MidWest Micro Business Solution XPP-450

MidWest Micro Business Solution XPP-450

SUMMARY

PRO: Inexpensive for its class, includes LS-120 drive and ergonomic keyboard CON: None major

MidWest Micro offers a good deal of computer for relatively little money. Its $1899 Pentium III-450 Business Solution XPP-450 earned a score of 261 on our PC WorldBench 98 test--above average for an NT-based PC, though not the fastest.

MidWest Micro also includes numerous appealing features, such as Microsoft's sturdy and ergonomically designed Natural Keyboard. The crisp 17-inch monitor and the ATI Rage Pro 128 graphics card clearly display small text and the thinnest fonts at a high, 1280 by 1024 resolution.

The case's side panels slide off without the aid of tools. Once inside, the chassis gives you easy access to all components for maintenance and upgrades. And while most companies include either a modem or an ethernet adapter with their PCs, MidWest Micro joins the small but growing number of vendors that have begun including both. The company also provides a 120MB LS-120 SuperDisk drive, which can read and write to standard 3.5-inch floppies.

The XPP-450's sound was pleasing in our tests. MidWest Micro pairs the middle-of-the-road Sound Blaster PCI128 audio card with Monsoon's flat-panel speakers, which sport a cool look, with metal grates and a black subwoofer. Fidelity is good, volume adequate.

Support policies are excellent, including a five-year warranty on the CPU and main RAM, and 24-hour phone support. In our anonymous calls, MidWest Micro's technical support reps gave us accurate but abrupt responses to our questions.