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There was a time when a £699 PC would have been very much at the budget end of the spectrum.
In recent years, however, PC prices have fallen to such an extent that £699 will now buy you a pretty decent mid-range PC, complete with a flat-screen monitor, DVD burner and quite a few other bells and whistles.
Admittedly, you probably won’t get the latest state-of-the-art processors or graphics cards – there’s only one dual-core processor among the seven PCs submitted for this group test and the graphics cards are at best mid-range.
Yet these PCs still provide more than enough power to satisfy the needs of most home users.
They’re all perfectly capable of running business software, as well as performing more demanding graphics, video and audio work.
Most of them can even handle games pretty well, with several of these PCs easily producing playable frame rates in demanding 3D games such as Far Cry.
Even so, configuring a PC to what is still a relatively tight price point does mean that there are occasional difficult choices to be made.
Spend a lot of money on one component – such as the main processor or a compact ‘cube’ chassis – and you’ll have to compromise somewhere else.
Different manufacturers choose to compromise in different ways, and that means there are some significant differences between these £699 systems submitted for review.
You'll find the full reviews as pdfs above, along with how each performed in the labs and a complete table of features.
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Large widescreen TFT monitors used to be a luxury for those with deep pockets, but that’s all changed. We review six displays costing less than £600 31 Jan 2006
There's a lot to consider when buying a desktop PC, but don't despair - PCW is here to guide you through the key decisions 15 Feb 2006All Desktops
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