HP&39's newly updated Pavilion Slimline s5700.

In keeping with its tradition of regular quarterly updates, HP brings word that its Pavilion Slimline desktops have been brought up to the s5700 series. We reviewed a higher-end s5600 Slimline a few months ago and found it one of the better slim towers we'd reviewed recently. The new s5710f and s5730f appear to be more modest configurations, aimed at budget-oriented retail shoppers.

Each of the new systems features a dual-core AMD CPU' a 3.4GHz Phenom II 510 in the s5730f, and a 3.2GHz Athlon II 260 in the s5710f. Both also feature DVD burner drives, and integrated AMD Radeon 3000 graphics chips. The s5730f comes with 802.11n wireless networking and a 750GB hard drive, the s57310f features only traditional wired networking and a 640GB hard drive.

Neither is exactly on the cutting edge of living room systems, but each could conceivably make a respectable budget workhorse, especially with a reasonable price.

The Pavilion Slimline s6700 series starts at $299.99 and hits retail on January 9th. We expect to find configurable models online as well.