The touch screen is sensitive and responsive and represents a surprising new future in computing when considered alongside the recent Apple iPhone.

For such a large computer, it may have been a better idea to put the USB and Firewire ports on the side rather than the back. Most of us have more than three USB devices nowadays and you'll find yourself constantly turning it around to swap cables, but the 2.8GHz chip and 2GB of Ram really performed, chewing through heavy tasks with gusto.

There are no visible wires as all the finer details and motherboard on the far side of the body out of sight. Everything clicks neatly in and out of its slot and gives the Z series the most user-friendly interior we’ve seen in a computer system. Together with the seemingly endless expandability of components, making it so easy for you to manage them yourself is one of the series’ big selling points.