Medion Akoya E4057 D review

The front panel is glossy, unremarkable and inoffensive enough to fit into most rooms. It has two usefully-positioned USB3 ports, along with a handy multi-format memory card reader and the obligatory 3.5mm headphone and mic ports. The case’s back panel has two more USB3 ports, along with four USB2 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, an optical S/PDIF output and 3.5mm outputs for analogue 7.1 surround sound. There are also VGA and HDMI outputs that allow you to connect up to two displays to use with the integrated graphics processor. There are also PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports, which could help to keep a couple of USB ports free for other things.The supplied keyboard has a PS/2 connector, although the mouse is USB. Both are basic but very functional and we found the keyboard particularly comfortable to use.

‘Basic but functional’ is an apt description of this PC in general. It’s installed with Windows 8, so is relatively fast to boot, even though it has a traditional hard disk rather than an SSD or a drive with flash memory cache. We had to manually install the AMD Vision graphics driver so we could correct the integrated HDMI output’s failure to fill the screen of a 1080p display, but this is supplied on an accompanying disc.

The E4057 is a no-frills budget system, but it’s up to almost any task and is a great all-rounder with a fair bit of upgrade potential. It’s not elegant or pretty, but at £349, it’s an ideal family PC and a great Budget Buy. It’s currently available only from ASDA, both online and in selected stores.