Believe it or not, manufacturers would prefer not to have to sell some computers. Competition is so fierce and margins so tight that building PCs that sell for less than £1,000 is a complex business.

If the price of one component rises, a tightly priced PC can suddenly become unprofitable. But such is the demand for low-cost computer kit that many dealers find the budget sector irresistible, and it's here that Mesh has pitched the Matrix XP1800+SB, an economy computer masquerading as something much costlier.

At the beginning of the year, a PC powered by an AMD Athlon XP 1800+ processor, and supported by 256Mb of memory, would almost certainly have been considered a mid-range machine, and carried a price tag to match.

But such is the rapid advance of the industry that a fleet-of-foot outfit like Mesh can incorporate these components into its line-up of budget computers. At £849, the Matrix XP 1800+SB is great value.

What else does £849 buy you? Well, in this instance you'll get the latest graphics hardware in the form of a GeForce4 MX 440 chip.

This is a respectable operator, clocking up 5,784 points in our exacting 3DMark visuals test, but don't be fooled by the name: most GeForce3-powered graphics cards will outperform the GeForce4 MX 440 chipset.

Even so, the Matrix XP 1800+SB is well equipped to cope with all but the most demanding modes of the latest games and, at this price, it would be impertinent to complain.

Faced with office applications, the SysMark of 172 singles out the machine as a star on the budget stage.

The same sentiment is attached to the machine's 40Gb hard disk drive. By some measures this would be considered small but the simple truth is that few people would genuinely benefit from anything larger; after all, a lifetime's worth of office documents and files would occupy but a fraction of this space.

It's common now for new PCs to come with both DVD and CD-writer drives, and so it is here. Mesh has kitted out this machine with a 16x DVDRom drive and a capable CD-RW (rewriter).

If the CD-RW drive's 40x12x48x speed ratings mean nothing to you, just appreciate that it can 'burn' a CD-R disc in just a couple of minutes; and it's no slouch when it comes to rewriting to CD-RW media.

Moving on down the list of key specifications we begin to see where some of the savings have been made. The Matrix XP 1800+SB comes with a Creative five-piece speaker system - the FPS1600 comprising one subwoofer and four satellites - which is good for basic surround-sound output.

However, the speakers connect to onboard sound hardware, and this is lacking in delivery. A convincing audio envelope is created around the listener but the rear speakers seemed prone to the odd hiss and splutter.

Switching off the audio and transplanting the machine to our new NoiseMark test bay, the Matrix XP 1800+SB did OK. Both when idle and active, the computer's components stayed well within the limits specified in the industry's TCO 99 work environment quality standard. It is, though, a tad louder in operation than we would like.

Specifications:

Price: £849 (inc VAT)

Contact: Mesh 020 8208 4744
www.meshcomputers.com