Review: PC Specialist Apollo E840GTS

The cool new PC on the block

With more and more people turning to notebook computers rather than desktops for their main household PCs, desktops now have to be even more impressive to gain a place in the home.

PC Specialist’s Apollo E840GTS tries to be just that. The PC comes with a Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse, both of which are easy to connect.

The keyboard is the standard size and is well made, with keys that bounce back as soon as they are pressed, making it very comfortable to use. We were equally impressed with the included 22in LG widescreen monitor, which was clear and suffered from no problems with reflections, unlike many similar models. As a result, watching a DVD on the PC was a pleasant experience.

Praise for that must also be attributed to the Nvidia Geforce 8600GTS graphics card, an excellent model that scored highly in our separate lab tests, and which will make recent games look great. It's supplied with a Logitech speaker system, which, although a little ugly to look at, must also get a pat on the back here.

Like the speakers, the main PC case is not the nicest we have ever seen, being both big and chunky.

However, despite its size this PC is very quiet – the fan can only be heard when you get up close and personal – something most people won't need to do on a regular basis. Taking off the side panel to have a look inside, it's clear why: it is free of clutter with all the internal wires tied up neatly. This means that the air circulated by the four internal fans can pass around easily, making for quiet cooling.

That's crucial when it comes to a PC that's going to be used in the home and goes some way to compensate for the Apollo's intrusive size. The Apollo comes with Windows Vista Home Premium and also includes Nero 7 and Power DVD 7, both of which are used for burning and using CDs and DVDs.

It also has a built-in Freeview TV tuner card, a big 500GB hard disk and a multi-format DVD writer. We were impressed to see that it also comes with a remote control, which means that you don't have to get out of your chair to control playback or volume. The Apollo also has a built-in memory card reader.

It uses Intel’s Core 2 Duo E8400 processor and has a decent 2GB of memory, both of which mean it is capable of speeding along for almost any task you'd care to throw at it. For the £799 price tag the Apollo does its job and, while it is quiet, it is still a capable all-round home PC.