Group test: Budget deskop PCs

You can now get a decent home PC for £500 or less - check out these six low-cost desktops

The pace of change in the computer industry constantly throws up more and more bargains: a PC that might have been top of the range last year can become a low-cost bargain just one year on.

Here at Computeractive we’ve been looking around for budget desktop PCs in readiness for Christmas and have found half a dozen terrific deals. They’re all very respectable computers that come in at £500 or less, but still include up-to-the-minute features such as TFT monitors, built-in network connectors (for your broadband internet connection), or Firewire connectors for linking up a digital camcorder.

Of course, you’re not going to get a cutting-edge machine for £500 and a few corners have been sliced off here and there to get to the price. Some of these low-cost machines aren’t very good at handling 3D graphics, which means that they’re not much use for playing the latest 3D games. Most of them only have tiny little speakers built into their monitors, so they don’t pump out much sound when you’re playing music or watching DVDs.

Even so, these PCs can still handle most tasks that home users are likely to be interested in, from word processing to surfing the net or editing your home videos – and, yes, the odd bout of gaming action as well.

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
Mesh D820 Value+
Evesham Axis STR Plus
Ambros Shuttle SS31T
The table can be read via our pdf download
Best on test is on the next page

Best on test
It’s not that long ago that a 17in flat-panel monitor cost £300-£400 alone. Hats off to all these companies for providing complete PC systems that include a flat-panel monitor for just £500.

Any of these low-cost PCs is worthy of a place in your home office or living room, and they’ll all be more than powerful enough to cope with tasks such as word processing, spreadsheets, sending emails and surfing the internet.

However, there are other areas where they differ, so it’s worth taking the time to consider which of these low-cost PCs will meet your needs.

The Ambros Shuttle will appeal to quite a few people thanks to its compact design. But it’s one of the less powerful machines, and limited memory and hard disk space mean that it won’t be that suited to more demanding tasks such as video editing.

One useful feature for video work is a Firewire connector. Only the Evesham Axis and the D820 from Mesh have Firewire ports, so these machines will appeal to people who want to experiment with video editing. They’ve also got good-sized hard disks for storing video files.

It’s a shame that the two most powerful PCs in this group lack Firewire connectors, otherwise they’d both be worthy of an unqualified recommendation. The Zoostorm from PC Nextday and Watford’s Performa are both really fast, more than capable of coping with video editing, multimedia work and even the latest 3D games. Watford, in particular, should hang its head for leaving a Firewire connector that doesn’t actually work on the front of the Performa.

However, Watford redeems itself by including a 19in flat-screen monitor, a good set of speakers and a wireless keyboard and mouse.

Video buffs might prefer to opt for a machine that has Firewire, but the Performa’s sheer performance and value for money still mark it out as the Best on Test among these.