Lacking in some areas, but punches above its weight where it counts.

A very-well designed alternative to big beefy computers which make a lot of noise.

A great combination of power, features and downright value.

Dual-core and Windows Vista make it into our A-List’s Value PC category.

Dell’s first foray into using AMD processors is a modest performer, but fair value.

It’s expensive, but Baddog’s Lanbox comes with personality and outstanding support.

Dual-core and FireWire may be missing, but Pacstar’s system offer’s more than we expected from a value PC.

AM2 power at this price is a boon. But 3D performance is average and it’s very noisy.

Whisper quiet, well built and well designed, but a lack of power and expandability will keep enthusiasts away.

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

Back in November we wondered just what you could buy for $1500 and Modtech and PC Express showed us two near identical systems (the latter being A-Listed). This month’s submission from PC Market offered few surprises.

FIC's Condor has answered the call this month, offering gamers an easy to upgrade system, wrapped up in a one of the most innovative cases we've seen.

'Absolute consistency' are the words we'd use to describe the performance of the Aspire T310. A solid all-rounder, this machine is just as at home gaming as it is doing 2D tasks, such as productivity applications, anti-virus scanning or media decoding. And, as shown by its impressive 4,271 PCMark04 score, it's not short on horsepower.

While this system may not be the highest performer overall in the group, it still represents very good value for money, as demonstrated by its above average 112 Value score.

We were hoping we'd have at least one small form factor system submitted for review, and SATO and Friction came together to supply the Draco-M3.

In an unusual combination of styles, DigitalStar has used a silver Cooler Master Centurion full size ATX case, but coupled this with a black optical drive and floppy disk drive. If you're finicky about that sort of thing, there are additional face plates available that attach to the front to keep the colours consistent.

In the sub-$2,000 category, we thought it would be negligent to leave Apple, and its popular eMac, out of the running. While we can't benchmark it head to head with the PCs, at least we can compare the features and see what alternatives there are to mainstream PCs in the world. Interestingly, the eMac (as its prefix implies) was originally intended for the education market, but it proved to be such a success it was cut loose into the broader retail market.

Absolutely blitzing the field, the Labs Winner this month wasn't a tough decision. Streaking ahead with its unbelievable feature set, the Civic 3200.dx went on to crush the other contenders with colossal performance scores.

It's not big, but it's brave - powered by the Intel Pentium 4 2.66GHz processor, the classy looking Beyond Avrora was not afraid to show its muscles, scoring very well in office related tasks.

When we opened the box for the Dream PC from Pioneer, we though there must have been some kind of mistake. Coming in a form factor reminiscent of external hard disk units, the Dream PC packs an entire P4 system in a surprisingly small space, and at 3kg, it weighs less than some notebooks.