Product Reviews

Many companies have tried to come up with a PC that people actively want in their living rooms. Sony made an impressive effort with its VAIO RA-104 media server, and we're beginning to welcome all-in-one machines such as the Advent T1 on the high street.

But the Lumina possesses a different quality to both of these - sheer desirability. Within moments of it arriving in the PC Pro labs, a small crowd had gathered, complete with reverential hush. This isn't only a high-quality 32in Samsung LCD, but a fully formed 3GHz Pentium 4 PC; there's no separate box to hide, no trailing cables and, best of all, a surprising lack of compromise.

You'll find everything you'd expect in a modern high-end system. We don't just mean the FireWire, 7-in-1 media card reader and integrated 802.11b/g WLAN either: the custom-designed motherboard boasts full-size PCI and AGP slots. While Elonex doesn't advise that you go rooting around inside (there are some potentially dangerous voltages awaiting over-curiosity), it's perfectly feasible to upgrade most of the components, and Elonex will do so for a nominal fee.

In the PCI slot, there's a dual-analog TV tuner card (digital will be available shortly), enabling you to watch or record two different programmes. There's also a third (analog) tuner as part of the panel itself.

The ATi Radeon 9600 installed in the AGP slot isn't cutting edge, but still managed 35fps in our Unreal Tournament 2004 benchmark, falling to 14fps in our Halo test. It isn't quite enough to cope with Doom 3 (17.5fps at 1,024 x 768) though, so expect it to struggle with next year's titles. But the only restriction to an upgrade is the level of fan noise you're prepared to put up with and, in the longer term, the lack of PCI Express.

The only other area that might start creaking any time soon is the hard disk. 200GB may sound generous, but with Windows

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Media Center Edition (MCE) 2005 installed, just wait until you start recording TV. And it's MCE 2005 that's both the Lumina's primary raison d'etre and its crowning glory. Combine the incredibly slick and powerful interface with a system this well implemented, and it's sufficient reason for people to invite it into their living rooms.

The LCD is more than up to the job too. Contrast is excellent, the colour balance pleasing and, considering the size, it isn't noticeably grainy. The true 16:9 resolution of 1,366 x 768 manages to provide a decent amount of Desktop real-estate for computing tasks, as well as offering headroom for HDTV. It's also perfectly proportioned for PC work from sofa distance. The only issue is the less-than-perfect viewing angles - anyone more than 70 degrees off-axis will notice a reduced brightness. It's fine for an LCD, but not quite up there with CRTs. But just try to wall-mount a CRT like you can the Lumina - £79 will buy you the VESA-compatible kit.

The integrated 10W speakers are typical of TV units: passable but not enough to make the most of movie soundtracks or music. However, there are outputs for rear speakers, plus centre/subwoofer built in, as well as optical S/PDIF, which can be used for DTS passthrough.

It's the attention to detail that keeps the interest after the initial wow-factor, and the Lumina benefits from plenty. The card reader and multiformat slot-loading optical drive are both conveniently placed on the right-hand side, with the former offering FireWire, a USB 2 port, plus headphone and mic sockets. We also appreciate the fact that the LCD and PC both have separate power buttons - particularly useful for turning off the screen when listening to the radio or keeping an Internet connection switched on. The wireless keyboard is also designed for sofa-based use, with hand grips and a knee-friendly underside.

But the best thing of all is the price. At under £2,000, it's astonishing value, and less than the cost of a 32in plasma screen alone. Suffice to say this is a stunning product. It looks great, is a dream to use and suffers practically no compromises. Even if you never use the PC for anything more than PVR (Personal Video Recording), it wouldn't be a waste. We'd stop just short of saying that you could use the Lumina as your only PC, but many would still find that feasible. Expect it to appear on a lot of Christmas lists: just beware that it's likely to be in short supply until January.