BIOS: Technology Means Business

The PowerMate VL6 is a relatively high-performance but low-cost business solution that's available in a range of form factors. Designed for business users who require industry-standard technologies and decent expansion capabilities at an affordable price, the Powermate VL6 offers few surprises. Its build quality is also average and there is little software bundled with the system, unlike IBM's innovative ThinkCentre S50 ultra-small PC, which comes with superb backup and recovery tools. However, you do get a lot of performance for your money - it's backed up by an excellent 36-months on-site warranty. Having said that, if you want better graphics performance, you'll have to opt for the more expensive PowerMate ML7, which features the latest generation of graphics expandability thanks to its PCI Express slot.

Pros: Good value and general performance; choice of chassis
Cons: Relatively noisy; basic GPU; slow hard disk; no FireWire

The PowerMate VL6 is a desktop computer designed for corporate users. As well as a relatively low starting price, the system is available with either a micro tower (181x402x384mm), desktop (370x431x131mm) or slim tower (100x407x348mm) enclosure, making it an attractive offering for organisations looking to standardise on a particular format.

Based on a Micro ATX motherboard and Intel i915G chipset, the PowerMate VL6 supports Intel Celeron or Intel Pentium 4 processors, comes as standard with 256MB of DDR2 system memory (expandable up to 4GB using four DIMM slots), a 40GB SATA-based hard disk (upgradable to 160GB), and a choice of either an integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 GPU that uses up to 128MB shared memory, or an ATI Radeon X300 (either 64MB or 128MB of DDR SDRAM).

Our test model was supplied with a 2.80GHz Pentium 4 processor and an Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 GPU that uses 64MB of system memory, the later of which provides mediocre 2D and 3D graphics capabilities. If you need more graphics power, you'll have to opt for the more expensive PowerMate ML7 (from £413 ex. VAT), which comes with a PCI Express 16X slot as standard. A floppy disk drive is also an optional extra on the slim tower model reviewed here, as is a choice of optical drives. Our test model had a basic CD-RW drive.

Other features of the system are relatively commonplace, including an onboard 2:1 audio chipset (no speakers supplied), integrated Gigabit Ethernet with support for Wake-On-LAN (option for Gigabit PCI Express 1X with support for Alert Standard Format), a hard disk recovery tool (NEC Instant Recovery), anti-theft ring, Kensington lock hole, and an anti-theft device for the supplied matching keyboard and mouse. However, there is an intrusion switch that alerts when the case is moved.

Connectivity options include six USB 2.0 ports (two at front of system), parallel, serial and analogue VGA-out ports, microphone and headphone ports (unfortunately at rear of system), as well as two PS/2 ports for the supplied keyboard and mouse. Neither Wi-Fi nor Bluetooth are supplied as standard, which may disappoint those in smaller companies looking to wirelessly network an office.

The tool-free case is another disappointment. Whilst you can get into the system without tools, you have to wrestle with the side panel in order to remove and replace it. Once open, the tidy cable arrangement provides easy access to the processor and memory. A neat feature of the chassis is that the part that houses the CD-RW drive and hard disk swings out for easier access to these components. Pressing on the clearly-marked green levers then releases the drives, although the CD-RW drive further requires the removal of a thumb screw. All of these features help to make the PC serviceable and upgradable and should help to limit the downtime and cost associated with on-site support. For upgrade purposes, the system features an internal 250-Watt power supply and two PCI slots (both are available).

The PowerMate VL6 is designed for corporate environments, so you shouldn't expect great things in terms of performance. Having said that, the system performed effortlessly in our 2D business tests, proven by Business Winstone 2004 and Multimedia Content Creation Winstone 2004 scores of 17.7 and 25.3, respectively. Whilst these scores are relatively high in their own right, they're particularly impressive given that they were produced by a system that costs just £369 (ex. VAT). Unfortunately, graphics performance was disappointing, so you should pick an alternative GPU solution if you intend to run high-end multimedia applications, such as video or image editors.

About our tests:
BIOS uses VeriTest's Business Winstone 2004 and Multimedia Content Creation Winstone 2004 benchmarking applications to test the overall performance of desktops and laptops. Both suites are application-based benchmarks that measures a PC's overall performance when running market-leading, Windows-based applications on Windows platforms. They are a single large test that run programs through a series of scripted activities and return a single score. The activities focus on what we call 'hot spots,' or periods of activity that make your PC really work - the times where you're likely to see an hourglass or a progress bar. PCMark04 Pro is Futuremark's application-based benchmark for measuring component-level performance. It uses portions of real applications instead of including very large applications or using specifically created code. Futuremark's 3DMark03 Pro runs game tests to provide an accurate overview of a system's gaming performance. In all benchmarks, the higher the score, the faster the computer.