Gateway 300S

WHAT'S HOT: A member of Gateway's value line, the 300S offers a snappy-looking case in black and steel-gray that can either stand upright as a thin tower or lie on its side as a low-profile desktop. Its new look continues a makeover begun on the company's pricier 500 and 700 desktop lines. The compactly designed system provides six high-speed USB 2.0 ports, two of which are mounted on the front for quick access. Speaker and headphone jacks are also up front, easily accessible behind a cover that flips open.

WHAT'S NOT: As you would with many other entry-level systems, you'll have to accept the 300S's modest multimedia offerings. For instance, the system comes with Intel 845GL-based integrated graphics, which doesn't support AGP and effectively eliminates graphics upgrades. In our gaming tests, Unreal Tournament and Quake III played acceptably at 16-bit color depth and at the low resolution of 640 by 480, but they were unplayable at higher resolutions and the richer 32-bit color depth that hard-core gamers prefer. The sound was also weak: We had to crank up the volume to full throttle to hear some audio tracks on the two pint-size Creative Labs GCS300 speakers. The lack of a subwoofer will prevent you from appreciating bass-tone depth, and the integrated sound system omits support for four- and five-channel surround sound.

Powered by a 1.8-GHz Celeron CPU, the 300S turned in a tepid PC WorldBench 4 score of 89, putting it on a par with older 1.3-GHz Celeron PCs we've tested.

WHAT ELSE: Setup was a breeze thanks to ports color-coded for connecting peripherals; the well-illustrated setup poster includes the toll-free number for tech support--handy if you run into problems. However, the manual is not as helpful as it could have been. Generic to all Gateway systems, it provides no specific information on the new 300 line. It does, however, present good general tips on topics such as upgrades and networking, and it includes a detailed troubleshooting section.

The bundled Corel WordPerfect software will help you get work done, and the popular game The Sims provides a welcome distraction from work.

After you undo one large thumbscrew and slip off the gray side panel, the case opens smoothly. The tight interior unavoidably lacks the room found in more-spacious tower designs, but it is relatively neat. Two open PCI slots and one free memory socket are easy to get at if you lie the case down on its side.

The system has only one drive bay, which in our review unit held a 40X/12X/48X CD-RW drive. If you also want to watch DVD movies, you can order the system with a DVD/CD-RW combination drive for an extra $90.

The Gateway EV700 17-inch CRT monitor has a black case accented by a carbon-toned bezel, and it nicely complements the system's overall design. In our image tests, text on a newsletter featured crisp, easily readable letters--though fine details, such as small serif edges on extra-large fonts, were lost. Colors looked vivid, and flesh tones were realistic in our test photo.

UPSHOT: This inexpensive entry-level system suits homes with modest computing needs, limited desktop space, and tight budgets.