Acer has done a great job of disguising this PC as a set-top box. It's easy to setup and simple to use. We would highly recommend waiting for the Core 2 Duo refresh before purchasing this product. However, if you need something right away it will still handle most tasks easily.

The Acer Aspire iDea 510 makes a set-top box out of a computer, without losing many of the perks of a PC. It's reasonably easy to set up and it worked with a number of test displays. It performed well enough in our performance tests for a media centre, and it did it quietly, too.

The Acer Aspire E700 Model S manages to work on both levels, as a PC and as a media centre. It has some upgrade potential, but the configuration we tested will easily handle a wide variety of functions.

If you have a bundle of cash and are looking for a good looking device to add to your home theatre or a PC that can handle most media related tasks, then the Maestro is for you. If you are looking for a gaming PC, you may want to look elsewhere.

The ASUS Digital Home D22 is a great all around media centre. It offers dual HD tuners, with a HDMI output, meaning it will be useful for a great many years to come.

A very decent media centre, however it is outperformed in terms of value for money by some of the competition.

If you're after the latest in pre-assembled media centres then The CTS1000 is probably right up your alley. Be prepared to pay a premium for the extra features though.

A cheap, small media centre that has a few problems with under-the-hood grunt, but mostly operates quite well.

Within their target market, Fujitsu definitely have a winner on their hands. For people still running a single CRT television, without a full lounge room setup, the Deskpower is the perfect way to take the plunge.

While the lack of HDMI and a tower case design are sore points, the m8090a is nonetheless a solid media centre PC. It offers more than enough power to perform most tasks and even packs in some grunt for playing games.

For its price the HP Pavilion m8075a is a neat little unit with some good basic features for the budding media happy user. It's clearly not a high end machine for power users, but for those looking to get a little extra media functionality out of their next PC purchase the HP Pavilion Media Center m8075a PC is a reasonable selection.

As a storage device, the ScreenPlay HD excels — it’s fast and has plenty of storage space. Its media playback abilities leave plenty to be desired, however, with limited format support and an uninspiring interface.