There are two clear price points at which these systems are supplied - £1,500 and £2,000 plus VAT - and then there's Armari. The Armari system is very well built and contains the kind of hardware you can really get excited about, but it is pricey. You pay a lot for video editing gear, but even so it looks steep.

At the other end of the spectrum, Compaq manages to differentiate its Presario machine by including a network adapter and plenty of USB and 1394 ports - there's even a pull-out holder for your favourite CDs behind the front panel.

Time plays its usual trick and includes everything in there bar something to wash up in. If you want a complete system, though, it integrates well and produces a balanced offering. It'll certainly take you a while to work through the software bundle.

Dell's system is based around its LCD monitor, which is good looking and gives a well-defined picture. The rest of the graphics system and sound system are strong and the processor and memory configuration is very capable. You have to decide whether you want to spend so much for the LCD, though.

That leaves the Mesh and Evesham machines and both are fine offerings. Mesh loses performance with the Radeon card, but you do get the TV output. For the overall balance of power and facilities, however, and the choice of well-matched components, we'd go for the Evesham 1200 GTS Ultra. If not a dream machine, you could certainly lose some sleep over this one.