Emachines EZ1600

Apple’s iMac is a neat all-in-one desktop computer, all the parts of which, except for the keyboard and mouse, are built into a slim white case behind the screen.

The Emachines EZ1600 follows the same basic design, but it’s hundreds of pounds cheaper.

The reasons for the lower cost are simple. Inside, the EZ1600 contains the parts you’d expect to find in a low cost mini-notebook computer: an Intel Atom N270 processor, 2GB of memory and an 80GB hard disk. This means that, unlike the iMac, it’s not capable of taking on advanced tasks such as video editing. Instead, it’s perfectly suited to creating documents or surfing the web.

Unlike most mini-notebooks, however, the EZ1600 has a built-in DVD writer. This pops out of the right side of its body, so installing software from disc is simple.

The left side holds a card reader, two USB sockets, headphone and microphone sockets and, conveniently, buttons for adjusting the brightness of the screen.

There are three more USB ports along the bottom, along with a wired network connection – the computer can also connect to a wireless network if you have one available at home.

The screen itself measures 18.5in diagonally, and was pleasantly bright and comfortable to read.

The computer’s design means its height cannot be adjusted, however. Unlike some other similar computers it’s not a touch-sensitive screen – we didn’t miss this in the least, but if you prefer to poke at the screen than use the mouse we’d suggest the Advent AIO-156.

Speaking of mice, the one included with the EZ1600 was disappointing. It has been a while since we saw a mouse that uses a ball rather than the newer optical or laser technology, and the example provided by Emachines felt cheap by comparison to the rest of the computer. The wired keyboard supplied was fine, however.

The computer uses an external, laptop-like power supply, and so doesn’t require so much cooling, making it extremely quiet in use.

All in all, we were impressed: if you want a smart desktop computer for everyday internet use, this will do nicely.