Micro Express MicroFlex 38A

The midsize tower case doesn't make much of a fashion statement with its gray front panel and silver accents, but it has a roomy interior and sports 1GB of DDR400 SDRAM, a 256MB ATI Radeon X800 XT graphics card, and a 250GB hard drive. The MicroFlex 38A generated above-average frame rates in our video game tests. It was particularly impressive playing Unreal Tournament 2003 at the 1024-by-768-pixel resolution, generating 365 frames per second. On the 19-inch ViewSonic VP191b LCD, small text looked crisp, and colors rich. The built-in Realtek ALC850 audio card coupled with the 400-watt Logitech Z-560 THX-certified speaker system, produced rich, deep, and lively sound that should please audiophiles.

The MicroFlex 38A is clearly designed with expandability in mind. In addition to the hard drive and the installed CD-RW and DVD+/-RW drives, the midrange tower has room for three additional 3.5-inch internal drives and two additional 5.25-inch external drives. Conveniently, installing a new drive and locking it into place doesn't require any tools; however, you'll need a screwdriver to add a card into one of the three remaining slots.

Besides the built-in gigabit network adapter, the included 802.11g wireless adapter is a nice touch if you want to set up a wireless network or have a wireless-enabled printer. The system also comes with a wireless Microsoft keyboard, which has a well-designed layout. The system came with Windows XP Home and a few other system utilities, as well as Nero's OEM Suite, which includes Nero Express 6, InCD 4, and some other applications. But it would have been nice to get productivity software like Microsoft Office, as well.

Upshot: Fast and reasonably priced, the MicroFlex 38A delivers good audio and video quality, as well as expandability for the future.

Andre Kvitka