Review: Panrix Mantis PC

Through no fault of Panrix, we had a little trouble running some of our benchmark tests on the Mantis, due mainly to the Raid 0 configuration of its twin 250GB hard disks.

However, with an Athlon64 4000+ processor inside, it’s safe to assume the system can handle office productivity software with ease.

Besides, the test results we did get prove that the Mantis is no slouch and it will be able to handle any audio or video work you throw at it. It also offers good games performance.

This computer is a little bulkier than we would have liked – even larger than Sony's Vaio VGX-XL 100 – and some people might simply think that it’s too big for their living room. However, Panrix has certainly taken the opportunity to cram it full of useful features.

The twin hard disks provide vast amounts of room for large audio and video files, and the Raid system adds a little security as well. The Radeon X1600XT graphics card provides dual-DVI connectors and S-video output for connecting to a TV set.

This is backed up by twin TV tuners and a Creative X-Fi Xtreme soundcard, which together provide all the audio and video inputs and outputs you’re likely to need.

There’s Firewire as well, for connecting a DV camcorder and even wireless networking – a feature omitted by too many of these Media Center PCs. We would have liked to see a Scart connector as well, but that’s not a major criticism.

The £1,173.83 price tag is certainly justified by the Mantis’ performance and feature set.

However, rivals such as the Sony Vaio VGX-XL 100 provide similar features and only slightly lower performance for around £1,000, so the Mantis doesn’t quite come out on top for value for money.

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