If someone read out this PC's specs to you, it's a good bet that you'd think it was a laptop. Yet Hi-Grade's µDMS is a fully functional desktop PC. It's a member of Intel's Viiv club, which means that this is a living-room PC designed with your media in mind.

The system sends out mixed messages once you unpack it. On the one hand you have the PC itself, which is tiny at just over 20x20cm and can be mounted horizontally or vertically.

Reminiscent of Nintendo's Wii in shape, its part glossy/part matt finish is a strange combination of showroom panache and SoHo functionality, as if Hi-Grade was unsure on how to market its product.

A cheap-looking remote control that handles MCErelated operations didn't bode well and when we saw the wireless keyboard our spirits plunged. It's the very definition of anonymity: a plain, matt-black slab of plastic, complete with a trackball that feels as solid as a butter knife made out of butter. Worse still, it requires a chunky IR receiver to be plugged into the case.

That's one of the three USB2 ports out of the picture, straight off. If it weren't for the smart-looking Sony monitor with its glossy screen finish, this was a PC that you'd rather have tucked away in the dusty box room upstairs.

At least the PC is almost silent when powered up, thanks to its laptop heritage. Heat output is minimal; given the tasks that you'll be asking the µDMS to perform you can be confident that it'll never get too hot under the collar.

The 3DMark 05 and 06 scores of 724 and 254, respectively, mean that you won't be using this system as a gaming PC. Even titles that are a few years old will struggle on the µDMS. Up until now, it's looking like Hi- Grade's system is a non-starter. So it's a good job that the µDMS has a few aces up its sleeve.

Good, bad and ugly

One comes courtesy of the 2GHz Core 2 Duo processor. Because it's the mobile version of the CPU, it's pretty darn fast and won't churn out excess heat. You can pay extra and fi t a faster processor at the purchasing stage if you feel the need.

It's the µDMS's 100GB hard drive that's the system's second major plus point. Given its compact size and limited cooling capabilities, that's a good amount of storage for your various audio, video and image. Again, this can be upgraded at the purchasing stage, up to 160GB.

The Viiv standard and the Sysmark 2004 score (307) reveal Hi-Grade's thinking behind the µDMS. This PC is meant to act as an efficient network hub between other PCs or screens elsewhere in your house.

So you could stream high-quality video to your flat-panel TV, while watching a photo slideshow on the monitor. We must admit, however, that we're not convinced by the Hi-Grade µDMS. It's a lot of money to shell out for a media hub, albeit a silent one, that's not even Vista-ready.

You could invest in a similarly priced, quiet MCE laptop that can handle media-streaming duties, network management and day-to-day computing activities.

Alternatively, how about setting up a wireless-g network and using your noisy, bog-standard PC to move media around your home from the confines of the study? Sorry Hi-Grade - not all the best things come in small packages.