Hi-Grade Atlas Meridian XP 1800+

We're keen bargain hunters here and this machine from Hi-Grade's Atlas range caught our eye, thanks to a low price and extensive feature list.

It's not unusual for us to be disappointed by poor build quality or internal components so we were eager to see what kind of machine Atlas had delivered for the price.

As soon as you get the Meridian out of the box, you can't help but notice its rather garish translucent, yellow fascia. It's more attention-hungry than a Pop Idol finalist and certainly not to our taste.

However, the inclusion of a wireless keyboard and mouse is a bonus. The 17in LG flat monitor also impressed with its rock-steady picture and vivid colour reproduction.

So how has Atlas managed to pack so much into such a low-cost bundle? The answer comes courtesy of graphics card specialist nVidia. The company has now started making chips for motherboard manufacturers, which means they can make motherboards with built-in graphics on a par with a proper graphics card - which is something of a first.

The onboard graphics are equivalent to a Geforce 2MX card and, although not as fast as the latest technology, it'll still allow owners to play the latest games.

nVidia hasn't stopped with just the graphics, though. The motherboard in the Meridian also has built-in sound and networking. As a result, only one of its four PCI slots are used (by a modem) and the AGP slot is free for future graphics cards upgrades. This also means that the inside of the case is pretty much empty, which makes upgrading any of the Meridian's components a doddle.

The technology behind the sound chip is the same as that used in Microsoft's Xbox games console and is very impressive. It can decode Dolby Digital audio straight to the bundled Creative DTT 2200 5.1 speakers without the need for an external decoder. There's also a digital output for those who may prefer to use an external hi-fi decoder.

The powerhouse of the machine is an AMD Athlon 1800+ processor. This actually runs at 1.53GHz but AMD reckons its performance is on a par with a 1.8GHz Pentium 4 and our benchmarks bore this out.

There's two 128Mb modules of speedy DDR memory occupying the first two memory slots and leaving one free. Usually we'd criticise a machine for using two memory slots rather than one but, in this case, it actually improves performance.

The 40Gb hard disk isn't overly large by today's standards but is more than enough for everyday use and the CD-RW drive could be used for backing up files if you find you're running out of space at a later date. There's also a DVD-Rom drive for watching movies.

On the software front, Windows XP Home Edition is installed as standard and the inclusion of Microsoft Works 6 means that the Meridian is ready for word processing and other office tasks straight out of the box.

We were extremely impressed with the Meridian XP 1800+. It's definitely a real bargain.

Price: £999

Contact: Atlas Hi-Grade 0800 074 7272
www.higrade.com

Also consider: Evesham Axis 1.4GHz
Scorching performance at a red-hot price. £999 *****