Product Reviews

AJP's GE1 is a Windows-centric competitor to Apple's Mac Mini that puts miniaturisation ahead of raw performance. The burgundy metallic plastic box is a little smaller than the Mac Mini, but feels considerably less solid; a little pressure on the top lip forces the slot-loading DVD writer closed. Notebook components are used throughout, so it's much quieter than a desktop computer, but it requires an external power supply. The power button is placed at the back of the system and is awkward to get at if you tuck the system away.

Although tiny, the GE1 isn't underpowered. It uses an Intel Mobile Pentium M processor running at 1.7GHz with a 533MHz frontside bus and 512MB of memory. This setup lets you undertake processor-heavy computing tasks such as photo and video editing without the system grinding to a halt. Graphics processing is left to Intel's 915GM, which is fine with general Windows

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applications but struggles to run 3D games. The GE1 is Centrino-compliant and has a wireless network adaptor, so you can connect to any network within range.

Windows Media Center Edition is installed to provide a clean interface for watching DVDs, browsing a photo collection or listening to music. The IR remote control receiver uses one of the two USB ports, with the other occupied by a receiver for Microsoft's wireless mouse and keyboard. There are no free USB ports for additional external devices such as a printer or scanner, but you can download photos from your digital camera using the front-mounted 4-in-1 memory card reader. One option would have been to use the integrated Bluetooth module with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse at the expense of Media Center Edition, freeing up the USB slots and reducing the overall price by £30.

The GE1 comes without a screen, so you can use it with your existing TV. You should budget at least £150 for an LCD, as standard TVs struggle to resolve enough detail to display text and intricate graphics accurately. This pushes the price from a reasonable £663 to around £800. For this you could buy any of the PCs in our PC Labs test on page 162, all of which offer more computing power.

If you want a Windows-based computer without the bulk of a standard desktop or a media centre-styled system, this is an interesting option, but we'd happily sacrifice some of its processing power for better build quality and presentation.