Looking for a PC for around £1,000? Then look no further than our comprehensive reviews of the best five PCs for around a grand, on the market in September 2008.
Storage: Anything less than 400GB is now considered a small amount of storage space - the manufacturers of the systems in this month's chart have all opted for at least 500GB. Many users will be able to get by comfortably with a 320GB drive, but those intending to store lots of video, games, audio and media files should stock up.
Get a multiformat DVD writer that can write to dual-layer format if you want to store 8.5GB rather than 4.7GB on a disc. Look for a minimum of eight-speed DVD+R DL; DVD-R DL is nice but not essential. Also try to get eight-speed DVD+RW. At this price you should be able to find a drive that reads Blu-ray Discs - note that it won't to burn to Blu-ray and DVD burning speeds will be slower.
Display: In this category, 22in flat-panels are the standard. Many PC manufacturers supply budget screens, but it's worth spending a little more if you intend to work with digital photos or video - you'll probably have to stare at the monitor for long periods. Give the display a try to ensure you can put up with the quality.
A screen with a response time of 8ms or less will minimise blur on fast-moving images such as games. For image editing, contrast ratio and colour fidelity are more important. A digital input can preserve picture quality, so think twice about displays that provide analogue inputs only.
Graphics card: At this price point, it's a pitch battle between nVidia's latest GeForce GTX 260 graphics card and the ATI Radeon HD 4870 from ATI.
Both offer very good performance and can be doubled up into dual-card solutions later. In order to take advantage of such a setup, however, your motherboard and power supply will need to be compatible with this mode of operation.
It's also possible to go for a ready-made dual-card solution, such as a pair of Radeon HD 4850s. This can work out to be more expensive in the long run.
Sound card and speakers: Onboard sound has come on in leaps and bounds, but it's still no match for a decent sound card. Consider Creative's Audigy 4 family or the excellent X-Fi range. If you only want a 2.1-channel setup (two speakers and a subwoofer), make sure they're high-quality models. Most firms are bundling 5.1 speakers.
NEXT PAGE: Top 5 £999 desktop PC reviews
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