Medion Titanium MD8008

To many people, the idea of parting with a wedge of cash for a PC in a supermarket is crazy. With specialist PC shops on every high street and in every out-of-town shopping precinct, it seems unlikely that anybody would pick up a new computer that was nestling between frozen pizzas and cans of beans.

The reason that Aldi has managed to do so well with its occasional PC offers is because it has had the PCs custom-built by German manufacturer Medion and sells them at unbelievable prices. The Titanium MD 8008 looks to be following in that same tradition.

In terms of specification, the Medion looks great. An Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz processor provides the power and our system tests suggest that it performs a touch better than other PCs we've seen with the same processor. A memory of 512MB and a huge 120GB hard disk complete the picture.

Removable storage needs in the vast majority of home PCs are met by the bundling of a CD-RW drive but Medion has excelled itself here with the inclusion of a Pioneer DVD-RW drive.

Aside from the five USB 2 ports and the memory card reader that supports five popular formats, there are also two full-size and one mini FireWire port. These are just the thing for connecting up a digital camcorder and editing home videos. With the DVD-RW drive and the editing software supplied, it's a great prospect for would-be directors.

It is reasonable to expect a cut corner here or there with a PC at this price. The graphics card is an attractive corner to cut as good ones are expensive and, unless you play games, you don't need a posh one.

Medion decided not to do that and has thrown in one of the latest ATi-based graphics cards into the MD8008. The Radeon 9600 TX is a great card which will shrug off even the most demanding games.

There is no monitor supplied but Aldi will have a 15in TFT for less than £170 and a 19in CRT for £120 on the day, meaning buyers can go home with a complete PC system.

Medion is at pains to impress that this PC system is designed to sit in your lounge rather than your spare room. To that end, it has a S-Video outputs to connect the computer to your TV set. It also has a TV tuner built in and comes with software for watching DVD movies, as well as a package for recording television programmes onto the PC's hard disk.

As controlling TV or DVD playback using a mouse and keyboard is very cumbersome, Medion has provided a remote control to command proceedings from the comfort of your armchair. Just to ensure that you have nothing to complain about, it has also gone to the trouble of making the PC whisper-quiet. It is very thoughtfully put together.

The software bundles shipped with many PCs often disappoint us but, once again, Medion has exempted itself from criticism. This PC is bursting with desirable software. Microsoft Works Suite 2003 is excellent, including Word, Works, Encarta and AutoRoute among other packages.

Add Nero Burning Rom, Pinnacle Instant Copy, MusicMatch Jukebox and a selection of Cyberlink applications, and it is apparent that buyers need only buy some security software before getting started. There are two PCI slots and one memory slot available for upgrading.

All told, the Medion Titanium MD 8008 is astounding value for money.

We have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone who is interested in getting the best PC they can for a sensible price. And let's face it, who isn't?

Contact: No UK number
www.aldi-stores.co.uk

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