Labs

The HP is the only PC here in a non-standard case. It's incredibly small, and it was the quietest on test by a long chalk, so if you're looking for something for the living room, or any room you don't want dominated by a computer, it could be a fine choice.

Small PCs always come with compromises, but the dc7800 doesn't sacrifice performance. Its 2.66GHz processor coped fine with our benchmarks, finishing in the middle of the pack, despite a rather mean 1GB of RAM, which would be more of a worry if you needed to run several applications at once. With no proper graphics card, it can't play modern 3D games.

External expandability is good, with seven USB ports. Internally, a glance at the

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case will tell you there's going to be no chance of adding much, and the 160GB hard disk is the kind you'd find in a laptop, which means it's not only small in capacity but expensive and fiddly to replace. But extras like a TV tuner or second hard disk can be added externally as long as maximum speed isn't critical.

Unfortunately, the RAM, which you're quite likely to want to upgrade, is also laptop-style, so increasing it will be relatively pricey. Finally, this machine comes with Vista Business installed rather than Home Premium, which is fine if you're buying it for work, but means you lose out on features like Media Center that make a personal or family PC more fun.

The wired keyboard and mouse aren't a barrel of laughs, either. The 19 inch monitor isn't widescreen and has a modest resolution of 1280x1024, but does show a good image and has a unique backplate that allows you to mount the PC on it, turning the system into a sort of humpbacked iMac and leaving your desk largely free.

There's lots to like about the HP's clever design, and the hardware is more than good enough for general use. Despite its size, the dc7800 is a versatile PC, as long as you don't play games. Its main competition probably comes more from laptops than the other machines on test.