Evesham’s oddly named Axis STR Plus isn’t the most elegant PC we’ve ever seen. Its silver and black front panel is perhaps best described as cheap and cheerful. However, it also comes in comfortably within our £500 price limit, and provides all the basic features you’ll need from a home PC.

There’s a large illustrated poster in the box that provides simple step-by-step instructions on how to set the machine up, how to plug in the various cables and connect the monitor to the PC. This makes it easy to get started.

Evesham has also included a good set of software. There’s a copy of Microsoft Works, which provides word processing and spreadsheet features, and the Bullguard Internet Security Suite to provide protection from viruses and other threats that you might come across while you’re surfing the internet.

Finally, there’s also a copy of Roxio’s Media Suite, which can be used to create audio CDs and DVDs. A small panel on the front of the PC folds down to reveal a convenient set of connectors. These include two USB ports for devices such as webcams and mp3 players, and a Firewire connector that allows you to plug a digital camcorder into the PC.

The Axis has a 160GB hard disk, which isn’t the largest on offer in this group, but still gives you plenty of room for storing digital video and music clips if you want to experiment with home video projects.

An audio socket on the front panel for headphones or speakers is provided, as well as an additional set of audio connectors on the back of the machine for connecting a proper set of surround sound speakers. However, there are no proper speakers supplied with the Axis. The 17in flat-panel monitor has a set of built-in stereo speakers, but these are pretty small and don’t pump out much sound. Anyone who wants to listen to music on their PC, or maybe watch a few DVDs will probably need to invest in a decent set of speakers.

The main processor inside the Axis runs at a healthy 2.2GHz, and is powerful enough to cope with a wide variety of tasks, even including demanding video-editing work. However, its 3D graphics performance is a bit disappointing, so we couldn’t really recommend it to anyone who fancies playing 3D games from time to time.

Nonetheless, the Axis provides a good, basic PC at a very attractive price. It doesn’t have any particularly outstanding features, but it’s perfectly adequate for home users who want to browse the internet, do a bit of office work, or experiment with digital video or photography.

This article is part of a group test of budget desktop PCs.
Others are:
Watford Performa 3500+RV
PC Specialist Trident s500
PC Nextday Zoostorm 1-3301 Versatile PC
Mesh D820 Value+
Ambros Shuttle SS31T
The table can be read via our pdf download