Packard Bell Imedia 3050

At just £600 including VAT, Packard Bell is aiming its Imedia 3050 at the budget market. Some corners have had to be cut, starting with the look of the PC - the simple grey case is quite dull. The front panel houses the black DVD combo, floppy drives and two USB2 ports. The rear is quite bare with stereo sound outputs and the usual array of ports, but no Firewire.

Inside the PC, the case looks very empty, as Packard Bell has opted for a highly integrated motherboard. The only card in the case is the modem installed in the Communications and Network Riser (CNR) slot, leaving three PCI and one AGP slots free for upgrades.

The AGP slot is likely to demand attention quickly, as the onboard Sis 651 graphics are very poor. Scoring just 1,240 in 3Dmark 2001 (2003 wouldn't run), this PC is incapable of running any decent games.

As a basic workhorse, though, it will cope fine. The Intel Celeron 2.6GHz processor returned a score of 77 in Sysmark 2004. Upgrading the 256MB of DDR memory should help speed things up no end.

It's hard to forgive the 40GB hard disk, which is tiny by today's standards, but it does come preloaded with a good selection of software. The quality of the 15in TFT goes a long way, too.

Overall, as a second PC for work it's not bad, but the small hard disk, poor graphics and low memory seem a cut too far, even for this price.

Contact: Packard Bell
www.packardbell.co.uk

Specifications:

• Windows XP Home
• Intel Celeron 2.6GHz
• 256MB DDR
• 40GB hard disk
• DVD combo drive
• Sis 651 graphics
• 15in Packard Bell TFT
• Microsoft Works Suite 7