There’s a definite trend for the specifications of PCs costing around the $1500 mark: they come with a 17in LCD monitor, an Athlon 64 3200+ processor and 160GB hard disk.

However, previous competitors, like the A-Listed PC Market SDS-G2 Gaming System also sport 1GB of RAM and a 3D graphics card. So we were keen to see what Optima did to redress this imbalance.

The first thing you notice is that this looks like a proper branded PC. Previous systems look very much like the disparate collection of components that they indeed are. However, Optima has branded everything and coordinated the colour scheme, making everything a classy combination of black and silver. The case is a small mini tower but looks cool with its mesh lower portion and recessed upper optical drive bays. The monitor, mouse and keyboard follow suit and all have Optima stamped on them.

The specifications of the monitor aren’t published, though. What we can tell you is that it’s very sharp considering the analogue-only connection and the small speakers sound, not-surprisingly, tinny. Colour reproduction isn’t bad and watching movies is do-able though lag is present with fast-moving elements. Viewing angles are above average, though.

In our benchmarks the 3200+ CPU, 512MB of RAM and hard disk attained a respectable score of 0.86 – fourteen percent slower than our reference system. However, it’s no gaming machine. The integrated 6100 graphics couldn’t exceed four frames per second in our benchmarks. You’ll have to turn off all effects and drop the resolution massively to play anything remotely recent.

Another gripe is the internals. It’s very cramped inside – the hard disk is clamped to the side of the where the drive bays would normally be. There’s no room to add another as the motherboard stretches most of the way to the front and you’d even be pushed to add a graphics card. Optima also requires you to ring them up before you open the case lest you void your warranty. It’s best not to open it.

Connectivity options are worth noting as they are quite good. A memory card reader is at the front (which supports all formats but for xD) and there’s a FireWire port at the front keeping two USB 2 ports and two audio jacks company.

If you or your technophobe relative wants a PC which doesn’t look horrible, is quiet and just works at performing day to day tasks it does the job. However, enthusiasts would be better off going for PC Market’s system, which has more punch, albeit behind uglier trousers.