Xi Computer 1100K MTower SP

WHAT'S HOT: With an impressive score of 180 on our PC WorldBench 2000 tests, Xi's Athlon-1100-based 1100K MTower SP performed better than any system we've seen running Windows 98 SE. The MTower might owe this achievement to its hard drive configuration--it uses two 30 GB drives connected to an IDE RAID card, which should speed disk-intensive tasks. Or perhaps credit lies with its Hercules 3D Prophet II GTS graphics board with 64MB of DDR SDRAM video memory.

WHAT'S NOT: Loose stickers identifying the rear ports could fall off during use.

WHAT ELSE: The 1100K MTower SP ships with a 19-inch Optiquest Q95 monitor, which delivered deep, rich colors and crisp text at resolutions of 1024 by 768 and 1280 by 1024. A 16X-40X CD-ROM drive, DVI and S-Video output, and an Altec Lansing ADA880 five-speaker set with remote control offer excellent presentation capabilities. Xi ships the system with thorough documentation for components and a detailed system manual with a large glossary.

The tower's flexible side comes off easily without tools; the spacious, uncluttered interior has four open PCI slots and three open bays for your cards and drives. The Logitech Internet keyboard features 17 programmable multimedia buttons, allowing quick access to the Web and system applications. With a translucent orange panel placed on its white midsize tower, this Xi PC looks like an iMac pretender.

BEST USE: The Xi 1100K MTower SP would make a fine system for businesses that need a combination of power and presentation options.

SUMMARY

Xi Computer 1100K MTower SP PC WorldBench 2000 score of 180, Athlon-1100 CPU, 128MB of SDRAM, 256KB L2 cache, Windows 98 SE, two 30GB hard drives with IDE RAID card, 16X-40X CD-ROM drive, Hercules 3D Prophet II GTS graphics card with 64MB of DDR SDRAM, 19-inch Optiquest Q95 monitor, Xwave Audio Elite Value Edition sound card, Altec Lansing ADA880 speakers, V.90 modem, midsize tower case, Microsoft Office 2000 Professional. 3-year parts warranty, 3-year labor warranty; free, unlimited 24-hour tech support. $2279 800/432-0486 www.xicomputer.com