An old PC is like putty in your hands. Tim Dean looks at how you can shape it into a new system with a few easy upgrades.

512Mb mobile DDR SDRam processes 1.6GB of data per second.

The 512MB makes little difference but the heatsink is quieter than XFX’s.

Regardless of the fact that it's stuck half way between value and performance, it's still a good card.

Will splashing out on expensive RAM make a real difference to PC performance? And if so, how much should you buy? We supply the benchmarks and lay the details bare

Hugely powerful for such a reasonable price, it’s far more appealing than a GTX or an Ultra

Looking to build your dream machine? We explore the latest components on the market, and give you advice on which ones to hunt down, along with the general price you can expect to pay for each major component.

512MB memory unit will sell for around US$49.99.

The Acer Aspire 1692 WLMi is a story of compromises; a +/-/RAM dual layer burner and gigabit Ethernet are offset by Windows XP Home, only 512MB of RAM and the slowest processor and hard disk of the bunch.

When it comes to accessories, the Aspire has one of the best bundles supplied for this roundup: including an MCE remote and a radio/TV antenna! It also has a decent specification list: 3Ghz Pentium 4; 160GB HDD; and 512MB RAM. The only sticking point here, amongst all this multimedia goodness, is the inclusion of the Mobility X300 video card. It's like building a Ferrari and installing a two-stroke motor. It doesn't make much sense.

Hallmark has opted to take advantage of Intel’s Extreme Graphics 2 integrated shared graphics, taking up to 64MB of video memory from the on-board 512MB of PC2700 DDR to power the display. While not designed for gaming, it did manage to churn out almost 3000 points in 3DMark01SE with some help from its Pentium M 1.6GHz CPU.

The Kingmax comes with a great deal of memory (512MB), and is priced at only $160 which makes it one of the most affordable memory keys on a strict price/capacity basis.

Powered by an Intel Pentium-M 1.6GHz, the Modtech Civic Diamond 1600W Centrino notebook has a decent core specification, including a useful 512MB DDR RAM, 40GB of disk space and an ATI Mobility RADEON 9000 card offering 64MB of non-shared memory.

Hi-Grade's new high-end notebook offers unparalleled performance. Packing a 2.2GHz Pentium 4 and 512MB DDR, it's one tough cookie, and contains a whole herd of ponies under the hood.

Impressive performance for an affordable card, but the 9600 GT treads on its toes.

It had little competition at this price, and it knocks Nvidia 8600 cards out of the race, but Nvidia’s 9600 GT trumps it.

Packed with extras to target some of Vista’s interesting new features, but it isn’t quite the marvel we were hoping for.

Can’t decide between an Eee and a Wind? A Mini note or an Aspire One? Believe it or not, there’s a bunch of old school smaller laptops that may do the job for less money. We took a look at 7 old school ultraportables.

A genuine step forward for the laptop, with unbelievable capabilities for the price, plus an ultra-low weight.

Impressive quality, considering the bargain basement price. We're talking sub $1000 here.