Absolutely blitzing the competition, Altech takes out our highly coveted Labs Winner Award, just beating IBM to the top spot. Heavy on both the features and quality, this unit was one of only three units in the roundup to feature a 17in TFT display, with the others, the Pluscorp INTEQ V26 and Apple iMac, falling by the wayside on price, hardware spec and performance.

A very fast computer with decent features at a great price, whether for gaming or an all-round powerhouse

Altech's Maestro Pro is a Home Theatre PC based on Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.

Producing a PC for under a thousand dollars will inevitably lead to compromises – do you go for a better screen or more processing power?

A cool, quiet and capable mini-PC that should agree with your budget.

Our poor receptionist didn’t quite know what to do when Altech’s monolithic machine turned up. She had a point.

The look of Altech's offering split the office. Some liked the glossy black lid and silver and matte black insides, while others thought it too lumpy: the battery sticks out, it has protruding feet which dig into your lap and the sides that aren't flat or symmetrical. But aesthetics aside, it's a solidly built notebook.

It was a very close race this month, but once all the points had been totted up it was the successor to the A-Listed Maestro that deservedly took the laurels.

Some will prefer it to TI’s system, but a few quirks see it finishing in second place.

The only PC in our mini roundup this month to feature a rather boring beige case, it more than makes up for its looks with blistering performance at a very reasonable price. Inclusion of thumb screws will allow you to get at your hardware quickly and without the need for tools. Always handy for those of us that like to fiddle frequently.

Chunky, powerful and intimidating. Everything you want in a PC, but not what you'd want in a media centre.

Gigacube is a brand we haven't seen in the Labs before, but the RADEON 9800 PRO card managed a decent showing.

A budget case that delivers almost everything you’d want at a great price.

Your cheapest MicroATX ticket into Intel's Core 2 world.

Clever corner cutting gives us an affordable, upgradeable performer.

This is one nice looking white plastic and aluminium barebones system, with smooth lines and compact minimalism. Being a SFF PC makes ventilation vital, and the Kloss is built from the new BTX standard, which was designed with thermal effectiveness in mind.

The big feature that sets the 6200TC apart from the 6600's and 6800's is the addition of TurboCache. Currently, graphics cards are typically limited to the memory on the graphics card, but TurboCache opens the door to your PC's system memory.

ABIT's take on the X700 chipset was the least expensive by a good margin of the three we received. In our benchmarks, it topped 3DMark01, and even outperformed the speedier 6600GT's.

Soltek, purveyor of all things shiny and glittery, is one of the first companies to release a motherboard based around Intel’s eagerly anticipated i865 Springdale chipset.

It was tough deciding an overall winner for this Labs. There can be no doubt - if you're looking for brute speed, then the GeForce FX 5900 Ultra and RADEON 9800 PRO are the obvious choices, but we're not prepared to make a winner out of a graphics card that costs close to $1,000. For this reason, we've chosen the card we believe delivers the best balance of performance and price - which turns out to be the GeForce FX 5600.