CyberMax Entrepreneur C-400

CyberMax Entrepreneur C-400

SUMMARY

PRO: Very affordable, includes Zip drive CON: Monitor is a tad fuzzy at high resolutions, vendor's system reliability rates as only fair

The lowdown on CyberMax's latest: It's a nicely equipped small-business PC at a miser's price. The Entrepreneur Celeron-400 delivers solid performance and features for a mere $1199, earning it the fourth-place Best Buy on our chart. The only thing about the PC that gives us pause is the reliability rating of the vendor's systems. In our survey of subscribers who use CyberMax home PCs, the company earned a rating of fair. CyberMax's service, on the other hand, is rated as good--second only to Dell's.

The Entrepreneur C-400 clocked in with a PC WorldBench 98 score of 188--average for a system with a Celeron-400 CPU and 64MB of RAM. The PC's sturdy tower case is a bit taller than most, but the included components are mostly standard issue. Still, CyberMax does add a Zip drive that lets you use removable 100MB floppy-size disks--a nice plus. Robust multimedia features on the Entrepreneur include a 20X­40X CD-ROM drive and a pair of Altec Lansing ACS45 speakers. Most users should enjoy the sound; we found it a bit bass-heavy, but the speakers deliver adequate audio fidelity for music CDs.

The CX700S 17-inch monitor provides a great picture at 800 by 600 resolution, with bright, realistic colors and sharp text. At 1024 by 768, however, the text gets slightly fuzzy. With Microsoft Office 97 Small Business Edition and several titles for business planning and project management bundled in the package, you'll be able to get to work as soon as you set up the system. That shouldn't be difficult, since the manuals are clearly and concisely written. CyberMax deserves high marks for its excellent documentation.

Getting inside the case is a painless experience. The interior is well organized, and the five open drive bays and three unoccupied expansion slots give you plenty of room to upgrade. In our anonymous calls to CyberMax's support line, technical reps were generally helpful. The company backs its PCs with warranties of three years on parts and one year on labor, as well as around-the-clock support.