To be honest, out of the box ..... not so much.
Not only that you probably have none practice (don´t panic,you will get it :cool - you have to) - nonetheless these small china-machines are not that bad, they usually come VERY misadjusted. Then all parts have to much play, or not enough - that makes them very hard to use with a proper result.
Do you have you any mechanic skills/experience? Then dissassemble it, degrease it. Control the fit and make of every part, fix what has to be fixed, grease it, assemble it, take care every bolt is tight enough (they often have loose bolts, where you don´t see it). Make some modifications.
There are countless things what have to be done to get a good functionating lathe, but it is worth it.
Just take your time - read, learn to fix it, and then ...... use it, use it much. That is needed to get a feel for it, these small machines are harder to handle than a big professional one, due to their limitations in stability and power. Where a big one with 2 tons and some KW just diggs through, if you made a mistakes, these small can produce nasty problems.
Oh, and be assured - you will have to spend more than the price of the lathe for additional needed parts.
I hope these lines don´t frighten you - it´s just stuff that has to be said.
Time to start:
mini-lathe.com home page
GadgetBuilder's MiniLathe Site
Varmint Al's Mini Lathe Page
LittleMachineShop.com - Product Categories
Now it´s up to you.