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The small size of the tower case on this Cybercom 2200-ID from Staples Office stores suggests to the untrained eye that this PC might be found wanting in certain areas. After all, there is little room for upgrading and adding new components in a case so small.
However, this PC has a Tardis-like quality and what you get is a powerful perfomer packed with features.
The Cybercom is based around a 2.2GHz Pentium 4 processor. It is equipped with an extremely generous 1GB of DDR memory. There is no room for adding more, which would normally be a criticism but in this case you really couldn't wish for more anyway.
This makes it an excellent choice for music and video editing, as the large memory will improve performance with far less data having to travel to the hard disk and back again.
In our lab tests, we found the Cybercom a good overall performer, with enough processing power to do just about anything. It's pretty obvious that one of the main uses for this system is as a video-editing machine.
The PC boasts two DVD drives, one of which is a DVD+RW drive, the other a DVD-ROM. This means you can record your movies straight onto a DVD for playing on a normal set-top DVD player, which is a good way to distribute your home movies among your friends and family.
Underneath these is the ubiquitous floppy drive and a collection of easily accessible ports. These include composite and S-video connections for plugging a television into the PC.
With two USB ports also at the front and two more at the rear, you won't be short of places to plug your peripherals. The back also features a modem and a network port as well as a FireWire port, essential for transferring films or other digital information at high speeds.
There is also a second FireWire connection on the front panel. The graphics card is a 64Mb GeForce4 MX-460 and although not the fastest, it can handle today's games without problems. With a TV-out port, as well as further S-video and composite video ports, there are no complaints about connectivity.
If a system is going to be suitable for video editing, it also needs to be able to store very large chunks of data and the 80GB hard disk on the Cybercom gives you a fair amount of room. The DVD recorder also offers extra storage.
This system sounds good as well. On-board sound often means a drop in quality when compared with the soundcard equivalent but in this case, the on-board sound is superb.
Built into the motherboard is a full 5.1 digital set-up. You even get an SP-DIF in and out for hooking up to other digital sources. This excellent audio potential is marred slightly by the low-rent Labtec stereo speakers - not what we expect at this price.
There is no monitor included but there is an option to spend more and get one, so check with Staples to see what it can provide. We were surprised to see no editing software included in a PC that is so obviously geared towards video work but Microsoft Works Suite 2002 and DVD playback software is included.
This is a great system, particularly suited to the home video enthusiast.
It has some great features and although not a bargain, the price reflects this impressive range.
DETAILS
Price: £1,199
Contact: Staples 020 8665 5812
www.staples.co.uk
See also:
Time sticks a monitor and a few extras on an old model and comes out with a half-decent PC. 11 Oct 2002
All Desktops
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