Premio Centella T810S

WHAT'S HOT: Speed pours from this Premio--its score of 129 on our PC WorldBench 2000 tests is one of the highest we've seen for a PIII-600 with Windows 98. While the side panel of this standard minitower may flex a bit more than we like, it slides on and off very smoothly for fast interior access. Even though the system includes a network card and Microsoft Office 2000 Small Business Edition, it sells for $1579--not bad for a well-stocked PIII-600. We originally evaluated this system with PC WorldBench 98, but we have since retested it with PC WorldBench 2000 and reconfirmed its configuration with the vendor. --Editors

WHAT'S NOT: Unfortunately, the interior offers limited expansion room, with only one open slot and three open bays, and the wiring, though bundled, still crowds the small cavity. Using the installed Creative PC-DVD player, we had difficulty getting the 6X DVD-ROM drive even to play our test movie. However, when we installed WinDVD (the disc is included with the system), we saw stutter-free playback. But the weak-sounding Premio 636A two-speaker set didn't add much to the multimedia package. Premio doesn't offer evening or weekend tech support.

WHAT ELSE: Colors on the 19-inch Premio M980 appear a little dark, but most text looks crisp (although it blurs a bit at the maximum resolution of 1600 by 1200). Premio provided only generic documentation for our test system, but the company says it's working on a manual that's specific to this model.

BEST USE: With mediocre multimedia, keep this Centella away from your presentations and let its powerful performance handle just one media at a time in your corporate office.

SUMMARY

Premio Centella T810S PC WorldBench 2000 score of 129, PIII-600 CPU, 128MB of RAM, 256KB of secondary cache, 10.2GB hard drive, Windows 98 SE, integrated Intel 810 graphics chip with 4MB of display cache, 19-inch monitor, 6X DVD-ROM, network card, integrated SoundMax Digital Audio sound chip, Premio 636A speakers, Microsoft Office 2000 SBE. Three-year parts and labor warranty; free tech support 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. $1579 800/677-6477 www.premiopc.com