What's New in the Top 100

For this month's reviews of new systems, click the links below.

• Top 20 Power Desktops
  
  
• Top 20 Budget Desktops
  
  
• Top 10 Notebook PCs
  
  
• Top 10 Home PCs
  
  

What a difference a few years make. When we started the monthly Top 20 roundup in 1994, a top-of-the-line desktop PC could cost more than the down payment on a house--a few systems on our chart sold for over $6000! Now, thanks in part to greater competition in the CPU market, you can buy a fast, well-stocked PC for a quarter of that price.

That said, not all new computers are cheap. You can get an Axis Systems Metropolis NX5-333C for $1144. But a Premio Apollo BX 500 sets you back $2900, and similar powerhouses from Gateway and Micron cost only a buck less. Why the hefty price tags? Extra speed and features. Still, prices have dropped so steadily that we're once again lowering the price ceiling for our Top 20 Budget Desktops, this time from $2000 to $1800. (See "PC Prices Keep Falling" for a history of Top 20 PC price drops.)

Best Buy Gateway for $1250

As a result of the reduced maximum price allowed, the average price of a Top 20 Budget system plunged $204 this month to $1445. The new number-five system, Gateway's E-1200 366 sells for only $1250, making it one of the least expensive Best Buy PCs ever. Despite the lower prices, this month's lineup matches April's for speed and configuration, and includes exceptionally well-stocked multimedia systems like CyberMax's $1499 Enthusiast KII-400R (which comes with a 19-inch monitor, 16MB graphics card, and a DVD-ROM drive).

We also saw encouraging changes on the power systems. Now that cheaper PCs qualify, the average price dipped by $67--yet the average performance score rose slightly, from 220 to 227.

In both charts, PC prices and performance bunch at the top and the bottom. PCs based on the most common processor on the Budget chart, the Celeron-366, sell for an average price of only $1328, score 184 on PC WorldBench 98, and carry solid basic configurations: 64MB of RAM, 6GB to 10GB hard drives, 17-inch monitors, 4MB or 8MB graphics cards, and CD-ROM drives. The Pentium II-400 and -450 systems at the top end of the scale cost $1689 on average but deliver about 10 percent more speed and include higher-end features such as 128MB of RAM, 8GB to 13GB hard drives, 19-inch monitors, 16MB graphics cards, and DVD-ROM drives. The bottom line? Many users will be quite content with Celeron-366­level performance; but if you want all the machine you can get for your budget dollar, a Pentium II-400 or Pentium II-450 system is a better choice.

The power chart is equally sharply divided, but between PIII-500 and PII-450 systems. The PIII-500s have much better features, typically packing 128MB of RAM, 14GB to 22GB hard drives, 16MB graphics cards, 19-inch monitors, and DVD-ROM drives. The PII-450s are likelier to stop at 17-inch monitors and CD-ROM drives. Performance is another story: PIII-500 PCs run just 7 percent faster than a typical PII-450 machine. Yet on average PIII-500 PCs cost $2702--$542 more than the average PII-450 system. Intel tends to levy a hefty premium on new chips, and the Pentium III is no exception.

New R&S Ratings

The results from our latest Reliability and Service reader survey are in. Less favorable reports dropped Micron's business-PC support rating from good to fair, while both Dell and Gateway improved. Dell users continue to give the company high marks for support, and they report being even happier with their PCs' reliability. The accolades help propel Dell PCs into the top two spots on the Power chart, while Gateway's improved support ratings (from fair to good) make its GP6-400 system an even better budget deal (for the complete story, see "PC Reliability and Service: The Best Are a Phone Call Away"). Another Gateway change: The company has replaced its consumer-oriented G-series line of PCs with its new Essential, Performance, and Select lines.

Higher Speeds, Bigger Sizes

The Celeron-400 CPU reaches the Top 10 Home PCs chart this month. Dell's $1507 Dimension V400c takes second place with fine performance, features, and company reliability. The V400c scored 190 on our PC WorldBench 98 test suite, delivering performance typical of a PII-400 PC. A Pentium III-500 debutante, the Compaq Presario 5600i-450, places fifth on the power half of the chart. It costs $2358 and is terrific if you want to network PCs in your home. It comes with Diamond Multimedia's Homefree network card, which lets you network with other PCs carrying the same card, using just a telephone line. The 5600i-450 has a high-speed DSL adapter for lightning-fast Internet connections, and USB and FireWire ports sit in the PC's front panel--letting you attach devices such as digital cameras more easily.

On the monitor front, 19-inch models are nudging 17-inchers off their PC pedestals. Over half the power systems and one-fifth of the budget computers on the chart feature the bigger screens. So our latest monitor roundup (see "Flat Out Fabulous") focuses on 19-inch displays. Many current models have flatter tubes (producing crisper, less distorted images) and slightly shallower cases (making them easier to fit into a cramped work area). Dell's UltraScan P990 takes first place with fine image quality at a good price of $549.

Hayes Down for the Count

Modem prices are reasonably stable this month, but months of keen competition have taken a toll. After 20 years in business, modem pioneer Hayes declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October and started liquidating its assets. The company is not currently providing technical support, but it is trying to set up support through other suppliers. Check Hayes's Web site for updates.