Buyers' Guide to Office & Home PCs

Key Features

Processor: Whether you're looking for a home computer or an office system, if you plan to use your PC for standard productivity and basic Internet tasks, most any CPU will do. AMD is phasing out its value-oriented line of Duron chips, so toward the end of the year you may find good prices on PCs with this CPU. Also look for budget systems using older Intel Celerons, which run at up to 1.4 GHz. Not only will they be $50 to $100 cheaper than PCs with top-of-the-line 1.8-GHz Celerons, but tests by the PC World Test Center show that PCs with the older versions run a bit faster than systems with the new chips: Three PCs with 1.2- or 1.3-GHz Celerons earned an average score of 90 on PC WorldBench 4, while a new 1.7-GHz Celeron unit earned an 83. That's because the new Celeron has half the Level 2 cache that older models do.

If you want more power, Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon XP systems are your best bet. The latest P4 chip runs at 2.53 GHz while AMD's newest Athlon XP 2200+ runs at 1.8 GHz. To save a couple hundred dollars, buy one or two levels below the top--our tests show that for most tasks, you're unlikely to lose more than 5 percent per tier in performance.

Either the P4 or the Athlon XP can support even your most demanding work, such as video editing or high-resolution game play, with ease. PC World tests show that P4 PCs tend to do a bit better than Athlon XP-based systems on multimedia tasks such as video and audio encoding, completing these jobs between 10 and 15 percent faster. On the other hand, Athlon XP machines outperform the P4 competition on computationally intensive applications like AutoCAD and Adobe Photoshop by about 15 percent.

You can find low-priced systems with either of these chips, even at top speeds. To pay a lower price, you'll have to sacrifice graphics performance and hard drive size (among other things). Such trade-offs may make sense if you plan to upgrade the other components later or if you need more performance now.

Look for a system with one of Intel's newer 850 and 845 motherboard chip sets for its P4s and Celerons. These boards have a higher-speed frontside bus (533 MHz for the P4, and 400 MHz for the Celeron), so data moves more quickly between the CPU and system memory.

Systems with faster Intel P4s--possibly hitting 3 GHz--should arrive by year's end or early next year. AMD will also release new chips later this year. The new Athlon XPs will have double the Level 2 cache of current models, which should boost performance; and next-generation chips, code-named ClawHammer, will have a faster, more direct pipeline into main memory, again increasing performance. (Go to "Will AMD's Hammer Nail It?" for more details on Hammer chips.)

Memory: To give Windows XP and software like it sufficient room to work, get a minimum of 256MB of RAM. Memory is still fairly cheap, so if you can afford to get more, do it. High-end PCs should have at least 512MB--that amount lets you keep more apps open and can comfortably handle even memory-intensive programs like Photoshop.

Three main types of memory are on the market today: PC133 SDRAM, faster DDR SDRAM (in 200-, 266-, and 333-MHz speeds), and RDRAM (also known as Rambus, in speeds from 600 MHz to 1 GHz). Remember that your motherboard determines what kind of memory you can use--you can't substitute DDR SDRAM for PC133 SDRAM or RDRAM.

PC133 SDRAM, your cheapest option, appears in low-end home and office PCs. It is ubiquitous as well as inexpensive: PCs you already own likely use it, so you may be able to repurpose it in a new PC.

The price difference between PC133 and DDR SDRAM is just a few dollars (and occasionally disappears), however. And our tests show that DDR memory boosts performance--from about 5 to 10 percent--over PC133, so DDR offers the best price-to-performance ratio. For now and into early next year, most motherboards won't be able to take full advantage of DDR333 memory, so you're just as well off buying a system with DDR266. In the next 12 months, Intel should issue a motherboard that supports DDR333; the motherboards for AMD's ClawHammer chips should also support this memory.

RDRAM offers a slight boost in certain apps such as video or music streaming, but it tends to be two to three times more expensive than the other memory types.

Storage: You'll get at least a 20GB hard drive even in a basic, sub-$1000 PC. If you're willing to pay just $20 or so more, you'll likely be able to get a 40GB drive. That's fine for most office tasks or for a second or third home PC. If you plan to work with graphics files, video, or music, however, bump the size to at least 60GB. You'll need it because 30 minutes of uncompressed digital video takes up nearly 6.5GB, while 250 4-minute MP3s at 128 kbps use over 1GB. Today's largest drives reach 160GB, and 240GB drives are just down the road, but unless you're planning to use your PC as a mini server, a smaller drive is more cost-effective.

Graphics: Only dedicated gamers or people working with 3D models need the best graphics cards, like those with 128MB of RAM and NVidia's GeForce4 Ti or ATI's Radeon 8500 graphics chip.

If you want to do some gaming, get a lower-level GeForce4 MX card with 64MB of RAM, but read the fine print--not all of them will fully support next-generation DirectX 8 games. To record video from your TV, you'll need a card with a built-in TV tuner. (See our graphics card buyers' guide for more.)

In the office, unless you're doing high-end graphics work, or Web or multimedia development, integrated graphics should satisfy your needs and save money. Some motherboards with integrated graphics, such as models from Intel or NVidia, provide an upgrade option via an unoccupied AGP slot. Specify this kind of motherboard if you want that upgrade option.

A 17-inch monitor is often the default choice. For about $100 more, you can get a 19-inch monitor, which provides over 20 percent more screen area than a 17-inch model. Also look to upgrade to a better-quality monitor when you buy it with a PC--vendors may offer Trinitron or other flat-faced CRTs for $80 to $100 more than same-size base models. If you're willing to spend $200 to $300 more, consider a 15-inch LCD. It affords the same viewable area as a 17-inch CRT and takes up far less space. (See our monitors buyers' guide for more specifics.)

Removable storage: Your most cost-effective and flexible removable-storage option is a CD-RW drive. Even many budget PCs come with CD-RW drives, because they're quite inexpensive. Top-of-the-line drives, which offer up to 48X CD-R speeds and will soon offer 24X CD-RW speeds, cost about $50 to $100 more.

Home users may want to substitute a rewritable DVD drive for a CD-RW drive. You still get CD-R/RW functionality--though rewritable DVD drives are much slower than stand-alone CD-RW drives (typically 4X to 10X on CD-R, and 8X to 12X on CD-RW)--and they store at least 4.7GB of data, versus 650MB for most CDs. They also let you create your own video DVDs to play in your living-room DVD player. Some caveats: These drives cost about $300 to $400 more than CD-RW drives, and you might not be able to play your newly created discs in older DVD-ROM drives and DVD players. Moreover, there are three competing, incompatible standards. (For details see the DVD drive buyers' guide.)

Communications: A modem is a must at home, and nearly all PCs come with one. If you have broadband Internet access, you'll need an ethernet connection as well (keep the modem as a backup unless you are desperate to save money). To share your broadband connection or to network your PCs, get a gateway/router. You'll probably spend about $80 for a wired version, or about $150 for a wireless 802.11b (Wi-Fi) model; if you do go wireless, you'll also need a card or an external adapter for each PC, and these run about $75 apiece. (See our home networking buyers' guide for additional information.)

For your business PC, an ethernet card is key. Unless your company has standardized on specific hardware, the vendor's integrated or default card option should work well and save you money.

Sound: In the office, integrated audio and default speakers are fine. At home, you'll probably want surround sound. For about $200, you can get a sound card with Dolby 5.1 support, plus decent speakers with a subwoofer.

Design: A good case can greatly simplify the task of upgrading or servicing components--an especially valuable perk in offices with multiple systems to maintain. A well-designed case will offer tool-less access to the interior, hard drives mounted on easy slide-out trays, and color-coded cables for internal and external parts (see "Designs that Simplify Servicing and Upgrades").

At home, look for at least two USB ports in front so you can easily hook up peripherals like digital cameras. Systems with the newest Intel 845 chip sets (which use DDR SDRAM, not RDRAM) also have integrated USB 2.0. Get it if you can--it works with older USB devices (no speed boost, though), and it offers 8 to 12 times faster performance with USB 2.0 peripherals such as external CD-RW drives. If you have a digital camcorder, get a PC with a FireWire (IEEE 1394) port (you can also add FireWire via an expansion card for less than $100). A keyboard with well-designed shortcuts to favorite apps and Web sites, to e-mail, and even to documents is a nice, inexpensive plus.

If you plan to keep the system for a while, make sure you have some expansion room. You'll want at least a couple of open drive bays and a free PCI slot.

Software: Most home and office PC users should find Windows XP Home a perfectly acceptable operating system. Spend the extra $100 for Windows XP Pro only if you need management features such as Remote Desktop, which gives you remote control over another PC.

Consider upgrading the software when you buy a new PC. For about $100, you can often upgrade to a full office suite like Microsoft Office XP Small Business Edition (sold only with new systems; lacks PowerPoint) from Microsoft Works Suite or a similar package--a great value since Office XP runs over $400 off the shelf.

Warranty and support: Many PC problems tend to crop up in the first year, so a one-year warranty should cover most repairs. A two- or three-year warranty will add about $150 to $200 to your cost. Some vendors offer additional support options, such as Dell's $39 (one year) priority call routing to tech support.

If you're concerned about reliability and service, you're probably better off buying from major vendors. While no vendor earned the highest rating in our last reader survey on vendor reliability and service, Dell, HP, and IBM scored well with their work PCs. Dell retained its position for home PCs as well, while Gateway, HP, IBM, and MicronPC earned an overall grade of Fair from readers. (Go to "Reliability and Service: Service Takes a Dive" for more details.)