Blu-ray, the so-called next generation disc format, hasn't really taken off yet.

For computer users it offers huge capacities (25-50GB) on a disc, which is great for backup, and for movie fans it offers sparkling high-definition films with great sound.

So far, though, the Playstation 3 is the only Blu-ray player that's sold in volume, while computer Blu-ray readers and writers are still prohibitively expensive. At least, they have been until now.

The Medion Akoya Q6600 (which also goes by the model number of P36888), available in Tesco shops and online, includes a Blu-ray reader and costs only £499. That means it can only be used for movies and reading from backups, not for making them, but it's a start.

It uses an Intel Quad Q6600 processor, with 3GB of memory, both of which are quite impressive. Windows Vista Home Premium, which comes preloaded, can't use more memory than that and while the processor isn't the fastest, it is no slouch. There's also a whopping one terabyte (1,000GB) of storage space, which is enough for almost anybody.

The Nvidia Geforce 9300GS graphics card is also in the middle of the range, but it's not quite as capable as the rest of the computer. While it'll happily allow playback and editing of video, including Blu-ray discs, the card struggled with games performance.

The TV tuner can pick up Freeview or standard over-the-air broadcasts, and comes with a remote control. The keyboard and mouse are fine but unremarkable.

On the front panel are the disc tray for the Blu-ray reader (which doubles as a reader and writer for CDs and DVDs) as well as another panel for adding a second drive in future.

Then there are two USB ports, Firewire, audio and video sockets (including inputs for connecting a camcorder or video recorder) as well as a memory card reader. At the rear are four more USB ports, another Firewire port and the network socket.

The Q6600's case is squat and compact – while it's not exactly small, it should easily fit under most desks with plenty of room to spare.

The Blu-ray reader adds to the cost, it's true, but if you'd like to watch Blu-ray movies, this is a cost-effective way to do it.

Good points Case is relatively compact; powerful processor; lots of memory and storage space

Bad points No Blu-ray writer; graphics performance isn't great