Labs

Some computers feel like rally cars: all the luxuries have been stripped out to maximise power. With the Apollo, however, PC Specialist seem to have taken a step back from the performance race to build a well-rounded and comfortable saloon.

There's something here for every user to like. The processor is the same fast model found inside the Eclipse, the Core 2 Duo E6750, which - with its two cores clocked at 2.66GHz - offers bucketfuls of general (2D) performance. Accompanied by 2GB of memory, this chip has plenty of leg room to perform at its best, especially useful if you plan on editing high resolution photos or like to have lots of applications open at the same time.

A few months

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ago, that would have been about your lot for a modest £650. These days, with the price of chips so low, there's still enough cash left for a decent graphics card. Step forward the nVidia GeForce 8600 GTS. Despite an impressive-sounding 512MB of dedicated memory, this is a budget card that doesn't have the power to keep pace with the superior models chosen by Cyberpower, Eclipse and Zoostorm. Nevertheless, it's much better than integrated motherboard graphics, and should be able to play most modern games, though perhaps not at maximum resolution and full detail settings.

The money saved by opting for a modest graphics card has been well spent ensuring the quality of the peripherals. The main components are housed inside a reserved and attractive case, and the familiar Hannspree New York 19 inch monitor makes another appearance, delivering rich colours. At 300GB, the hard disk is more than adequate, and there's a handy 6-in-1 memory card reader covering all the main formats. Notably, the Apollo's power supply is a hefty 600W unit, so if you want to add or upgrade components later you're unlikely to need to replace it to cope.

Among very strong competition, the V860GTS just misses out on an award. But with strong performance at a good price, it's a fine system.