Evesham E-Scape Li review

What with Intel and AMD trading blows in their bid to build the fastest processor and Microsoft lurching between record profits and law suits, you could be forgiven for thinking the world of PCs dances to a repetitive song.

Every now and again, though, something lands in the Computer Buyer Labs that makes us stand up and take notice like a community of meerkats being approached by a low flying jet.

And this month is just one of those occasions. Why? The new Evesham PC doesn't run Windows and costs only £212! Well, nearly anyway. In truth, the £212 deal doesn't come with a monitor - you just get the system box, keyboard and mouse. You'll have to pay an extra £102 for a 17in display.

The Evesham uses neither an Intel nor an AMD chip, instead favoring a VIA C3 running at 933MHz. This bargain-basement processor is pretty basic, aiming itself squarely at office work rather than 3D gaming. So don't even consider it if you fancy playing the latest and greatest games.

Working alongside the processor is 256Mb of PC133 RAM - not the Double Data Rate RAM which arrives in most of today's AMD and Intel-based systems. Again, this shift from the familiar is designed to save money. DDR RAM, particularly in its very fastest guises, is much speedier and more expensive than the Evesham's 133MHz Single Data Rate RAM. But there would be little point wasting fast RAM on the speed-shy C3 processor.

All this is slotted and clicked into a VIA EPIA Mini ITX motherboard with integrated graphics and built-in sound. This board is very compact, and allows the machine to be truly Lilliputian, standing little more than 30cm high. It's also very quiet too, because the chilled out C3 processor only needs a lightweight fan.

There's a 37Gb hard disk, which should prove easily enough to keep you free from storage problems. In a further effort to save cash, though,the machine has foregone a DVD drive, sporting a 52x LG CD-ROM drive. It's certainly a fast drive, with the sense of performance being further emphasized by the dramatic whine and whoosh it emits as it spins discs up to speed.

So the machine's spec isn't terribly inspiring - but then it doesn't need to be, thanks to Evesham's decision to ditch Windows and run something altogether less demanding. Yes, what really marks this machine out as special is that, instead of running Microsoft's world-dominating operating system, it uses Lindows. This system is based on the Linux operating system (see below), but has been designed to look and act more like Windows, and so be more familiar and easier to use.

When stood next to Windows, Lindows is a bit like budget baked beans next to Heinz's own - a second rate doppelganger. It's closer to Windows Me than XP, but with rougher and chunkier icons. It has a work-in-progress feel. It is, though, far cheaper than Windows and can run the ocean of free Linux software available on the Web.

To help people move from worldly Windows to the less materialistic Linuxland, Lindows has incorporated the familiar Windows Start button and cascading menus. Its makers also claim that Lindows can run a selected number of Microsoft's key programs - Lindows calls them 'bridging applications'. The idea is that if you can still use Excel, you're more likely to try Lindows.

The number of supported programs is very small, though, spanning Microsoft Office 2000 applications including Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Assuming you have them (and you're not contravening your licensing agreement with Microsoft by doing so), it's a simple but slow procedure to install them. Whilst I was loading Word, however, Lindows crashed and needed restarting - not ideal.