Medion Maximum Performance Multimedia PC review

Now that Windows Media Center comes as part of Windows Vista Home Premium, you could be mistaken for thinking that most Vista PCs are media centres. However, a remote control and a TV tuner are still necessary.

Medion's Maximum Performance Multimedia PC doesn't have a monitor but comes with both a remote control and a TV card. Its mini-tower chassis isn't designed for life beneath your TV. This kind of PC is better off hidden away in a corner, and you'll need to invest in some long cables to connect it to your TV.

The bundled remote control uses an RF signal rather than infrared, so it works at long distances and doesn't require line of sight. We tested it in our labs and it worked from round a corner 15m away from the PC. However, the lack of infrared means this PC can't control an external set-top box.

The Nvidia GeForce 8500GT graphics card is not very quick in 3D games, although modern titles will run smoothly at low detail settings. More importantly, it has an HDMI output that's ideal for connecting to an HD TV. The output supports HDCP so you won't have any copy protection issues in the future. It also carries audio, so you won't have to run two cables to an HDMI-equipped TV.

The PC comes with both a DVD writer and a DVD-ROM. The graphics card and Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 processor are powerful enough to play HD movies from HD DVD and Blu-ray discs. You could always add the appropriate optical drive later when prices fall.

A sliding panel below the optical drives hides a range of useful ports. There's a memory card reader with support for every common format, four- and six-pin FireWire ports, plus phono, composite and S-video inputs for capturing analogue video. The last three are routed to the PCI hybrid TV tuner, which works with Media Center to let you pause and record TV programmes. It's only a single tuner, so you can't record one programme while watching another.

A big 500GB hard disk gives you plenty of space for recording TV. The fast processor and 2GB of RAM will make short work of any tasks you need to undertake.

The Multimedia PC is well-thought out and competitively priced. If you're looking for a cheap Media Center PC for your home entertainment network, this is a great choice. It's only on sale from Tesco and stock could be limited, so don't dawdle if you want one.

Author: Seth Barton