Product Reviews

While it's interesting to look at high-end computers that cost an absolute fortune, most people are looking for something much more affordable for day-to-day use. The relatively unknown Computer Orbit Commerce Centre - or COCC as they prefer to be know - aims to supply exactly that, with this full PC bundle for just £400.

Bearing in mind the price of Windows XP Home alone, we didn't expect much from a PC at this price, but incredibly the orBIT Xms comes with a 19in TFT monitor. With a resolution of 1280 x 1024 it's more than capable of fitting several windows on screen. The PC only has a D-Sub output rather than the preferred DVI, but after a bit of adjustment we got a very good black level and nice contrast out of it.

Bargain hunt

You'll have to excuse the fact that the orBIT looks a bit cheap - it is, and so are the majority of its components. It's based around a budget single-core AMD Sempron 3000+ processor and while you get 1GB of memory, it's of the older DDR variety. As a result, the orBIT's benchmark performance isn't too hot, but this is a PC that's more than up to running office software, browsing the web and photo editing.

The hard disk is an important part of any computer and COCC provides an impressive 200GB Hitachi drive. The only compromise is that it utilises the older IDE connection rather than the faster SATA, but this makes little difference in use. There's no floppy drive (no big deal, in our opinion), but there is a nippy Samsung DVD writer.

Sadly, budgetary factors did have

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a noticeable effect on one of the most important parts of any PC - the keyboard. It took us all of ten seconds to develop a violent loathing of the flimsy model supplied with the orbit and the optical wheel mouse isn't much better either. Prolonged typing was a particularly unpleasant experience, so you may need to add another £20 to the price to buy yourself a better keyboard.

Future shock

That low price tag may look appealing, but we have some reservations concerning the COCC's lifespan as a fully-functioning computer. It all looks reasonable initially - there's room for another hard disk and three additional optical drives, plus you can add three PCI expansion cards, though it's limitations soon become evident.

The orBIT doesn't have a dedicated graphics card and the graphics card slot is of the older AGP standard, which is slightly limiting now that PCI-Express is pretty much standard. Manufacturers are still making AGP cards, albeit in ever dwindling quantities, but in all honesty you'll only need to buy one if you have any plans to play games, as the onboard graphics wouldn't even run our Call of Duty 2 benchmark test.

More critical is the choice of a Socket 754 motherboard, which limits you greatly in terms of future upgrades - most of today's AMD systems are based on Socket AM2, with older models using Socket 939. So, the fastest processor you'll be able to use on the disappearing 754 platform is an Athlon 64 and a dual-core chip is out of the question.

Big-hitters like Dell and HP are able to offer PCs at a similar price with more modern processors and motherboards at the expense of the big hard disk or the useful, but ultimately excessive, 19in TFT. Then there are the PCs in our £599 group test, which are certainly worth a look if your budget can be stretched a little further. If £400 is your absolute limit though, the COCC orBIT Xms is a functional PC at a low price, but we're just not convinced it offers great value for money. If you never plan on upgrading your computer, then it will certainly suffice, but spending just a little more will get you a far better PC.