Simply Computers has a turnover of £75 million and has quickly established itself as one of the top UK resellers since it's inception in 1991. This is the first time we have seen an offering from Simply, and were keen to investigate exactly why Simply has carved up a reputation of supplying value for money systems.

First Impressions

Simply's packaging was impressive, four sturdy boxes containing the system, monitor, speakers and the surprise Epson printer. The Systemax A850 RV Pro system came in a branded box inclusive of keyboard, mouse, cables and all the relevant component manuals and drivers, all inserted in a plastic wrapper, this was rather disappointing with Simply's reputation we would have expected to see a neat folder or plastic wallet. An A4 user guide for the Systemax is supplied, with Do's and Don'ts along with Tech tips to get you started, in addition to a large sheet for 'Setting up your Computer' which seems merely a duplication of the User Guide except for the added 'Getting started with Windows 98' section. The monitor supplied is a CTX 19" PR960F, with the Creative surround sound speakers, and the unexpected Epson Stylus 670 printer.

Features

One of the first things that strike you is how much you get for your money, it is clear the Systemax A850 is positioned with value for money in mind. At the heart of the AOpen AK72 motherboard beats a hefty AMD K7 Athlon 850 Processor, supported by the VIA KX133 chipset. This is supported by a standard 128Mb of SDRAM PC133. A Maxtor DiamondMax hard disk provides 30.7Gb of unformatted capacity, which is more than enough for most users. Although a Creative 52 x CD ROM drive is fitted as standard, Simply has chosen the Ricoh 9060A DVD/CDRW combination as the main form of removable storage, coupled with the popular NERO Burning Rom software, 10 Blank CDR's, and The Matrix DVD movie. The respectable Creative 3D Blaster GeForce 256 Annihilator Pro performed well in our 3D test, and the CTX PR960F 19" Monitor combination provided a good display solution. The Creative Sound Blaster Live! Player 1024 sound card and Creative FPS 1000 speaker set provide an impressive audio set-up. Ms Works Suite 2000 is supplied to get you working out of the box and completes a fine set of features which immediately begin to make you feel you are getting an excellent return for your investment.

Ergonomics

The Systemax A850 is built within a sturdy Midi-Tower case; with 3 x 5.25" external drive bays, and 2 x 3.5" external and 1 x 3.5" internal drive bays. The Keyboard is the Logitech Internet Keyboard, with four programmable Internet keys; My Home, E-Mail, Search and Go, with additional Multimedia keys; Play/Pause, Stop, Previous Track, Next Track, Mute, Volume Up and Down. There is also a Suspend key providing access to the Windows shutdown dialog box. The keyboard has a responsive touch and is practical for everyday use. The PS/2 mouse supplied is of the Wheel variety and is a non-branded model. The pairing of the mouse and keyboard smacks of an oversight on Simply's part, A Logitech keyboard could have been paired with a decent quality branded mouse. Once the system was out of it's box, the first thing we heard was a rattling noise from within the Midi-Tower, which upon removing the cover we discovered a lose screw from one of the motherboard spacers, the motherboard was still very well secured and would not have caused any major problems, however, it is best to remove the screw or find it's original home.

Simply had forgotten to ship us a mains lead for the system unit, fortunately we are not short of a lead or two, but certainly not impressive if you don't have a spare lead. Once started, you are presented with the Windows 2000 registration dialogue, which completes the installation. The resolution was set at 1600 x 1200 - 72Hz this is the optimum setting for the monitor supplied. Access inside the case is via a single side panel with the removal of two screws, once inside the case the cables are neatly tied out of the way to allow access to everything so nothing is obscured. There is room for further expansion with 3 x PCI and 1 x ISA spare slots, the Systemax A850 is about as future proof as you can expect from any PC these days.

Performance

The Systemax A850 gave an excellent account of itself in our performance labs; with an outstanding score of 38.1 (see figure 1) in the Content Creation Winstone 2000 benchmark initiated by the 128Mb SDRAM PC133 and the AMD Athlon 850 processor. The 3D WinBench 99 1.1 score of 64 (see figure 2) is one of the highest we have had in this class of configuration, this is mainly down to the Creative 3D Blaster video card and the VIA KX133 chipset.

Final Analysis

The Simply Systemax A850 has a lot going for it, with a price tag of £1499.00 plus VAT £1761.32 including VAT inclusive of the Epson 670 Printer it's a bargain waiting to be snapped up. How can Simply afford to sell at this price? Surely some shortcuts had to be made. Simply has tremendous buying power and it is clear they are passing it on to their customers, we looked for shortcuts but found none, we were a little disappointed with a few silly anomalies; no power cable, loose screw, and most of all we had to update the Creative 3D Blaster with the latest Windows 2000 drivers, by downloading them from Creative's site. Hence the Simply has been overlooked for our excellence award, but the system could not be denied our Performance award, which it richly deserved. Well done Simply for producing a lighting Windows 2000 ready PC, and with a 3-year on-site warranty, no need to ponder buy one before they change their mind.

Congratulations to Simply on winning our Performance award !!

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