrying this thing on his shoulder, moving to the music as he strolls down post-apocalyptic streets in search of nothing more than good times.

Is that an iMac? No, it’s the new MS200 all-in-one from HP. It just kinda sorta looks like an iMac. It’s kind of sexy, but a little thick. The entire computer is balanced on that angled stand. The computer is running a 1.5 GHz Athlon X2 and has Radeon HD 3200 integrated video for 3D acceleration and movie decoding.

Some other features are 2GB of RAM, 320 GB of hard disk and a DVD burner. It will run you $599. HP makes a webcam and Wi-Fi standard and gives the MS200 a custom MediaSmart front end for photo and video editing or playback as well as Pandora Internet radio and video chat.