Premio Centella T810S

WHAT'S HOT: A bundled copy of Microsoft Office 2000 Small Business Edition is definitely a plus for a budget-priced PC. In our recent round of anonymous calls for technical support, we reached Premio tech reps by phone after minimal wait times, and they answered our questions accurately.

WHAT'S NOT: With a PIII-700 processor and Windows 98 SE, this slowpoke mustered a somnambulatory score of 122 on our PC WorldBench 2000 tests. That's partly due to our test system's paltry 64MB of system RAM; every other PIII-700 system we've tested came with 128MB, and the slowest of that group turned in a WorldBench score of 133. Keys on the flimsy keyboard feel mushy, and the Backspace key is rather small.

WHAT ELSE: The Premio Elite 901 19-inch monitor displayed sharp text at 1024 by 768 resolution, but text looked fuzzy at 1280 by 1024 and deteriorated up to the maximum resolution of 1600 by 1200. Colors appeared washed out at all resolutions. The Centella T810S uses integrated video that depends on system RAM; this arrangement can slow graphically intensive tasks (especially on a system that's short of RAM to begin with).

You can remove the beige desktop's sturdy side without tools after you loosen three thumbscrews. Lining the side up when you want to replace it, however, takes some effort. Inside the small but neat interior, you'll find one open bay and three open PCI slots.

Rather than including two integrated serial ports, Premio supplied one serial port and installed a serial port expander in one of the PCI slots; you can remove it if you don't need the second port. Either way, you're a slot ahead because Premio installed a tiny modem in an Audio Modem Riser (AMR) slot located where most motherboards put an AGP slot.

BEST USE: Though the Centella T810S offers a couple of attractive features, you can find better deals at this price point.

SUMMARY

Premio Centella T810S PC WorldBench 2000 score of 122, PIII-700 CPU, 64MB of SDRAM, 256KB L2 cache, Windows 98 SE, 20GB hard drive, 22X-48X CD-ROM drive, integrated Intel 810 graphics with UMA, Premio Elite 901 19-inch monitor, integrated sound, Premio 636A speakers, V.90 modem, desktop case, Microsoft Office 2000 SBE. 3-year parts warranty, 3-year labor warranty; free tech support for 10 hours on weekdays. $1399 800/677-6477 www.premiopc.com