WHAT'S HOT: Less than $2000 is a pretty good price for a laptop equipped with Intel's Pentium III-850/700. The ENP-325W2 clocked the same PC WorldBench 2000 score--145--as the Compaq Presario 1700, one of the few PIII-850/700 notebooks we've tested with Microsoft's Windows Me operating system.

WHAT'S NOT: In these days of removable, color-coordinated panels and innovative designs, the ENP-325W2's plain-Jane black case looks a bit outdated. You'll have to be on guard not to snag the unit's screen on objects: It overlaps the edge of the case by about a quarter of an inch, just enough to catch on something and possibly damage the screen.

WHAT ELSE: A removable 8X DVD-ROM drive sits front and center, flanked on the right by the notebook's 10GB hard drive (held in place by a single optional screw) and on the left by the battery. All three parts easily slide in and out the front of the notebook. A fixed floppy drive sits on the left side. You can swap out the DVD-ROM drive for any of three other devices that Enpower sells for the bay: a CD-RW drive ($399 extra), a second battery ($130), or a 100MB Zip drive ($199).

The ENP-325W2's keyboard, including touchpad, feels and works fine, though you get no shortcut keys or other extras. DVD movies looked crisp on the notebook's 15-inch screen. An S-Video-out port on the back lets you watch DVD movies on a TV. Music CDs played fairly loud but offered little bass.

BEST USE: Individuals or small companies looking for top mobile performance at a good price may want to check out this unexciting but comfortable and speedy laptop.

SUMMARY

Enpower ENP-325W2 PC WorldBench 2000 score of 145, Pentium III-850/700 CPU, 128MB of SDRAM, 256KB of L2 cache, Windows Me, 15-inch active-matrix screen, ATI Mobility 128 AGP 2X graphics with 16MB of SGRAM, 10GB hard drive, 8X DVD-ROM drive, built-in V.90 modem, touchpad and eraserhead pointing devices, 8.1-pound weight (including AC adapter and phone cord). One-year parts and labor warranty; free, unlimited 24-hour toll-call tech support. $1799 800/997-2258 www.enpower.com