Review: Evesham Ebox V PC

Evesham’s Ebox V is one of the first entertainment PCs we’ve seen that displays the official Intel Viiv logo.

So the first thing we wanted to find out was whether it genuinely offered the ‘Instant on/off’ feature that is part of the Viiv specification. We were happy to see that this feature really did work, and we got a perverse delight from repeatedly turning the Ebox on and off and watching it start up instantly.

The design of the Ebox is a little odd. Its brushed-metal faceplace is neat enough, and there are headphone, microphone, USB and Firewire connectors all mounted on the front panel so that you can quickly connect a variety of audio and video devices to the unit.

However, the overall impression is of a rather heavy piece of kit – and the presence of a very large heat-vent on the top of the unit with a big fan whirring away beneath it only adds to the impression that this is almost a piece of industrial machinery.

Aesthetics aside, the Ebox performs well in most areas – with one notable exception.

Like a lot of the Media Center entertainment systems in this group test there is a 2.8GHz Pentium D inside, which provides enough raw horsepower to cope with demanding audio and video files.

Twin TV tuners will allow you to watch one programme while recording another and the Ebox supports both 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound.

The only disappointment was the use of an integrated Intel graphics chipset, which did let the Ebox down when it came to 3D graphics performance.

So while Evesham's Ebox will work very well as part of your audio-video entertainment system, it probably won’t keep the kids happy when it comes to playing games.

This is part of a group test on remote access software. Other articles are:
Media Center PCs introduction and Editor's Choice
Ambros Shuttle SD36G5M
Cube 247 Omega ST2
Dell Dimension 5150C
Elonex Artisan VX
Evesham Ebox V
Fujitsu-Siemens Scaleo E
Hi-Grade DMS II 3200
Mesh Cubex Media TV PCW
Panrix Mantis
Sony Vaio VGX-XL 100
Entertainment systems and Viiv