The sober matt black exterior of Arbico’s FX4130 Office PC is as visually quiet as the sound emanating from the case – which is not much at all. This quiet, compact PC should fit in unobtrusively in any office environment – even if that environment is a home office where system noise is even more likely to be noticed. See also Group test: What's the best budget PC?
Its quiet operation is due to the pairing of a quiet Xigmatek Apache CPU cooler with an Ace Ecco 250 system case which surrounds system components with sound-damping panels. Visit Group test: What's the best desktop PC?
Powered by a quad-core AMD FX-4100 processor running at 3.6GHz, this PC may turn in the lowest Worldbench 6 score of any in this month’s test. It is however most certainly fast enough for general office tasks, so why pay more for performance you don’t need?
A full 8GB of system RAM is installed, which is typical for the business PCs in this month’s group, and more than you’re likely to need for even Microsoft Office. You also get a fast 500GB SATA hard disk, which is ample for office use when you have networked storage available. Go to Group test: What's the best office PC?
A wired Logitech MK120 keyboard and mouse set is provided, which is the same budget combo provided by many of the competitors this time around. It has a spill-resistant keyboard and quite office-friendly keys.
At £500 inc VAT the price may look attractive especially as it includes Windows 7 Professional. However you must take into account that the FX4130 Office PC comes without a monitor at this price; neither is there a license for Microsoft Office included. You may not need the extra performance of a system like Chillblast’s Fusion Obsidian, but you can buy the latter without a monitor for only £464, essentially gaining extra performance and a larger hard drive for less money.
