Multimedia playback--both video and games--is excellent on the AE2420. This all-in-one posted a very strong score of 118 in our WorldBench 6 tests, higher than most of its competitors but still short of Apple's (123) and (128) iMacs.

Thanks to its 2.8GHz Core i7 processor and discrete ATI Radeon HD5730 graphics card, the AE2420 managed 56 frames per second on our Unreal Tournament 3 benchmark (high settings, at a resolution of 1920 by 1200 pixels). By comparison, the managed only 39 fps at a lower resolution (1680 by 1050 pixels). Even so, the AE2420 still couldn't touch the i5 and i7 iMacs, which delivered 72 fps at the same resolution.

High-def (1080p) video playback looks fantastic on the glossy 23.6-inch LED screen, which offers rich, crisp colors and strong contrast. Audio quality is also very good: The built-in speakers benefit from THX TruStudio Pro technology, which helps them produce a deep surround sound.

Of course, what we're really interested in is the AE2420's 3D playback--which, unfortunately, doesn't work quite as seamlessly as the rest of the machine's multimedia features do.

The AE2420 comes with an accessory bundle that contains a remote control and one pair of MSI 3D Infinity shutter glasses for viewing 3D content. MSI also tosses in all of the necessary software, including Roxio CinePlayer for playing 3D Blu-ray discs and converting regular 2D content into 3D.