HP Media Center m7041.uk Photosmart PC

Media Center Edition PCs have had a difficult time since their inception. Along with some technical issues, there aren't many people that want a computer clogging up their living room.

However, if you're tight for space and need a computer to fulfil all your entertainment and office requirements, they represent a very good solution.

The m7041.uk is reasonably powerful, housing a 3400+ AMD Athlon 64 processor and 512Mb of memory. Although it will run most software programs quite easily, we would have liked more memory for the megabyte-greedy Media-Center specific applications.

There's a 200Gb hard disk that will store a lot of media files, although 5Gb is permanently reserved for system recovery, which isn't a bad thing.

It doesn't come with a monitor but can connect to a television using the graphics card's TV-out port. There's also a VGA socket for hooking up to a normal monitor, but no DVI for a higher-quality digital picture. This is a shame as many of us own DVI-compatible LCD screens, which do a great job of displaying visually rich Media Center content.

The m7041.uk can play games at a reasonable quality setting but don't expect the 128Mb ATi Radeon X300SE to handle the latest 3D games with all the trimmings switched on.

Because this computer runs the Media Center operating software, a TV card is included. It's only analogue, which means no Freeview channels, but the Media Center software will allow terrestrial TV programmes to be scheduled and recorded using the built-in electronic programme guide. It supports 5.1 sound but only comes with a 2.1 speaker system.

Another nice feature is the recordable DVD drive with Lightscribe. Although it will only record to 'plus' format DVDs, it can create images on Lightscribe-compatible discs.

The PC's exterior contains lots of ports and sockets for attaching peripherals. These can be found behind a flip-open door on the front and in the usual place on the back. There's also a slot on the front for sliding in an external hard disk (when used with HP's caddy) and a dock on the top for directly attaching a HP digital camera. One PCI slot and a 5.25in drive bay are free inside the case for upgrades.

A mammoth collection of office, education and productivity software is thrown in and it comes with a one year pick-up and return warranty for parts and labour.

It's not quiet when Windows is loaded, but at just under £800 this is a well-specified Media Center PC that's perfect for students, providing they've got a display to connect it to.