New in the Top 100

The new midrange notebooks category expands our list to a Top 15. Meanwhile, on the desktop front, AMD's Athlon CPU gives PCs power--but will vendors give it a chance?

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

For most of us, purchasing the right PC involves a tough negotiation between what we want--scorching speed and tons of features--and the cash we're willing to shell out. That's especially true with notebook PCs, where having it all comes at an agonizingly high price. We often end up with a compromise, something between a power notebook and a bare-bones budget model. With this in mind, and taking a cue from our work PC charts, we've added a midrange notebook section. It covers laptops costing $1700 to $2699, a price range that accounts for the bulk of notebook purchases. The typical portable in this group has a 13.3-inch screen, a 6MB hard drive, 64MB of RAM, and a basic CD-ROM drive. No 15-inch displays--yet.

If price is no object, consider Gateway's impressive new Solo 9300LS laptop, which at $3374 packs a Pentium II-400 CPU, a 15-inch screen, and a jack for connecting a Dolby Surround Sound stereo system. A less costly alternative is Hewlett-Packard's OmniBook XE2. Debuting at number four on the new midrange list, the XE2 is a PII-366 system with a 13.3-inch screen and a friendly $2399 price. If your company's not footing the bill but you still need a solid system, check out Toshiba's Satellite 2595CDS, ranked number one in the budget category. It costs just $1499 yet finds room for a Celeron-400 chip and a 13.1-inch screen.

Athlon Inside?

Over the past couple of years, AMD has made significant inroads into the budget desktop PC market with its K6, K6-2, and K6-III processors. AMD's latest chip, the Athlon, takes on the performance PC market, where speed takes precedence over price. But are computer makers ready to use this faster-than-Pentium processor?

IBM and Compaq tell us they will offer both chip brands. Brian Dalgetty, director of product marketing for IBM's consumer division, says IBM is very positive about the Athlon and notes that Big Blue offers six machines based on it. "We want to have the highest quality solutions at the best price," Dalgetty says. "Sometimes it's Intel; sometimes it's AMD."

Hewlett-Packard spokesperson Ray Aldrich tells us that HP has been using AMD's K6-2 chips for more than a year, and that eventually the company will employ Athlons. "We want to make sure [AMD] can supply us with the quantity we need," Aldrich says.

In contrast, Dell, Gateway, and Micron inform us that they are sticking with Intel processors. Dell's Maria Krinsky states, "At this time, we have no plans to offer systems with the Athlon chip," but says that Dell is always evaluating its options.

Whereas the big dogs may be slow to adopt the Athlon, scrappier hounds are ready to play. Tom Beardmore, online evangelist for IDot.com, explains, "No knocks against Intel, but this time AMD really did its job. If you're buying this caliber of processor, you're buying it for speed. Our systems are geared for speed, speed, and nothing but speed."

RAM Prices Rocking

The earthquake that hit Taiwan in late September dealt a devastating blow to the country's economy, and its ripple effect has hit our desktop PC charts. Though only a fraction of the world's DRAM is manufactured in Taiwan, the production shutdown accelerated already rising RAM prices. As a result, several system manufacturers have raised prices of their PCs.

Prices of systems listed here were accurate in early September but may fluctuate until RAM prices stabilize.

For this month's coverage of the top 15 home computers and the 10 best color ink jet printers, check out our "Ultimate Buyers Guides."