Review: Mesh D820 Value +

The first thing we noticed as we started to set up Mesh’s D820 system was that it includes a voucher for an upgrade to Windows Vista Home Basic – the new version of Microsoft Windows that is due for release early next year. Windows upgrades can be fairly pricey, so this is a nice little bonus, even with the £15 postage and administration charge.

Things got more complicated as we unpacked the PC. There’s a big poster included in the box with labelled pictures of three different types of PC sold by Mesh. The D820’s ‘micro tower’ design was included on this poster, but there were a few significant differences between the poster and the PC.

We were also a little baffled by the stand supplied with the D820’s monitor. The 17in flat-screen monitor is slim and provides good picture quality, but the stand consists of three separate plastic parts and we quickly found ourselves flicking through the manual to try and figure out how to put them together. Mesh could pay a little more attention to its presentation.

However, the D820 is still a well-designed PC that provides good value for money. Its neat matte-black design is smarter than some of its rather plastic-looking rivals, and it’s got a handy little row of connectors on the front panel so that you can quickly connect devices such as a portable music player, headphones or camera (though, again, it would be nice if these were more clearly labelled).
There’s another Firewire connector on the front panel as well. The large, 250GB hard disk will come in handy for anyone that has a large collection of digital video clips, music or photographs that they want to store on their PC. You can also use the DVD recorder and bundled software to create your own video DVD disks.

The Pentium D processor used in the D820 isn’t the fastest or most up-to-date processor currently available, but it’s more than adequate for running spreadsheet or word processor software, browsing the web, or more demanding tasks such as video editing or digital photography. Its 3D graphics performance is respectable too, so it should be fast enough for the occasional session with 3D games such as Quake or Doom.

The initial set-up process could be a little simpler, but the D820 is a good all-round PC system – and that discounted upgrade to Windows Vista is well worth having.

This article is part of a group test of budget desktop PCs.
Others are:
Watford Performa 3500+RV
PC Specialist Trident s500
PC Nextday Zoostorm 1-3301 Versatile PC
Evesham Axis STR Plus
Ambros Shuttle SS31T
The table can be read via our pdf download

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