CyberPower Infinity Apollo Elite review

Externally, we were disappointed not to find any USB3 ports. You get a fairly standard complement of eight USB ports, but two of these are taken up by a budget keyboard and mouse set from Logitech. We found the keys a bit bouncy, and the mouse felt too light, but they’re usable. Audio outputs are limited to three analogue minijack sockets, although you can output digital audio as well as video via the graphics card’s HDMI port.

Another wasted investment is the AOC F22+ monitor. It’s not the worst display, but compared to the LED-backlit models available with other systems it’s dull and lacks contrast. The backlight was uneven and colours were washed out. The F22+ has a DVI input, but CyberPower doesn’t include a DVI cable in the box, so you’ll have to start with an analogue VGA connection. The monitor’s auto-configuration works quite well, so the image was much crisper than on some analogue connections.

You can buy the Infinity Apollo Elite for £457 without the monitor, making it much better value, but we still can’t recommend it. The Palicomp Phoenix i5 Laser costs £485 without the monitor, but gives you far more room for expansion, with two free RAM slots and an empty PCI-E x16 slot, plus a 1TB hard disk and a Blu-ray drive. If you don’t already have a monitor, the Dino PC Jurassic 2500 has a great 24in BenQ display, and still has room for a graphics card should you wish to upgrade later.