The $1000 PC was once regarded as the Holy Grail of computing, but now almost every manufacturer has one.

The Shuttle XPC is an icon of SFF design, and there are as many iterations as there are chipsets.

Noise levels and heat dissipation are two important factors in the design of small form factor (SFF) PCs. Low noise is particularly important in the growing home theatre PC market, where designs such as the Soltek EQ3801 are increasingly popular due their attractively small size.

The proliferation of cheap digital cameras and DVD burners means that consumers, with the help of programs like Ulead PictureShow, can now create their own professional-looking slideshows on DVD at little cost.

The notebook winner this month was a close call. Two units stood out as being at the top of the multimedia field: the Pioneer D47K and the Acer Aspire 1802WSM. Feature-by-feature they were very closely matched, but we chose the Pioneer for several reasons, one of which was its advanced media capabilities.