Raw power and gaming prowess plus our a-listed monitor: this is a fantastic system, but the price is a deterrent.

A stunning design backed up by great performance and good value for money.

Great design and comprehensive features make it a truly great Media Center PC. Only the price lets it down.

Eye-catching and very well designed, the new iMac is an excellent all-in-one PC system.

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

Windows Media Center Edition (MCE) 2005 was launched with quite a bit of fanfare late last year, and not least of all because it was the first time in its 18 month life Australians could buy systems based on the OS.

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.

Physically similar to the Scorpion Z-Box system with its black anodised midi tower, this unit also features a pair of both front-mounted audio 3.5mm sockets and USB ports, perfect for quick plug and play of both bus and externally powered devices such as keyboards, printers, joysticks and removable USB pen drives.

Looking sleek and a little smaller than your average midi tower, the t134a sits on top of the Pavilion series. This machine is a powerful home/office PC – not rigged purely for gaming.

The first PC Direct machine we've tested features an eye-catching black anodized case with custom stealth drive face plates on all drives and front USB and audio connectors. Easy access via the tool-less snap panels takes this case the extra mile.

The core of SATOs SS51G is an incredibly tiny Shuttle XPC. These bare-bones boxes have been on the market for close to six months now, and have proven effective (if not over-whelming) performers and a very popular choice for building a lounge-room PC for playing music and DVD movies.

A relative newcomer to the PC Authority Labs, Emagen has still managed to make a big impact

Up to Gateways usual high standard of build quality,

Like most Gateway machines, the case is solid and the internal layout is very clean offering plenty of space to get in and exchange components or install drives.