PC Specialist PowerGlide Extreme review

We measured the maximum brightness at 234cd/m2, so colours are bright and, with a contrast ratio of 1,016:1, blacks are reasonably deep. The screen is perfectly adequate for gaming and movies, but it isn’t so hot with proper graphical work – its average Delta E of 5.3 is higher than we’d like, and we noticed a green tint across white areas.

This system won’t win any awards for style. It can’t match the sleek lines of Apple and Sony all-in-ones; its serviceable, glossy plastic gives it a bland look. Build quality is good, though, and the PC Specialist impresses in other ways. It has more in common with the business-like HP than its stylish rivals: the approach is less elegant than the Z1, but you can get inside this system to upgrade and replace every component – tinkering is covered by PC Specialist’s three-year warranty.

The rear panel can be removed via screws and a tug. The graphics card sits in a daughterboard, so it’s perpendicular to the motherboard, and they’re both hidden beneath metal shrouds. A further pair of daughterboards, again hidden, sits on the opposite side to add additional I/O ports.

One area where the PC Specialist falls short is upgrade room. The 2.5in SSD occupies the single 3.5in hard disk bay, with the hard disk relegated to the SATA dock at the top of the machine; there’s a single mini-PCI Express x1 slot free; both SO-DIMM sockets are full, and you can’t upgrade the memory since 8GB is this machine’s limit.

You’re largely stuck with what you pay for, then, but that’s no bad thing since this is the most powerful all-in-one we’ve seen. For similar money to its £1,249 price you can get the A-Listed Chillblast Fusion Flash – similarly powerful but with a better IPS monitor – but if you’ve decided an all-in-one is the way to go, you won’t find one faster. And the touchscreen may give it new life when Windows 8 arrives.