Packard Bell unleash monster ixtreme Maestro dektop PC

Packard-Bell-ixtreme-Maestro.jpg

If you actually own three devices that connect via Firewire, and you don’t happen to use a Mac, then the Packard Bell ixtreme Maestro is probably for you; all three of you.

It comes with up to 3TB of HDD; a choice of Core i7 processor, Intel Core 2 Quad or AMD Phenom II X4 quad-core processors and you’re unlikely to find yourself bottlenecking on the RAM with up to 12 GB of DDR3 to play with. There’s a Blu-ray combo drive, a piffling 10 USB slots, 2 x eSATA, HDMI and a multi-card reader too. So many holes, it’s a surprise the thing stays together.

You get a choice of NVIDIA GPUs, up to the full 1GB GeForce GTS250, plus there’s support for 7.1 surround sound with a SPDIF connector and an optional DVB-T tuner. I’d recommend a nice monitor to go with it.

It runs Vista, is all sleek and black and starts at £599 from this month. Expect the specced up version to cost one hell of a lot more.

Packard Bell

HP launch Pavilion Slimline s5100 desktop PC

HP today announced the release of the HP Pavilion Slimline s5100 PC, a slimmed down tower desktop.

Reduced to a mere 11 litres in sizes, the tower will look positively diminutive in the presence of its more common 25 litre brethren.

“The HP Pavilion Slimline s5100 PC is a great full-function performance PC that will appeal to young-minded, style-conscious consumers”, says Charl Snyman, vice president, Personal Systems Group, HP Europe, Middle East and Africa (his title is 10 words long! Compensating for something their Charl?).

Running Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate, the Slimline comes complete with built in 801.11 n WiFi and Bluetooth, as you’d expect, and an optional wireless keyboard and mouse. The Intel CoreTM 2 Quad and PhenomII X4 processor supporting Slimline is certainly a handsome brute, but it isn’t the TouchSmart is it?

It’s not a svelte all-in-one, although you could probably hide the tower behind the screen and pretend it was, that’s what I’d do.

It’ll be available from late July from around £339