CCL Fusion Edu Mini review

The CCL Fusion Edu Mini is an ultra-compact desktop PC, which, despite its dinky plastic case, feels fairly robust. Its size means that it takes up little desk space and can even be placed on a small stand, which is supplied in the box. It’s also VESA mountable, so could fit comfortably on the back of a monitor. The price for opting for such a small PC is an external power supply, although the power block supplied is small.

At the front are headphone and mic jacks, a 5-in-1 card reader (supporting SD, Memory Stick and MMC cards), two USB 3 ports, plus a built-in speaker and power button. The front panel is simple, but provides sufficient connectivity for most classroom activities.

At the rear of the PC you’ll find four more USB 2 ports, plus DVI and HDMI ports. Although there’s no VGA port, both video ports will support a VGA signal, and the Fusion Edu mini comes with a DVI to VGA adapter. For networking, there’s a Gigabit Ethernet port and a built-in 802.11bgn Wi-Fi adapter. The PC came with Windows 7 Home Premium installed, but you can order the Fusion Edu Mini without an OS for £70 less. Order Windows 7 Professional, and it’s another £27.

Our review sample came with a 1.6GHz AMD E350 dual-core APU, more usually found in low-end laptops and netbooks than desktop PCs, along with 4GB of RAM and a 60GB hard disk. The size of the hard disk surprised us, but CCL tells us that it opted for the small, 60GB unit for improved performance and power consumption. We have our doubts about how much impact – if any – a larger drive would have had, but this isn’t a PC for more intensive tasks; a fact borne out by a benchmark score of 0.53.

Even so, the Fusion Edu Mini coped with most common classroom ICT activities. The internal speakers are puny, but you can always connect headphones or external speakers for improved sound.

The warranty is also only one year, return-to-base; this can be upgraded to an on-site package for around £10, depending on the quantity of PCs ordered, and extended to three to five years for an additional fee.

If space is tight, the Fusion Edu Mini is worth considering, but it can’t match the performance or value of other PCs on test.