Tiny Home 3000-64 QX review

On first appearances, the Tiny seems the most generous package in this £799 test. It includes the excellent HP PSC 1205, which is a printer, scanner and copier rolled into one. It's a budget model, but still does a decent job.

The 3000-64 QX is also equipped with an AverMedia DVB-T digital TV tuner card. Assuming your aerial is up to the job, this card will let you watch all the Freeview digital channels on your PC.

Further points are scored by the inclusion of an NEC ND-2500A DVD writer plus a DVD-ROM drive. Its core components are none too shabby - the machine is based around an Athlon 64 3000+ with 512MB 333MHz DDR RAM. Storage is provided by a whopping 160GB Seagate Barracuda hard disk.

Ergonomics are a sadder story. The Tiny-branded keyboard and mouse both feel plasticky. The 17in e-yama LCD monitor was a greater disaster. The sample we looked at suffered from blurring, patchiness and fuzzy characters. The Altec Lansing 251 surround sound speakers, on the other hand, were a real point-scorer. They're not as good as the CFL's VideoLogic ZXR-550s, but won't disappoint film buffs or gamers.

Those intent on tinkering inside the Tiny will be less pleased. Though there is one free PCI slot for extra expansion cards, fitting a card will be difficult - it's partly obscured by the fan on the graphics card. There are no spare 3.5in drive bays; there's space for only one more CD or DVD drive.

The Tiny scored 1485 in our 2D benchmark tests - solid, though not earth-shattering. It's still a little way off the Mesh. 3D games performance isn't quite so good. The machine's Radeon 9800SE graphics, though decent, aren't quick enough to keep up with the Tiny's Athlon 64 processor. This shows in the machine's 3DMark 2001 score of 13831.

Despite solid performance and the inclusion of a printer and digital TV tuner card, the Tiny's poor ergonomics really drag it down.

Author: Martin Cooper