Looks can be deceiving. Or big things come in little packages. These, along with countless other aphorisms, can be applied to the Polywell Poly i1000A-3770T ($899 direct), the latest in Polywell's line of small-form-factor desktops. There's plenty of muscle inside its super-compact chassis, particularly its mighty quad-core Intel Core i7-3770T processor. Of course, this firepower comes at a price: At just a shade under $900, the Poly i1000A costs $100 more than our current Editors' Choice for compact desktop PCs, the Apple Mac mini (Thunderbolt) ($799 list, 4.5 stars). Adding insult to injury, it ships with neither a keyboard nor a mouse (but then again, neither does the Mac mini). That said, its benchmark scores ultimately justify its price and challenge the notion that small-form-factor systems must necessarily compromise performance. For all these reasons, this scrappy underdog justly earns the Editors' Choice for small-form-factor desktops.

Measuring 8.2 by 2.9 by 7.9 inches (HWD) with the included stand (and 7.7 by 1.6 by 7.9 inches without it), the Poly i1000A's slender jet-black metallic chassis is so streamlined that most folks passing by in the Labs (justifiably) assumed it was a router. For all intents and purposes, it's almost identical in minimalist appearance to the Polywell Poly i2303 i5-2467M ($899 direct, 2.5 stars). The i1000A can attribute its compact chassis to the lack of an internal optical drive; those who need (or want) one would likely be better served by either the Acer Aspire AX1930 ($499 list, 3 stars) or the Polywell Poly ITX-Z6800 ($999 street, 3 stars).

Like the Poly i2303, the Poly i1000A is light on the frivolities. Aside from a negligible Polywell logo on the system's left side, everything on the chassis serves a practical function. The air vents located on the body's top, bottom, and sides quietly keep the system cool, and the ports have been judiciously arranged in order to accommodate as many as possible on such a tiny surface area. The i1000A's front panel has three USB 2.0 ports and an SD card reader. On the rear are two additional USB 2.0 ports, dual USB 3.0 ports, an eSATA port, an Ethernet port, HDMI and DVI outputs, audio and microphone jacks, and an RF jack for the included the wireless antennae (it isn't a router, after all).

Given its incredibly slim profile, it comes as no surprise that the i1000A yields minimal room to accommodate internal upgrades; that would be akin to jamming the complete Encyclopedia Britannica into a stuffed suitcase. At least Polywell ships the i1000A in a number of customizable configurations, so you can outfit it with your desired components at the outset.

A critical shortcoming that curdled our enthusiasm for the Poly i2303 and Poly ITX-Z6800 was the frustrating dual-drive configuration both systems utilized. Each came equipped with a supplemental 20GB solid-state drive (SSD) that theoretically facilitated quick boot-up speeds. But in practice, the glaring scarcity of available storage space on the SSD nearly precluded each system from fully operating, in effect creating a virtual straitjacket. Thankfully, the i1000A solves this problem by supplementing its 5400rpm 500GB HDD with a more generous 120GB SSD.

Another satisfying aspect of the Poly i1000A is the total absence of bloatware, as is often the case when purchasing a system from a custom outfit like Polywell. As soon as you plug it in (and find a mouse and keyboard), the Poly i1000A hits the ground running. The gratifying feeling of being able to use the system right out of the box instead of first uninstalling a load of unnecessary software is difficult to overstate.