PC Nextday Zoostorm One review

PC Nextday's Zoostorm One is an all-in-one PC that's not much bigger than a 19in monitor. It's similar in shape to Apple's 24-inch 2.8GHz iMac and Dell's XPS One, but is noticeably cheaper than both.

It's very quiet, even when running our demanding benchmarks. The black-and-silver plastic design doesn't look as classy as that of the XPS One, and it's not as easy to tilt and swivel single-handedly as the iMac. However, it's much easier to upgrade thanks to an easily removable plastic panel, which provides unhindered access to the memory slots and hard disk bays.

Although the Zoostorm One is a desktop PC, it uses laptop components to achieve its compact dimensions. It's the first computer we've seen to use Intel's new Centrino 2 chipset, codenamed Montevina. It has the latest mobile Core 2 Duo processor, the P8600, and Intel's new X4500HD integrated graphics chip. The Zoostorm One performed well in our Windows benchmarks, beating Dell's more expensive XPS One. The X4500HD integrated graphics aren't much better for demanding 3D games than previous Intel graphics chips but - usefully - it's powerful enough to play Blu-ray movies if you connect an external HD drive such as the LG BE06LU10 (reviewed on page 52).

Equally as important as performance is display quality, particularly in an all-in-one PC. The 19in widescreen display has a resolution of 1,440x900 pixels and an anti-glare finish, minimising distracting glare caused by light reflected from overhead sources. Unfortunately, it's an eyesore. Although colours looked bright, images had a grainy sheen, the backlight was uneven and white areas had a yellowish tint. An external display can be connected using the HDMI and VGA interfaces.

Even though the Zoostorm One uses laptop components, PC Nextday have managed to squeeze in a spacious 640GB of storage thanks to a pair of 320GB 2in hard disks. The computer doesn't have any PCI slots but it does have an ExpressCard/54 slot for adding extras such as a TV tuner. You won't need to add Draft-N WiFi or Bluetooth adaptors, though, as these are already built in.

Music fans won't like the weedy and distant-sounding speakers. Also, as with the other all-in-one PCs we've seen, the Zoostorm One doesn't have analogue outputs for surround sound. You can connect a surround amplifier to the S/PDIF port, though. This PC has a pair of serial ports. It has USB2, eSATA and FireWire ports, too. The keyboard and mouse aren't very well designed. The black metal keyboard looks smart, but the keys feel too stiff, which can make typing tiresome. The pocket-sized wireless mouse was too small for our hands, and the scroll wheel didn't feel very responsive.

We liked the Zoostorm One's quiet, compact design, plentiful storage and low price. Sadly, this is offset by the poor quality of its display. Although you can attach a second, better-quality monitor, this defeats the point of an all-in-one computer. If you need a space-saving computer, but your budget can't stretch to the 24-inch iMac, look out for next month's laptop price test.