Only serious television snackers will have failed to spot the ads for Compaq’s home computer. It’s a multimedia computer and it bubbles with features CD-Rom drive, microphone, stereo speakers, fax and phone answering machine and I haven’t finished yet.

By rights, that lot ought to mean a confusion of what-goes-where plugs. But this one-piece monitor-plus-computer has no more than a mouse, phone plug and keyboard to tax you. This is stylish stuff, and well designed, right down to the pencil-rest on the keyboard.

All your software is pre-installed and there is enough to handle most home office chores. You get Works for Windows, Microsoft Money (home finance) and an almost excessive amount of help.

But there is fun and education to be had too: a CD-Rom drive plays CD-Roms or music CDs and a clever screen button will work out which you have put in and act accordingly. So you can explore the Encarta encyclopaedia or Dorling Kindersley’s Human Body, the two great titles supplied, or just play music as you work.

A voice-fax modem and its software are truly tickling. You can dial phone numbers from your computer address book and send faxes straight from the word processor without seeing a piece of paper, though you cannot fax real paper anyway. You can leave the computer to pick up phone and fax messages and store them on its generous hard disc. Twenty messages take up just one megabyte of this. On the US model, it is even possible to use microphone and speaker for hands-free conversations, but this useful feature was not approved for UK use.

No need to worry about leaving the computer on: after about 20 minutes the Energy Star feature will send it into a snooze. If you move the mouse, press a key or the phone rings, it returns to where you left it in a few seconds. And with everything set up for you, you can connect up to the information highway for a trial of CompuServe’s electronic mail and on-line services, though the 2400-baud modem is only fast enough for learner drivers.

If you are new to computers or CD-Rom you will not be disappointed, though I would recommend getting some more memory. My four-megabyte review machine really felt like the brakes were on the CD-Rom. But if money is tight now, you will be impressed with how easy it is to upgrade this computer. You loosen two thumbscrews, pull out a drawer and push in some extra memory. At the same time you could also fit an adapter which puts a television picture on the screen.

Computer techies can do all of this on any modern PC, but it took them years to get that good. With this perfect-for-the-home computer you can do these things now.

Instead of heavy tomes, you get easy, slim booklets. Instead of discs, you get a plug-and-go machine. If you are prepared to pay a little to avoid some of the grief built into most other PCs, you will gain lots of functionality and lots of fun too.