Arbico eXcel i2561 CS review

Apart from a graphics card, there isn’t much room for any other upgrades. Although the cables have been neatly tied up, conditions are a bit cramped. There aren’t any free memory slots, so if you wanted to upgrade you’d have to get rid of the existing memory. External expansion is more generous, with two USB ports on the front panel and six at the rear, two of which are the faster USB3 ports. Two USB ports are taken up by the cheap Logitech keyboard and mouse set.

A full set of analogue 7.1 audio outputs is provided, along with an optical S/PDIF output for digital transfer. For basic audio, the monitor’s internal speakers are sufficient – they’re clear but not very loud – but to enjoy movies on the Full HD screen we’d advise connecting a proper set of speakers. There’s no Blu-ray drive – just a DVD writer – but there’s plenty of room on the 1TB hard disk for videos.

We really liked the big AOC 2436Vwa monitor that comes with the eXcel i2561 CS. It has excellent contrast and more natural colours than the 24in BenQ G2420HDS, which is supplied with the Dino PC Jurassic 2500. Although the PC itself is fairly unimpressive to look at, it has plenty of performance and room for expansion. However, the Dino PC Jurassic 2500 has far more space inside the case for expansion, and includes a Blu-ray drive, so it just pips the eXcel i2561 CS to the post for an award.