Review: Watford Performa 3500+RV

We have to hand it to Watford, its Performa 3500+RV is excellent value for money. We’re genuinely impressed that they have managed to provide such a highly specified PC for £499.

The Performa has an Athlon64 processor, running at 2.2GHz, which provides a very good basic level of performance. Watford has backed up the processor with a good range of additional features that shows little sign of cost-cutting. There’s a full 1GB of memory and a 250GB hard disk that provides plenty of space for storing digital video, photos or music.

Watford has even managed to include a very good graphics card that provides strong performance for 3D graphics and games. The Performa is the only PC in our test to include a 19in TFT monitor, which makes it a good choice for graphics work, editing photos or watching DVDs. It also has a good set of stereo speakers (including a sub-woofer to add a bit of bass boost), so you don’t have to rely on a tiny set of speakers built into the monitor, as is the case with most of these low-cost PCs.

Watford has even managed to throw in a wireless keyboard and mouse, and the bundled software’s not bad either, with Microsoft Works and Roxio’s Easy Media for making your own CDs and DVDs.

It seems churlish to find fault with a PC that provides such strong performance and useful features for just £499. However, the Performa does have a few rough edges. There are no proper instructions provided that would help first-time computer owners get started, just a bunch of cables and a few disks thrown into the box.

We also came across one almost unforgivable flaw. On the front of the machine there’s a panel with a set of USB and audio connectors. There’s also a Firewire connector, but bizarrely it doesn’t work. When we contacted Watford they confirmed that it isn’t actually connected to anything inside the machine. This is very sloppy indeed, not to mention downright misleading.

Yet the fact remains that the Performa still provides impressive performance and value for money. At £499 it sets a standard that its low-cost rivals will find hard to beat.

This article is part of a group test of budget desktop PCs.
Others are:
PC Specialist Trident s500
PC Nextday Zoostorm 1-3301 Versatile PC
Mesh D820 Value+
Evesham Axis STR Plus
Ambros Shuttle SS31T
The table can be read via our pdf download