CFL Activa V review

Gallery

Verdict:

A gorgeous monitor and handy features such as a DVD writer, but too slow to stay in the running.

Review Date: 10 Aug 2004

Price when reviewed: £939

Reviewed By: Martin Cooper

Our Rating 3 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

The CFL got off to a bad start.

We discovered the machine's front cooling fan had dropped off in transit and was rattling inside the computer's case. One of the three USB ports on the front of the case didn't work, and the other two were only USB 1.1 as opposed to USB 2.

We looked for redeeming qualities. Sadly, the machine's Maxtor 120GB hard disk was the smallest of any in the group test, though the CFL's 512MB of fast 400MHz RAM went some way to make amends.

The Samsung SH-W08A DVD writer was an equally pleasing addition. This drive can read and write both major formats of writeable disc - DVD-R and DVD+R (as well as their rewriteable cousins, DVD-RW and DVD+RW). The only formats not supported are DVD-RAM, and the very latest dual-format discs. To enable you to copy disc-to-disc, there is a 16-speed Samsung DVD-ROM drive.

The Activa V's ergonomics were pretty sound, too. Despite being a beige and bulky CRT, the machine's 19in Samsung SyncMaster 959NF monitor was a joy to use. The image on its flat screen was pin-sharp, and brightly lit across its entire area. But good as it is, it's still not quite a match for Mesh's Mitsubishi monitor.

The Microsoft keyboard and mouse were both comfortable to use, and CFL has also bundled a set of cracking VideoLogic ZXR-550 surround sound speakers.

It's performance that proves the real Achilles heel for the CFL. The machine is based around an Athlon 2800+ processor, and musters only 1127 in our 2D benchmarks - on a par with the slower PCs in our £499 price category! To make matters worse, the processor drags down the system's Gigabyte nVidia FX5900XT graphics card to score just 13221 in our 3DMark 2001 games test - not awful, but the other two machines offer much better performance.

Overall, performance concerns put the CFL out of the running.

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