Time Ellipse 700

Super-budget PC

Review Time's sub-£400 Ellipse 700 may be cheap, but it's a system of compromises. With its reliance on underpowered onboard peripherals, the 700MHz AMD Duron processor is hardly the most promising start, and its WorldBench score of 110 is a throwback to the figures we were getting from mainstream PCs six months ago.

The poor 64MB of RAM virtually precludes Ellipse users from upgrading to the next version of Windows, and the average-sized 10GB hard drive is hardly generous. However, it is the Ellipse 700's graphics sub-system that's its weakest area. The own-brand 15in monitor suffers from an insipid colour palette and its 0.28mm dot pitch does little to aid strong image definition. The on-board S3 Savage graphics card is also lacklustre – it has no memory of its own and 3D performance is poor.

Audio facilities aren't a great improvement, and the on-board sound card can do little with the speaker set. The 48x CD-ROM drive (no DVD facilities) and lack of software are disappointing.

'Super-budget' doesn't begin to describe the Time's sub-£400 price tag. If you want to indulge in a spot of word processing or surfing, this PC could be ideal. For the more demanding user, the Ellipse will be outdated in the time it takes you to get it out of the box. ®

Info

Price: £382
Contact: 01282 777 555
Website: www.timecomputers.com

Specs

WorldBench 2000: 110
Processor/Speed: AMD Duron/700MHz
RAM: 64MB
HDD: 10GB
Monitor: 15in
SoundCard: VIA on motherboard
GraphicsCard: S3 Pro Savage on motherboard
Warranty: one-year return to base

This review is taken from the July 2001 issue. All details correct at time of publication.

Copyright © 2001, IDG. All rights reserved.