Lab

£600 PCs

The financial demands of modern life can be very stressful. Mortgages, bills, debts and taxes all nibble away at your hard-earned wages, leaving little to spend on items such as a top-of-the-range computer. However, a tight budget doesn't mean having to settle for an underpowered system using out-of-date technology.

This month we've tested six desktop PCs that cost just £600 including VAT and delivery. Unlike some bargain-basement computers, these are capable systems equipped with the latest future-proof technologies such as PCI Express, SATA and DVI. With a few choice upgrades, these PCs should satisfy most of your needs for the foreseeable future.

All the PCs in our round-up come equipped with sleek, space-saving flat-panel monitors, enough hard disk space for all but the largest files and at least 512MB of RAM. Most also include speakers and two-layer DVD writers.

No matter what you want to do with a PC - organising your holiday snaps, keeping your finances in order or even blasting a few demons in the latest games - we'll help you find the right computer without breaking the bank.

CHOOSING A... £600 PC

When you're buying a PC on a tight budget, it's particularly important that every component is exactly the right one for you. Our guide to buying a PC in this price bracket will show you what to look for

Buying a really cheap PC means you have to prioritise. You'll want strength in the areas that matter most to you, and you'll have to accept some weaknesses elsewhere. You'll also want a PC with enough scope to upgrade it in the future. For manufacturers, building an affordable budget PC is a delicate balancing act. Choosing a premium monitor or graphics card, for example, could mean having to settle for an underpowered processor.

PROCESSING PROWESS

The processor is an important part of any PC and different kinds of processors have different strengths and weaknesses. The PCs in this month's group use either an Intel Pentium 4 or an AMD Athlon 64 processor.

The Pentium 4 is a good choice for video editing, as shown by our benchmarks on page 154. Many people are also reassured by the familiar Intel brand. But the Athlon 64, especially the 3200+, is no slouch, especially in tasks such image editing.

If you are planning to upgrade your processor in the future, it makes sense to choose a PC whose motherboard supports dual-core processors. This is more likely with an Athlon 64 system. Most Socket 939 boards can be upgraded with a dual-core Athlon 64 X2 processor, though a BIOS upgrade is often necessary.

For more information on processors, see our Labs group test in Shopper, January 2006.

RAM RAIDING

All the PCs in this group have at least 512MB of RAM, which is enough for running Windows, performing office tasks and surfing the web. However, applications that work on very large files, such as Photoshop or Premiere Elements, will benefit from additional memory. This is evident on page 154, where the Gladiator Jupiter system blazed through our image-editing test, largely due to it having 1GB of RAM.

Adding more RAM to your system is a fairly simple task. But the PCs submitted by Carrera, PC Nextday and Watford have an annoying limitation: they have only two RAM slots. As these slots are already occupied by two 256MB RAM modules - which is necessary for optimum performance in such dual-channel systems - one or both of these chips will have to be removed if you want to add more RAM.

PANOPTICON

A fast and capable PC is of no use if you have to squint at your monitor to see what is going on. Thankfully bulky and power-hungry CRT monitors are a thing of the past and all the PCs in this group come with slim, flat-panel LCD monitors.

Most of the displays are 17" models, although a couple are of the 19" variety. These 19" flat panels share the same native resolution of 1,280x1,024 as the smaller 17" models so while you won't be able to fit more information on them, the increased readability will benefit those with failing eyesight.

However, not all LCDs are equal, with image and build quality varying significantly. Read our reviews to see which panels in this test make the grade.

GRAPHIC VIOLENCE

At the bargain price of £600, we weren't expecting to see any PCs capable of running the latest and most demanding 3D games. Most of the PCs fulfilled this expectation by coming equipped with underpowered graphics cards that will suffice for older games but struggle with newer titles.

However, we were pleasantly surprised when a few PCs bucked this trend. The Gladiator Jupiter has SLI capability, so you can add a beefier pair of nVidia graphics cards for a healthy 3D performance boost in the future. The PC Nextday and Mesh PCs come with the most powerful graphics cards in this group for more instant gratification.

SPEAK UP

Almost all the systems in this group come with stereo speakers. These should be adequate for the system beeps emitted by Windows and for listening to the occasional MP3 or internet radio station. But for a better-sounding and more immersive experience - especially if you are an audio buff or you watch DVDs or play games on your PC - take a look at our Labs test of speakers on page 195.

PORTS OF CALL

All the PCs in this group have Ethernet, which allows you to transfer files quickly to and from other PCs on a network, share resources such as printers and access the internet at broadband speeds without having to rely on USB modems and their troublesome drivers. Some systems even have Gigabit Ethernet, ensuring the fastest possible file transfer speeds if your router/switch and other computers are similarly equipped.

If you still access the internet via dial-up, you will need to budget for either a USB or PCI modem or consider upgrading to broadband, as dial-up modems are almost totally absent in this group.

Only one of the PCs here has a FireWire port, which is a necessity if you are planning on using an older MiniDV video camera with your PC. PCI FireWire adaptors can be added for a mere £15, or you can opt for one of the increasing number of video cameras that can connect via USB. For more about camcorders, see page 161.

WARRANTIES

The PCs we tested are backed up by at least a one-year return-to-base warranty in the event of something going horribly wrong. A few systems, such as the Carrera Vision Plus and Watford Aries Performa, even have onsite warranties. The table on page 156 shows what kind of warranty is included with each PC, along with details on when you can receive technical support via telephone.