Advent T1

While most PCs are still uninspiring black or beige boxes, more manufacturers are attempting to make their hardware attractive. Sporting a smart all-in-one design, the T1 is Advent's latest designer desktop with Media Center-style functions.

Advent appears to have taken a leaf out of Apple's book by building its new system around a 17in widescreen TFT display. The main components are built into the monitor stand, with the screen itself hanging down separately at the front.

It's a space-saving design that won't look out of place in your living room, and it's finished with a line of smart blue LEDs at the bottom and an integrated webcam on top. The system isn't cable free, despite the sticker on the stand, but it is tidy and compact.

That said, there are a few niggling design issues. While it's good to see a dual-format slot-loading four-speed DVD-RW drive, the unit sits on the right-hand side of the stand behind the screen making access to it a little awkward. It's a similar story with the set of USB2 ports and memory card slots hidden in a small compartment on the left.

The screen itself offers a resolution of 1,280 x 768 and is crisp and clear with good colour reproduction. It is also quite reflective; you can see yourself on the desktop and almost use it as a mirror. Whether you like this, however, is a matter of personal preference.

Connections at the rear include three more USB2 sockets, bringing the total to five, Firewire, modem and Ethernet ports, plus standard keyboard and mouse connectors. It's good to have the latter but you don't really need them, as the T1 comes with a wireless keyboard and mouse. Sadly, the receiver for these steals one of those precious USB connectors. It should have been integrated.

Another device that would be better built in is the bundled TV tuner and video capture module. Again, it's a neat extra, and essential for the system's multimedia functions, but it uses another two USB ports and seems like a bit of an afterthought. The unit accepts RF, composite, S-video and audio feeds, and comes with a variety of adapters. It also gets quite warm, even when not in use.

Internally, the system is designed around a 3.2GHz Pentium 4, backed by 512MB of (non-upgradeable) Ram. These are complemented by a whopping 250GB hard disk, providing plenty of room for storing recorded video, TV clips and music along with your office documents. The system also incorporates a 56K modem and 802.11g for wireless networking.

Graphics are handled by an Intel 82865G Extreme Graphics 2 processor, which can be assigned up to 96MB of memory. This is fine for office or multimedia applications, but will limit your choices when it comes to gaming. The chip performs more like a notebook chip and the driver even has a notebook icon in its configuration settings.

Due to a lack of hardware transform and lighting and pixel shaders, some games may fail to run, or run slowly. A 3Dmark03 score of 115 and a decidedly poor 15fps in our Unreal Tournament 2003 tests back this theory up. It's a pity, as the T1 features six-channel sound and a built-in sub-woofer. Still, it's good for watching DVD movies.

In terms of software, the T1 comes with Windows XP Home, utilities for the keyboard and webcam, Microsoft Works and, more interestingly, a copy of Cyberlink Powercinema. Along with a supplied remote control, this provides Media Center-style functions allowing you to easily view pictures, play mp3s, and watch and record videos and TV (with time-shifting).

It's extremely easy to use and works as advertised, though system response was decidedly sluggish when choosing certain options. Advent provides Power2go for CD/DVD burning, but there are no integrated burning options from the easy 'media' interface.

Overall, we had mixed feelings on the T1. It's a feature-packed designer system with an impressive - if reflective - 17in TFT widescreen display, and ideal for general office tasks and playing with multimedia. However, poor graphics performance and some awkward design issues mean the T1 is more style than substance.

Contact: PC World 08705 464 464
www.pcworld.co.uk

Specifications:

• 3.2GHz Pentium 4
• 512MB DDR Ram
• 250GB hard disk
• 17in widescreen TFT display
• Intel Extreme Graphics 2
• 802.11g wireless networking
• Ethernet, modem, 5 USB2, 1 Firewire, 1 mini-Firewire
• 4x DVD-RW
• 6-in-2 memory card reader (Compact Flash, SD, Smartmedia, MMC, Memorystick/Memorystick Pro)
• TV tuner
• Webcam
• Cyberlink Powercinema & Power2go
• Microsoft Works 8