Velocity Micro Vector A5 Budget Desktop Personal Computer System

Velocity Micro is well known for build-to-order performance systems, but the Vector A5 falls short as a budget system. It lacks many basic features one would expect in a system in this price category and upgrading the base system quickly drives the price up beyond the competitions.

5/7/08 - The Velocity Micro Vector A5 is powered by a fairly typical Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2160 dual core processor. This is a decent processor for a budget system that provides sufficient performance for more general computing tasks. The performance of the system is held back by the inclusion of only a single gigabyte of memory. Velocity Micro does use high quality Corsair XMS memory for the system, but it is a bit overkill for what this system is designed for.

Storage is quite disappointing on the base Vector A5 setup. The hard drive included is a 250GB hard drive that is about 25% smaller than the more traditional 320GB modules used in the budget desktop market. The real issue is with the DVD drive. Most systems feature a DVD burner standard. Velocity Micro has instead chosen to include just a DVD-ROM drive. This means that users who wish to record to CD or DVD media will have to pay for an upgrade that is almost as expensive as buying an OEM DVD burner in the first place.

One thing going for the Vector A5 is the size. It uses a smaller slim desktop case design that lets it be less obtrusive than a traditional desktop case. Velocity Micro also selects high quality OEM components to give it a much sturdier fell than a low cost desktop system from more traditional large volume manufacturers.

All of the things going against the Vector A5 can be corrected by upgrading the components at the time of ordering. The problem is that the added costs of these various upgrades eventually push the cost of the system above what can be purchased in the market that already have those features.

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