WHAT'S HOT: The "E" stands for enterprise, and our budget-priced E-1800 offers several tools and features that your company's IT department will appreciate, including Intel's LANDesk Client Manager software and a chassis intrusion detector. (The system can notify the IT department electronically when someone removes the side panel). Two front-mounted USB 1.1 ports (with four more in the rear) allow you to easily connect peripherals. (The system also supports management software that will prevent employees from plugging in devices at will.) And people who like to work with a little background music can plug into the front headphone port.

This Gateway's score of 89 on PC WorldBench 4 is a great run for a 1.2-GHz Celeron machine with 256MB of PC-133 memory and Windows XP Professional, though power users may want more oomph. We haven't tested any similarly configured systems, but it lands a negligible two points below a Dell Optiplex GX240 1.8-GHz Pentium 4 system.

WHAT'S NOT: The printed documentation that came with our test system was limited to a color setup poster and a skimpy generic manual with only basic setup and troubleshooting information. However, a system-specific manual is available in PDF format on the included Business Desktop Documentation CD-ROM.

WHAT ELSE: The 17-inch Gateway EV700 CRT monitor produced legible 12-point Arial text in our test document, although we saw noticeable fuzziness in individual characters. Its graphics quality was excellent, with rich, bright colors and lifelike flesh tones on our test photograph.

Repairs and upgrades should be easy with the E-1800. The system has two slots available for expansion (thanks in part to integrated audio and network circuitry), and you can add or remove PCI cards after depressing green tabs that unlock or lock them. You can also unlock the hard drive by sliding a green bar. Unfortunately, the case cover, which comes off easily, takes some work to line up properly when you close the system.

UPSHOT: Minor nitpicks aside, this E-1800 system delivers adequate performance for a budget-minded office, and its manageability features should fit well in any corporate environment.

SUMMARY

Gateway E-1800 PC WorldBench 4 score of 89, 1.2-GHz Celeron CPU, 256MB of SDRAM, Windows XP Professional, 40GB hard drive, 16X DVD-ROM drive, 16X/10X/40X CD-RW drive, integrated Intel 815E graphics using main memory, 17-inch monitor, integrated sound, Creative GC5300 speakers, network adapter, V.92 modem, desktop case. Three-year parts and labor warranty; free, unlimited, 24-hour toll-free daily tech support. $1269 800/315-2536 www.gateway.com