Armari XPC2500

A small, stylish and well-performing system.

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Price: £1761.13

Manufacturer: Armari

Specifications:

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Verdict

Pros:

Tiny footprint
Manoeuvrable display unit
Good performance

Cons:
Onboard sound
Limited upgrade potential
No internal modem

Overall:
Good performance and appealing design slightly let down by onboard sound and lack of modem

Emilie Martin, Personal Computer World 29 Nov 2002

The Armari XPC2500's dainty dimensions of 19.8 x 29.3 x 19cm (w x d x h) make this PC a small but perfectly formed addition to even the smallest of workstations.

It is also stylish enough to satisfy the design-conscious PC user, with a light blue translucent fascia and matching silver system case and display unit.

The beauty of this PC is not diminished when you take a look inside.

The top panel and two side panels of the casing slide back to reveal an incredibly compact system interior built around a 2.53GHz P4 processor.

The Shuttle SS51 XPC motherboard is integrated with the system chassis and, due to the overall size of the system, has limited upgrade capabilities with a single spare PCI slot and one spare Dimm slot.

With a single fan and little space to accommodate airflow inside the case, the XPC2500 generates a fair amount of heat.

This system was originally designed to ship with a 2.8GHz Pentium 4, but this was excluded from the spec for precisely this reason.

Armari has managed to pack two optical S/PDIF slots, two rear-mounted and two front-mounted USB2 ports, a total of three Firewire ports, an Ethernet port, a VGA and two serial ports onto this tiny case.

There is, however, a notable lack of parallel connectivity and no internal modem.

The Porsche-designed 17in flat panel Samsung Syncmaster 171P monitor stands out when it comes to screen manoeuvrability.

With a maximum resolution of 1,280 x 1,024, the display panel tilts through 35 degrees, and can be raised or lowered by 5cm and swivels through 335 degrees. The stand can also be removed if you prefer a wall-mounted screen.

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