Review: Mesh Elite Q9300 Pro desktop computer

Power and performance at a fair price

Desktop PCs in homes are fast being replaced by smaller and more portable notebook models.

Many such notebooks now offer proper audio and video qualities and some are even good for hardcore games players. The Mesh Elite Q9300 Pro is a good example of what manufacturers have to do compete with that, packing in as it does plenty of power and lots of features. It comes with a 22in monitor, which has a resolution of 1680x1050 pixels.

That means that, technically, it can play back high resolution video files from the computer's built-in Blu-ray reader. We tried to test this out with a Blu-ray film, but before we were able to watch anything we had to fix a few problems with drivers. The PC comes with Cyberlink’s Power DVD player, which supports Blu-ray, so in theory you should be able to pop the film in and watch straight away.

In fact we had to download an upgrade, which took about ten minutes on a broadband connection. It's a minor problem but it should have been resolved at the factory. It wouldn’t have been an issue at all if the viewing quality was good but we were disappointed.

Although the overall quality was acceptable, in dark scenes the colours were grainy and didn’t reflect the quality that's possible from a Blu-ray disc on a standalone player. Performance-wise, though, the Elite Q9300 Pro lived up to its name. It has an Intel Q9300 quad-core processor that runs at 2.5GHz, and 4GB of memory. Both of those are very impressive, and close to the top of the range.

The Nvidia Geforce 9600GT graphics card, with 512MB of its own memory, is likewise impressive, and between those three components the computer is easily capable of handling any task most home users are likely to throw at it. Mesh has included a copy of the fairly recent Assassin’s Creed game, which is good for showing off the computer's capabilities.

It's certainly capable of handling common programs such as Photoshop Elements, and the included Cyberlink video-editing software. Like all desktop PCs, the main part of the Mesh Elite Q9300 Pro is black, but sadly this doesn't have the slimming effect loved by the fashion world. Instead, the case is big and bulky, and would need to be pushed under a big table to be hidden from view.

That size does allow plenty of expansion, however: the computer has two spare hard disk bays (there's a 500GB disk installed) and two spare memory slots, as well as another three external drive bays. The latter may not be used by many, considering that that it already includes a Blu-ray reader that can read and write DVDs and CDs.

Along the front of the case is a memory card reader that can handle most common cards and three USB sockets. The computer comes with Vista Home Premium, with Service Pack 1 for Vista already installed, making it completely up-to-date. It also comes with a wireless Logitech keyboard and mouse, and a set of speakers from the same manufacturer.

At £749 the Elite Q9300 Pro is more expensive than many desktop computers but it packs in much more power than cheaper models or similarly priced notebooks, which makes it a bargain for those who'll use the extra power.