Last month's Labs covered business systems, featuring the best units available from both major vendors and some smaller white-box sellers. We covered the importance of considering warranty length as well as terms and conditions when purchasing a new system. Punch Technology's Punch Biz+ system features a 2.8GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor, half gigabyte of PC3200 DDR-SDRAM, 52-speed CD-RW and a 17in monitor for under $2000 -- impressive pricing for this sort of spec machine. One of the biggest drawcards on this system was the inclusion of not a single year return to base warranty, but a three year, nationwide next business day onsite warranty, a real asset to any small to medium business looking to manage their systems and minimise downtime.
The system is built into an attractive black AOpen H340d housing which features front USB and audio connectivity, perfect for plugging in printers, scanners or any other peripheral your business may need, without the hassle of having to reach around behind the unit and hope to hit the mark. The case, while attractive, is a little harder to access than many of the other chassis we've dealt with in the past, making manageability and hardware swapping out a more time consuming activity. Scoring quite well in PCMark04, this unit churned out 3404 marks so it's no slouch when it comes to taking care of business. 

The included 17in, 16 millisecond response TFT monitor is a great space saver for the crowded office desk, while the low pixel response time would also make it ideal for home gaming if you're a small or home business after some leisure on the weekend. Unfortunately the unit relies on integrated graphics that share the system's memory -- while this isn't unusual, it will limit your usage if you'd like to relocate it within your business, and the case choice means you may have trouble finding half height graphics expansion.

A low cost business machine with plenty of potential, the Punch Biz+ is sure to impress business IT managers on a budget.