PC Peripherals
Best Personal Printer
Epson Stylus Color 800
Here's a case where we recommend you spend a little more to get
the best. Epson's $299 Stylus Color 800 costs more than some of our other
top-rated printers, but it has a long history of quality. It's fast, easy
to use, and produces color photos that are among the sharpest you'll see from
any printer.
| SUMMARY |  |
|
|
Runner-up: Hewlett-Packard
DeskJet 722C. With its laserlike text and crisp color graphics--on
plain paper, yet--HP's well-designed $299 ink jet is a fine choice for small
and home offices.
| SUMMARY | |
|
|
Best Modem
3Com U.S. Robotics 56K Faxmodem External
Snicker if you must
at the "56K" in the product name, but 3Com will do right in upgrading this
speedy, reliable modem. The company says if you've already bought one, you'll
get a free upgrade to the universal 56-kbps standard, even if 3Com has to
send you a new modem. So you can feel good about this $180 device.
| SUMMARY | |
|
|
Runner-up: Diamond
SupraExpress 56i. Diamond's $119 internal K56flex modem is a snap
to install, and it's packed with features like voice mail and support for
Caller ID and speakerphones.
| SUMMARY | |
|
|
Best Input
Device
Logitech MouseMan+
People's hands are
shaped the same wherever you go. So can anyone explain all the different shapes
of ergonomic mice? In our opinion, Logitech gets it right with the $60 MouseMan+.
It's designed for comfort, with a built-in wheel for scrolling through Windows
95 applications, and it's easy to program.
| SUMMARY | |
|
|
Best Scanner
Visioneer PaperPort OneTouch
Aside from free-falling
prices, it's been difficult to find anything new and exciting about flatbed
scanners. Until now, that is. Visioneer's new $249 scanner has a neat set
of buttons that allows you to scan, fax, copy, and print. The company also
makes the best software for adjusting, filing, and annotating scanned images.
| SUMMARY | |
|
|
Best DVD Drive
Creative
Labs PC-DVD Encore Dxr2
Want in on the new multimedia? Check out
the $300 PC-DVD Encore. The 2X DVD drive can read both CD-Recordable and CD-Rewritable
discs and spins CD-ROMs at a fast 20X. The media card produces superior MPEG-2
video and uses a loopback cable to eliminate compatibility snafus with existing
graphics cards.
| SUMMARY | |
|
|
Best Removable Storage Drive
SyQuest SyJet 1.5GB EIDE
The $299 SyJet's
cartridges hold more data than any removable media we've tested this year.
The drive is fast, easy to install, and at 5 cents per megabyte of storage,
a terrific bargain. This is the solution for your business PC.
Runner-up: SyQuest SparQ 1.0GB. The budget-conscious user may opt
instead for this speedy $199 drive, which uses 1GB cartridges that cost but
a trifling $39 each.
| SUMMARY | |
|
|
Best Recordable CD-ROM
Drive
HP CD-Writer Plus 7200i
Record all your
favorite songs on a CD, then record over them. This $499 internal CD-Rewritable
drive lets you record repeatedly over the same CD. We found it fast, and easy
to install (see "Cut Your Own CDs," June).
| SUMMARY | |
|
|
Runner-up: TEAC 4x12 External CD
Recorder. If you don't need to rewrite CDs, this fast $549 CD-Recordable
SCSI drive is the one for you.
| SUMMARY | |
|
|
Best Personal
Digital Assistant/Palmtop
3Com Palm III
The
Newton may be dead, but the PalmPilot grows stronger by the day. 3Com's PDA
streamlines calendar and address book management and provides great connectivity
to desktop PCs. The new $399 Palm III ups the ante with a sleeker case, more
RAM, and other refinements.
| SUMMARY | |
|
|
Runner-up: Psion Series 5. Combining software
that's better than Windows CE with a notebooklike QWERTY keyboard, Psion's
$499 unit is a powerhouse among palmtops.
| SUMMARY | |
|
|
Best Digital
Camera
Sony Digital Mavica MVC-FD7
Finally,
storing digital images and transferring them to your PC is as simple as popping
out a floppy. That's because Sony's $799 Mavica uses standard 3.5-inch disks
to hold your pictures--just one of the innovations that earn it our award.
The images it captures are top-notch, and the camera is, well, a snap to use.
| SUMMARY | |
|
|
Best Wireless Communications Product
Nokia 9000i Communicator
It's a cell phone, a fax machine,
and a handheld computer--all three in one device. Flip open the $999 Nokia
Communicator, and you'll find an 8MB PDA complete with a regulation-style
QWERTY keyboard, a 640 by 200 LCD screen, and a Web browser. It's pricey,
but definitely a road warrior's dream.
| SUMMARY | |
|
|
Best Gadget
Rolodex Electronics REX PC Companion
Credit
Rolodex Electronics with creating a brand-new category of pocket-size computers:
the fingertop. This ingenious little $179 gizmo crams all your personal information
into a device the size of a regular business card. It's incredibly portable
and fun to use.
| SUMMARY | |
|
|
Locate wireless services by a specific address, city, state, country, airport, or zip code.
