We know that a home PC tends to be used by everyone in the household, a factor that should influence any consideration of bundled software. A wider range of functions made more palatable through greater attention to usability than is the corporate norm should be considered. Monitor performance is of prime importance too. No-one who's ever moved from a 15in. monitor to a 17in. Compaq and Fujitsu let themselves down with their monitors, while systems that included an Iiyama display tended to be praised.
Support is always an issue.
And while you might be confident of your own abilities to diagnose and correct computer problems, you should consider who's going to get that midnight call if you've recommended a home computer to a friend who lacks in-depth knowledge. As with weekend support, the design aesthetic rarely concerns a corporate buyer. None of these PCs would exactly be at home in the Tate, but Gateway, Compaq and HP have at least discovered that curves look nicer than square boxes. Elonex, on the other hand, delivered a machine that wouldn't look out of place in a server room. Nevertheless, all the systems in this review are mini-towers that can sit under your desk.