Advent T1 review

GOOD LOOKING

The T1 is a PC that wants to earn pride of place in your living room. From the front you might even mistake it for a funky-looking TFT monitor as its hard disk, processor, in-built speakers and all the PC's gubbins are cleverly stashed away behind the monitor and disguised as a stand. The monitor itself is a 17in widescreen TFT, big enough for use as a TV in most lounges.

IMPRESSIVE INNARDS

Even more impressive is the good choice of components that Advent has put into the T1. A speedy Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz chip is partnered with 512MB of 400MHz DDR RAM and a generous 250GB hard disk.

A little silvery USB TV tuner connects to one of the spare USB ports and provides inputs for both terrestrial and cable TV aerials, an audio in and an S-Video input. You'll also find a DVD writer, built-in memory card reader, webcam and 802.11g wireless networking - essential for connecting with the other PCs in your household while keeping your lounge pleasingly cable-free.

THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT

But why would you want a PC in your living room? Well, the Advent T1 has a remote control that allows you to turn the T1 on from the comfort of your sofa. Once Windows has loaded up, press the blue button on the remote and Cyberlink's PowerCinema software takes over the screen. This nifty bit of software lets you browse your hard disk for images, music and video files as well as allowing you to play DVDs and watch and record TV. Navigating PowerCinema with the remote control is a breeze, even from a few metres away, thanks to simple presentation and large clear text. Accessing the Internet is only a button's press away too, with the wireless mouse and keyboard combo allowing you to surf from your armchair. However, after PowerCinema launches Internet Explorer, you may find the text is rather small. It is therefore not advisable to sit more than a couple of metres away.

PERFORMANCE AND ERGONOMICS

In addition to these talents the T1 performed well in our 2D benchmarks, notching up a good - if unremarkable - score of 1209. This is more than enough for basic office tasks, and bodes well for taking on more serious endeavours such as video editing. The real disappointment was the 3D performance. Our Doom 3 test saw the Advent struggling at a measly 6.7 frames per second (fps). The picture was certainly not the best we've seen as the onboard graphics card doesn't provide the same special effects of the recent DirectX 9 graphics cards.

The built-in speakers are okay for watching TV, but music sounded drab and the bass light and lifeless. Thankfully the T1 has three minijack outputs so you can hook up 5.1 surround sound speakers. The keyboard has lots of handy shortcut buttons for common tasks, such as accessing My Computer or turning off the PC. But the funny-shaped space bar made typing awkward. The mouse wasn't great either as, despite its good looks, it felt plasticky and the buttons were slippery. Particularly worrying was the plastic shell of the USB TV tuner which became very hot in use.

BUYING DECISIONS

The Advent T1 is a solid attempt at making a PC that not only looks good, but performs well and is at home in the fashionable office or lounge. It's just a shame that it has a slightly naff keyboard and mouse combination, and 3D gaming performance isn't up to scratch. You'd hope that a PC whose raison d'tre is entertainment would be able to run the latest 3D games with a reasonable level of panache.

SASHA MULLER