Stories by PC World Staff

Top 10 CD-RW Drives


SAN FRANCISCO (08/28/2000) - This month we present our first Top 10 list dedicated to CD-Rewritable drives. Expanded from PCWorld.com's Top 5 CD-RW Drives, our chart covers a variety of drives. If you're after speed, check out Plextor Corp.'s $275 PlexWriter 12/10/32, the first drive we've tested that offers 12X CD-R write speed. If you want convenience, consider Ricoh Co.'s $299 MediaMaster MP9060A, which combines DVD playback with the capabilities of a CD-RW..

Top 10 Budget PCs

Our top Best Buy system, the Micro Express MicroFlex 600A, retains its spot, while NuTrend Computer Products Inc.'s Athlon Special 2, a newcomer in September, moves up a notch to claim second place. The Sys TaskMaster 600D, powered by AMD's new Duron processor, makes a strong debut in the fourth position.

Top 10 Graphics Boards


SAN FRANCISCO (08/28/2000) - Neither of the two new boards this month earned a spot on the chart. The ATI Radeon, with 64MB of DDR SGRAM, came closer to chartdom, but a high, $399 price and lackluster performance in 3D games kept it off. MSI's $269 StarForce 815 is inexpensive for a board with an NVidia GeForce2 GTS chip, but it lacks video features that others include. The Matrox Millennium G400 MAX and Diamond's Viper II hang tight to the top two spots..

Top 10 Scanners

SAN FRANCISCO (07/26/2000) - Two well-priced 600-by-1200-dpi scanners join the
SOHO ranks this month. The Umax Technologies Inc. Astra 3400 produced pleasing
color and line-art results. The Hewlett-Packard Co. ScanJet 4300C created
better images on our lower-resolution, 75-dpi color and 300-dpi black and white
tests. Its handy dual interface gives users two connectivity options--something
only one other SOHO scanner on the chart offers. Our corporate list remains
unchanged.

Top 10 Budget PCs

Our number one Best Buy, the Micro Express MicroFlex 600A, maintains its grip for the fourth month in a row, while Quantex Corp.'s SB500sx breaks into Best Buy territory for the first time. Stepping in at number six, the Dell Computer Corp. OptiPlex GX100 offers corporate users an affordable system with such business-class features as a network card, chassis intrusion detection, and Wake-on-LAN, along with the company's top-notch reliability rating.

Top 10 Graphics Boards

SAN FRANCISCO (07/26/2000) - Two new boards debut this month. Creative Labs
Inc.'s 3D Blaster Annihilator 2 costs less than other boards we've seen with
the GeForce2 GTS chip set. The Voodoo5 5500 from 3dfx outperformed others in
Unreal Tournament. Meanwhile, the Matrox Millennium G400 Max retains first
place. Hercules's 64MB version of the 3D Prophet II GTS performed well but was
held back by its $420 price. A new Asus board also fell short.

Top 10 Printers

SAN FRANCISCO (07/26/2000) - Minolta-QMS marches into second place on the
small-business list this month with the PagePro 1100L. At US$249, it offers
speedy graphics performance and crisp text. The corporate list gains three new
models: Lexmark International Inc.'s nonnetworked Optra M412 is a new Best Buy,
with fast text speed for $799. IBM Corp.'s $1179 Infoprint 21 takes fourth
place, and Ricoh's $799 AP-1600 grabs fifth. Lexmark's Optra E312 just missed
the chart.

Top 10 Midrange PCs

Two new PCs climb aboard the chart this month. Sys Technology Inc.'s Performance 800 distinguishes itself with raw horsepower--the Pentium III-800EB system delivers the fastest performance on the chart. The other new machine, ABS's Conquest GL, includes a 19-inch monitor that displays crisp images. Meanwhile, Dell Computer Corp. discontinued the Dimension XPS T600r, making room at the top for Gateway Inc.'s GP7-700, which boasts a generous price cut.

Dispatch: Product Pipeline

One-GHZ Too slow for you? If you demand the fastest PC on the block, look for Intel Corp.'s 1.13-GHz Pentium III chip, expected to launch by the time you read this. Systems will be shipping in limited quantities, from big-name vendors only. Look for a greater supply later in the fall. Analysts expect this to be the last speed bump for PIII before the P4 chip arrives in early fall.

Top 10 Monitors

SAN FRANCISCO (07/26/2000) - It's not often a newcomer jumps straight to the
top of the chart. The ViewSonic EF70 unseats the Sony Corp. Multiscan CPD-E200
as the number one monitor, thanks to its excellent graphics quality and
moderate price. The LG Flatron 795FT-Plus debuts at number four with vibrant
colors, and newcomer MGC Technologies' 797F offers excellent graphics quality
at a moderate price. Next month we look at 21-inch displays.

Top 10 Power PCs

Most of the action on this month's power chart occurs in the lower echelons. The Kingdom Royale PIII-933 claims seventh spot. Fueled by Intel Corp.'s newest processor, the Royale performs a tad slower than PIII-1000-enabled systems but at a much lower cost. It's a good choice if you need power but don't want to pay top dollar. CyberMax Inc.'s Enthusiast K7-950 slips onto the chart in tenth place, thanks to a robust feature set. Dell Computer Corp. discontinued its Dimension XPS B800r, allowing last month's number five PC, the Micron Electronics Inc. Millennia Max 800, to ride a US$150 price drop into the top spot.

PC Expo Picks and Pans

If you want to live life on the go, try the Big Apple. And if you want to check out the gadgets built for life on the go, there was no better place than this year's PC Expo. Wireless and handheld products drove desktop PCs almost completely off the stage. Amidst the sauna-like show floor, we checked out the countless personal digital assistants, Internet appliances, and sleek long-lasting notebooks designed to keep you connected and productive anywhere. Here are the hits and misses we found in the New York haze.

Dispatch

Gateway 2000 Inc., America Online Inc. Team on Net Appliance: The new Internet appliance will have speakers and a touch screen and will offer AOL Net service. Prices should be under $500, with the first model scheduled for a holiday release. A surprise: The appliance runs on Mobile Linux and Transmeta's Crusoe processors, not Wintel.

No Breakup, Says Microsoft

Microsoft Corp. should be broken into two companies to protect consumers and the computer industry from future misuse of its monopoly power, Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson has ruled.

Top 10 Budget PCs

Half the systems on this month's chart cost less than $1000, including new entries from Axis Systems and Gateway 2000 Inc. And if you want faster computing power in your budget PC, check out the pricier machines on our chart--several, like the new IDot.com SA Series 600, pack CPUs of 600 MHz or higher.

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