Compaq Evo D310 Microtower

WHAT'S HOT: From a design perspective, the Evo system is a nice-looking package: Its black-and-silver minitower should fit easily into the often tight quarters of corporate offices, and it comes with a matching keyboard and a 15-inch Compaq S5500CRT monitor. The attractive, slim keyboard feels solidly constructed and has several hot-keys that you can program for quick access to a company intranet or to Web sites. The PC is also easy to set up, and in case of a disaster, it comes with an advanced rescue disk, a convenience not typically included with systems in this price group. The Evo's 80GB hard drive is significantly larger than what you typically find in PCs under $900.

WHAT'S NOT: The Evo is relatively thin on extras, even by sub-$900 standards--you get the 15-inch CRT, for example, when all of the competing systems we've tested in this category come with 17-inch models. You don't get any speakers, either. Compaq also received a score of Poor for service in our most recent reader survey.

WHAT ELSE: Equipped with a 2.4-GHz Pentium 4 CPU and 256MB of DDR266 SDRAM, the D310 was a middling performer, mustering a score of 108 on our PC WorldBench 4 tests. On the other hand, Compaq's S5500 monitor performed admirably, displaying bright colors with our test photo and sharp text down to 9-point fonts. It is probably better for text applications than graphics, however--1024 by 768 at 60 Hz is its maximum resolution and refresh rate. If your desktop has room for it, consider upgrading to the 17-inch S7500 monitor for about $12 more.

With two open drive bays in this configuration, you can upgrade the system with an extra hard drive or a removable-media drive, such as a DVD-ROM drive. The three open PCI slots make it easy to add a board for wireless networking or FireWire ports. The software includes Corel WordPerfect Office 2002 as well as Roxio Easy CD Creator. As is common with corporate systems, the bulk of the Evo's documentation comes on a CD, but the hard-copy material includes setting-up and getting-started guides, as well as a manual that offers tips on creating an ergonomic work environment.

UPSHOT: A solid fit for businesses with tightening IT budgets, the Evo balances performance and basic features for a small price.