Top 15 Desktop PCs

Blazing speed and a powerful set of features earn the home-oriented ABS Ultimate M5 the top spot on the power side of the chart. The Ultimate M5 notched a PC WorldBench 4 score of 140--the best of the Top 15. This system has a unique look, with a green neon light illuminating the interior of its black case, and extras that include a media card reader and a powerful Logitech Z-680 speaker set that's ideal for DVD movies or games.

Dell's Dimension XPS, at number four, is the company's first PC specifically designed for high-end gaming. The sleek-looking metallic blue system came with an impressive 18-inch LCD monitor. This Dell also achieved high marks in our graphics tests; running Unreal Tournament 2003 at a resolution of 1280 by 1024, it delivered the second-fastest frame rates we've recorded to date. Thanks to its ten USB 2.0 ports (two in front and eight in back), hooking up a multitude of USB-enabled devices to this system is a cinch.

Acer's Veriton 7600G just missed our power list. Its performance on our PC WorldBench 4 tests fell below that of systems on the chart, and we were not impressed with the 17-inch LCD accompanying our unit. It rendered overly dark colors in DVD movies and in games. On the other hand, this business-oriented system does come with network management software and extra security features such as a BIOS-controlled USB lockout.

Our value roster hosts two new entrants: the Compaq Presario S4000T and the HP Pavilion 775e. The Compaq is nicely priced for a value system with a large 120GB hard drive and a rewritable DVD drive. We were pleased with this Presario's 17-inch CRT monitor, which displayed bright colors and sharp text. The PC also includes Office XP Professional Edition, another plus. Meanwhile, the HP Pavilion delivered reasonably strong speed in our PC WorldBench 4 tests and offers a front-mounted media card reader. It came with a set of Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 speakers that produced good sound in movies and vocal tracks.

Two value PCs fell short this month. One was the Amax Power P4, an ably equipped $1995 machine with hard-drive rubber mounts and a quiet power supply--features designed to minimize system noise. Even so, the CPU fan emitted extremely loud and distracting whirs, nearly drowning out the LCD monitor's relatively tiny speakers when we played games and watched a DVD movie. We did appreciate the Power P4's looks, however: Its smooth black case is accented with small blue LED lights.

We also looked at the first PC from ViewSonic, a manufacturer better known for its monitors. Its M2000, equipped with the Windows XP Media Center operating system, has several characteristics that set it apart--a petite silver case, a big 160GB hard drive, a front-mounted media card reader, and a beautiful 19-inch ViewSonic LCD. Despite the advanced features, it has some limitations: Our system included a wireless keyboard with built-in mouse buttons, but no extra mouse. While the integrated keyboard and mouse decrease clutter and allow you to slouch on the couch to surf the Internet, we found using them to navigate Windows frustrating. And although the three primary control buttons--located in the top corners of the keyboard--were sensitive to the touch, they were not precise when we selected tasks or desktop items such as the Start menu. We also had difficulty using the mouse buttons when playing Return to Castle Wolfenstein.

Tech Trend: Built-In Media Card Readers Offer More Convenience

The rapid spread of digital cameras, PDAs, and MP3 players, almost all of which store information on flash media such as CompactFlash or SD memory card, has prodded desktop and notebook manufacturers to add media card readers to their systems, thereby eliminating one more device from your desk. Readers vary widely in the number and types of media they support. Before you buy a PC, check whether its built-in reader works with the format you use. Many, but not all, such readers support Sony's Memory Stick, for example. And scarcely any readers as yet support the new XD-Picture Card from Olympus and Fujifilm.

One slot on the HP Pavilion 775e reads CompactFlash cards, and another reads SmartMedia, SD, and Memory Stick.

The Amax Power P4 has four separate, dedicated card readers for CompactFlash, SmartMedia, SD, and Memory Stick.

Sony's Vaio PCG-V505AX notebook has a built-in card reader as well, but it reads only Memory Stick media.

You can store oodles of data on these cards; some CompactFlash cards are capable of holding 2GB worth of information.