PC Specialist Apollo HD 4850 Pro review

Since this review was published, PC Specialist can no longer supply the processor that was originally included. For other configuration options for this system, visit PC Specialist.

If there's one thing missing from PC Specialist's entry, we can't find it. In fact, its Apollo HD 4850 Pro is so well-equipped it makes several of the rival PC manufacturers here look stingy by comparison.

Many of the other PCs here can boast spare PCI slots for future expansion, but only the Apollo trumps that by filling two with an 802.11bg wireless card and a dual-tuner DVB-T TV tuner. Whether it's hooking up to your home network or recording two TV programmes at once, this PC Specialist is ready to deliver, right out of the box.

The rest of the components aren't half bad either. The Apollo includes one of LG's GGC-H20L drives capable of reading both Blu-ray movies and the now-defunct HD-DVD format, while Creative Inspire T3100 2.1 speakers give enough oomph to do justice to even bombastic movie soundtracks.

Reassuringly, this is all icing on an already very capable build. The Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 leaves the Apollo sitting near the rear of the pack overall, but its 2.5GHz clock speed and accompanying 4GB of memory still earn a reasonable 1.57 in our benchmarks. And the ATI Radeon HD 4850 may not be the fastest card on test, but an average of 31 frames per second in our most demanding Crysis benchmark is far from sluggish.

So, why does the PC Specialist not win this month's group test? Well, first, the monitor is a tad disappointing. Basic specification is fine, with a 22in diagonal and 1,680 x 1,050 resolution, but image quality is lacking. Whites are tainted with a slightly blue hue, and the overblown highlights and poor contrast leave skin tones looking forced and unnatural. For general duties it's fine, but it can't compete with the Chillblast's Samsung SM-223BW.

To its credit, the Apollo HD 4850 Pro is a well-specified, quiet PC with heaps of features, and worthy of consideration if you really need everything it offers. But, with a superior warranty, monitor and overall performance, the Chillblast is a hard act to follow.

Author: Sasha Muller