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Who says you can't teach an old cow new tricks? In a break with its previous approach of offering nothing but Intel-based systems, Gateway is now selling its new Select line of PCs--featuring a range of AMD K6-2 processors. The first of these animals to amble our way is the Select 400, a $1299 system built around a 400-MHz AMD K6-2. With 64MB of SDRAM, this clean little off-white midtower turned in a credible PC WorldBench score of 188. That's only about 10 percent slower than an average Pentium II of the same clock speed--and about 10 percent faster than the average Celeron-333 system.

Considering the varied mixture of CPUs and configurations we receive, it's hard to make an apples-to-apples comparison with an "average" model that uses a different processor. But in general, Celeron-333s in similar configurations should cost about the same, while Pentium II-400s will be significantly more.

Consumer-Friendly Features

In line with its other recent offerings, Gateway has added some nice features to enhance ease of use, such as CD-ROM controls and one-touch Internet buttons on the keyboard. These features combine with Gateway's excellent, slick documentation to provide a top-flight out-of-box experience--even for inexperienced buyers.

The Select 400 follows what has become an industry-wide formula for entry-level models. It uses a shallow midtower case and a tiny motherboard with an integrated ATI Rage Pro LT graphics adapter and integrated Ensoniq 1373 sound. But as you might expect, there's limited room for expansion. There are only three PCI slots--one of which is filled--and no ISA slots. Free drive bays are in short supply as well; only one 5.25-inch external bay remains available.

A Better Formula

Fortunately, the Select 400 doesn't just follow the formula--it improves on it. Five will get you ten that Gateway wants the Select 400 to be the machine you buy after you've looked at all the sub-$1000 models. To this end, the company has increased the machine's computing headroom from the minimalist offerings you'll find in the sub-$1000 space.

With 64MB of RAM, an 8.4GB hard drive, and 8MB of graphics memory, you're getting about twice the entry-level norm. First-timers might not appreciate the difference right away, but when they start running multiple applications or upgrade to the next version of Windows, they'll be glad to have the extra capacity. The real kicker is the 17-inch EV700 monitor Gateway bundles. Its crisp picture puts even most good 15-inch models to shame, and the extra screen real estate can help you run at a higher resolution.

Gateway also includes a V.90 fax modem and a 13X-32X CD-ROM drive. The sound is pumped through a fairly good-sounding pair of Altec Lansing AC100 speakers. Add Corel's WordPerfect Suite 8 to the mix, and you have a computer you can use right out of the box.

Its slim profile makes the Select 400 well suited for small spaces. The compact size also results in a very sturdy case. The interior is cleanly laid out and all the ribbon cables are tied neatly together to keep them out of the way. Unfortunately, the power supply is mounted in the middle of the open side of the frame, making access to the memory sockets difficult.

Gateway offers a year of free Internet access via the company's gateway.net service. But you get only a one-year standard warranty on parts and labor with Select systems. That includes a year of round-the-clock toll-free technical support for the hardware (90 days for software). The three-year parts and labor warranty costs an additional $199. PC World readers rate Gateway's system reliability for work PCs as good and support quality as fair. On home PCs, the ratings flip-flop, with support quality getting good marks and system reliability a fair.