Elonex Artisan LX review

For years now, PC pundits have been harping on about how the computer is finally ready to emerge from the spare bedroom and take its place in the sitting room.

The idea is that we chuck out our DVD players and TV set-top boxes in favour of a single PC that can perform the functions of all those devices.

The snag, as everyone goes on to point out, is that people don't want an ugly, beige PC in their living room. They want something that looks stylish and fits in with their other consumer electronics devices.

IS IT A PC OR A STEREO?

Elonex has clearly taken this message to heart. Its Artisan Media Center PC looks for all the world like a hi-fi separate, and nothing like a computer. At 43cm wide, it's even the standard width for a hi-fi component. The idea is that you stack the Artisan with your other separates and connect it your to hi-fi amp. Not only will it fit in perfectly with your stereo - it comes in both black and silver - but you'll be able to enjoy films and TV with hi-fi quality audio.

On the other hand, if you don't have a hi-fi stacking system, you will need to buy your own speakers - the Artisan doesn't come with any. Or a screen for that matter. In a way, this makes perfect sense; most people won't want a TFT computer monitor in their living room. That's fine if you have an LCD TV with a DVI connection - you'll get a perfect picture in both normal Windows and the Media Center software itself.

If, on the other hand, you have a TV with no DVI connection - as most people do - you will find it very difficult to get a sharp picture when you're using Windows programs. When you first plug the Artisan into a normal TV, the picture will be very blurred. To correct this you'll need to download Entech's Powerstrip software and use it to fine-tune your display settings. You'll need to put aside an afternoon, though - it's a fiddly job.

DUAL DIGITAL TUNERS

If you do have the sound setup to do the Artisan justice, the system has a lot going for it. Most importantly, it has two digital TV tuners, enabling you to watch one channel while you record another. We had no problem configuring the tuners to detect the signal from our local transmitter, and with more than 30 Freeview channels to choose from, you'll never run short of something to watch. Video quality was very good. The Media Center program worked well and was very responsive to the remote control.

We watched and recorded several hours of TV and had no problems at all. This is good going: Media Center PCs can often be temperamental, losing TV settings between reboots. The name of the programme you're watching even shows up on the Artisan's LED screen.

This machine has optical and coaxial S/P-DIF outputs plus four dedicated mini-jack sockets, so you can either plug it into your hi-fi amp or plug surround sound speakers directly into the PC itself.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE

The Artisan scores 104 points in our custom 2D benchmark. Our reference machine, which uses an Athlon 64 3500+ processor with 512MB of RAM, scores 100 points. Media Center systems aren't usually this strong on performance; this is a really good showing.

The Artisan is more than powerful enough to cope with any everyday software. It's also completely silent. Even when it was running our benchmarks we couldn't hear a thing. If you're a gamer, however, you won't want this as your main gaming system. It ran our Doom 3 gaming benchmark at only 8.5 frames per second - too jerky for smooth play.

BUYING DECISIONS