Compaq Presario S4000T

WHAT'S HOT: This updated Presario resembles the Presario 6470NX we reviewed in July, with a similar black case and silver accents. It includes a good-size 120GB hard drive, a DVD+R/RW drive, two FireWire ports (one in front and one in back), and a 64MB ATI Radeon 9000 graphics board. You also get an array of handy USB 2.0 ports (two up front, four in back) for connecting external peripherals.

Despite its relatively moderate price, the S4000T we tested came bundled with Windows Office XP Professional Edition, which, unlike Office XP Small Business Edition, offers extras such as Publisher 2002 and remote access features. (If you can live with Office SBE, however, you can shave $200 off the system price.)

WHAT'S NOT: Like the Presario 6470NX, our test system suffered from an untidy interior. The cables were bunched up behind the drive bay cages; when adding memory, you'll want to unplug data and power cables from the back of some drives to get enough room to work comfortably. Upgrading this configuration will be limited to an extra hard drive, one memory module, and two PCI add-on cards.

HP doesn't include recovery CDs to bring the system back from a fatal crash. You'll have to make your own, which could prove a time-consuming hassle. The company partitions a portion of the hard drive to be used for rebooting in an emergency, but should the hard drive fail, you'll need the recovery discs to restore your system to the condition it was in when you bought it.

The two tall JBL satellite speakers produced unexciting sound quality when we listened to vocal tracks, games, and a DVD movie. Bass tones lacked power, and trebles sounded thin. On the plus side, the speakers can be attached to the monitor to save desktop space.

WHAT ELSE: Outfitted with a 2.8-GHz Pentium 4 CPU and 512MB of 333-MHz DDR SDRAM, our test unit earned a score of 117 on our PC WorldBench 4 tests, placing it a scant four points (3 percent) below the average for similarly configured systems.

Though the S4000T's overall performance was run of the mill, we did like the above-average image quality of the 17-inch FS7550 CRT monitor. It displayed easily readable text at a resolution of 1024 by 768. Small fonts didn't have the fuzziness we sometimes see on 17-inch CRTs. Displays of photos fared well, too, showing bright hues and realistic facial tones.

The keyboard accompanying the S4000T felt sturdy. Typing on it was quiet and sure, and it includes eight hot-keys for launching Web sites and e-mail programs, though none for adjusting audio settings or navigating CD/DVD functions.

The company's documentation includes a general-purpose user's guide that covers both the Presario 6000 and 8000 lines, but not the 4000 line, plus a setup poster. The manual competently covers troubleshooting and component upgrades. An additional manual offers tips for setting up your workspace ergonomically.

UPSHOT: This attractive system offers acceptable, but not blazing speed. It's fairly well configured at this price, but if you like tinkering inside a system's interior, you may get frustrated with it.

SUMMARY

Compaq Presario S4000T $