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IBM PC 300GL

  

IBM PC 300GL

IBM's latest corporate offering is a Celeron-333-based desktop PC that earned a 175 PC WorldBench score, which is average for a Celeron-333. But IBM's $1459 offering has low-value components and falls far short on expandability features when compared with similar corporate systems. While the integrated audio and video chips keep a pair of both PCI and ISA slots free, the PC is still remarkably large: It looks like a minitower lying on its side.

The storage subsystem offered a host of problems. First, the computer has only one IDE channel, to which both the hard drive and CD-ROM drive are connected. Not only does this slow down the system when it needs the hard drive, but it means the only upgrade option for the hard drive is replacement.] Unfortunately, IBM formatted the 3.2GB hard drive using the FAT16 standard, and made only one 2GB partition. A corporate customer would expect to be able to use all the hard drive's space, but IBM didn't even create a second 1.2GB partition. In the end, more than a gigabyte of drive space is wasted.

Correction: The system has two IDE channels. --Editors


SUMMARY



PRO: Easily managed corporate desktop.
CON: Limited upgradability, small hard drive and monitor, large for a desktop.
$1459; 175 PC WorldBench 98 score, Celeron-333, 64MB of RAM, 128KB of secondary cache, 2GB hard drive, 14X-32X CD-ROM drive, 15-inch monitor, integrated S3 graphics chip, integrated sound, ethernet.

IBM
800/426-2968
www.ibm.com

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