Cyberpower Infinity Triton SE

Cyberpower’s Ultra Titania SE computer is billed as a student special.

We’re not entirely convinced that it would be the best choice for a student (rather than a laptop), but it does offer excellent value as far as desktop computers go.

It uses an AMD Athlon X2 250 processor, which has been overclocked by Cyberpower so it runs faster than it’s supposed to. It’s possible to make such modifications yourself at home but they can cause damage – here it’s been done by the manufacturer so it’s fully guaranteed along with the rest of the computer.

The processor now runs at 3.5GHz which is quite fast even by the standards of more expensive computers.

The amount of memory is relatively small at 2GB. We would expect to see three or four on most new computers, and though it’s a fairly cheap upgrade it’s a shame it wasn’t included as standard.

What is included is a 500GB hard disk (enough for most, though again we would expect to see a bit more nowadays) and a DVD writer.

There is no graphics card, so graphics processing is partly handled by the main processor, which slows things down. Accordingly, it’s useless for modern games (older games should be fine) and video editing, but it’s fine for office and internet tasks. An additional graphics card shouldn’t cost much as an upgrade, however.

The case, made by Thermaltake, is an all-metal, all-black affair that looks quite imposing. It’s not enormously tall (around 18in) but will be quite big for many students’ rooms.

That case does give plenty of room for expansion, though, using the internal or external drive bays, or by adding memory or expansion cards into the spare slots inside the case.

There was one minor inconvenience in that the wire powering one of the internal fans runs across the expansion slots so in order to fit an expansion card (an otherwise simple process) we had to take care to make sure the wire wasn’t damaged or pulled out.

Otherwise all the cables are tidied away nicely inside the case, making it easier to maintain and better for efficiency (fewer cables means better airflow, which means it uses less power to cool itself).

There’s a memory card reader on the front panel, along with two of the six USB ports (the others are on the rear panel) and headphone and microphone connections. There are surround sound outputs on the back, as well as connections for the keyboard and mouse.

It can connect to both wired and wireless networks and it comes with the Windows 7 Home Premium operating system loaded. A keyboard and mouse and a 19in monitor are also supplied.

It’s still true that you’ll get more for your money from a desktop than from a laptop, and that’s certainly the case here. This is a very impressive computer for £399, and it’s suitable for anyone who doesn’t need to do much graphically, either playing or editing. For students, for whom space and portability are problems, this may not be the best choice. If those aren’t important, this is a lot of computer for £399.