Lab

Budget desktops

'Budget' ain't what it used to be. A few years ago, trying to spend less than £600 on a PC meant cutting corners everywhere: integrated graphics, a lowly processor and hardly any storage. Today, you'd be a mug to accept that kind of compromise. Shop around for a £599 Windows Vista system and you could be forgiven for wondering if the specs have got mixed up with more expensive machines. As the seven PCs on test here demonstrate, you can get everything most users will need without spending more than you want. And just at the moment, that's a rare bit of good news on the money front.

The typical list of components makes mouth-watering reading. Dual core processors are powerful enough to motor through even the most demanding of tasks, and there's tuns of hard disk space - up to 750GB - to store all the music, movies, games and documents you're going to be working with. Proper graphics cards, surround sound speakers and 22 inch widescreen monitors complete a full=bodied package.

Unique ingredients

They may come with the same operating system and run the same software, but PCs aren't all the same. Some specialise in providing fantastic gaming experiences thanks to brand new graphics cards, while others will be at home ploughing through the latest Hollywood blockbusters on a big screen with sound to match. What they all have in common is that they're also excellent everyday workhorses, ready to handle a full range of office applications, today's increasingly demanding Internet, and photo and video editing. There's almost nothing you're likely to have in mind that they won't cope with.

Spending less on a PC inevitably means it may not be as future-proof as a top-of-the-range system. But the amount of power in these machines means they'll be faithful companions for a good while to come. Their dual core processors are no-compromise components that won't wilt at the sight of next year's software, and as long as you don't feel an irrepressible urge to run every new 3D game at its maximum chip-crunching detail levels, the graphics cards will serve you well too.

If you're not averse to a bit of tinkering, there's also room to add and upgrade everything as and when necessary. That's one of the benefits of choosing a desktop PC rather than a laptop: it's easy to replace the graphics card (or fit two in tandem for top gaming performance), or add extra hard disks abound, and almost all of these PCs have room for extra memory, though they come with sensible amounts already.

When we called our seven chosen manufacturers this month, all we asked for was a brilliant all-round PC for £599, and they've certainly delivered. All you have to do now is read on, pick your favourite machine, and marvel at what you can get for your money while you wait to be served.