« Return to: Top 10 Power PCs
| Rank | Power system | Issue tested | Overall rating | Street price (8/17/01) | PC WorldBench 2000 performance score1 | Comments | Base configuration: CPU | Base configuration: RAM (MB/type) | Base configuration: Hard drive (GB) | Base configuration: Monitor size (diagonal inches) | Base configuration: Graphics board | Base configuration: Case type2 | Base configuration: Open bays/slots | Extra features | Design/documentation | Vendor's reliability/service |
| 1 | Best Buy, New Dell Dimension 8200 | New | 84 | Expensive: $2919 | Windows 2000 Very good: 236 | Pricey, but in return you get solid performance, top-of-the-line components, and a distinctive case design. | Pentium 4-2000 | 256/RDRAM | 100 | 19 | Dell GeForce3 | Midsize tower | 2/3 | Very good: 16X DVD-ROM drive, 16X/10X/40X CD-RW drive, network adapter, Microsoft Office XP Small Business Edition | Good/Average | Outstanding/Fair |
| 2 | Best Buy Sys Performance 1400TD | Oct 01 | 83 | Inexpensive: $1915 | Windows 2000 Outstanding: 245 | Swift performer is paired with a rich, attractive display, but it's light on software. Drops $178 this month. (Oct 01) | Athlon-1400 | 256/SDRAM | 61.5 | 19 | ATI Radeon | Midsize tower | 4/4 | Good: 16X DVD-ROM drive, 16X/10X/40X CD-RW drive, network adapter | Good/Poor | 3/Fair3 |
| 3 | Xi Computer 1400 MTower SP | Sept 01 | 83 | Expensive: $2799 | Windows 2000 Outstanding: 242 | Fast system has a sharp display, two 41GB hard drives linked with an IDE RAID card, and a high price to match. (Sept 01) | Athlon-1400 | 256/SDRAM | 824 | 19 | Leadtek WinFast GeForce3 | Tower | 6/3 | Very good: 12X/8X/32X CD-RW drive, network adapter, Microsoft Office XP Small Business Edition | Good/Good | 3/Fair3 |
| 4 | New Polywell Poly 815TS-1260 | New | 83 | Average: $2199 | Windows 2000 Very good: 236 | Using Intel's Processor-M, this unit earned the same PC WorldBench 2000 score as Dell's P4-2000-based Dimension 8200. | Pentium III-M-1260 | 256/SDRAM | 804 | 19 | Leadtek WinFast GeForce3 | Midsize tower | 5/3 | Outstanding: 16X DVD-ROM drive, 8X/12X/32X CD-RW drive, V.90 modem, network adapter, Lotus SmartSuite Millennium Edition | Good/Average | 3/Fair3 |
| 5 | NuTrend Athlon Ultra 2 | Oct 01 | 82 | Very inexpensive: $1699 | Windows 2000 Very good: 233 | Performance matches that of other speedy Athlon-based systems; includes an IEEE 1394 card with three ports. (Oct 01) | Athlon-1400 | 256/SDRAM | 80 | 19 | Leadtek WinFast GeForce3 | Midsize tower | 3/1 | Outstanding: 16X DVD-ROM drive, 16X/10X/40X CD-RW drive, V.90 modem, network adapter, Corel WordPerfect Office 2002 | Good/Good | 3/Fair3 |
| 6 | Dell OptiPlex GX400 | July 01 | 80 | Average: $2146 | Windows 2000 Average: 203 | Efficiently designed corporate system has excellent display. Dell's lower service scores this month cause it to fall from the top spot. | Pentium 4-1400 | 256/RDRAM | 40 | 19 | Dell GeForce2 GTS | Midsize tower | 4/5 | Very good: 8X DVD-ROM and 8X/4X/32X CD-RW combination drive, network adapter, Wake-on-LAN, Dell LegacySelect | Good/Average | Outstanding/Fair |
| 7 | New Gateway Professional S1800 | New | 78 | Average: $2508 | Windows 2000 Good: 229 | Speedy, well-designed system offers tool-less access to components. Comes with a sharp flat-panel display. | Pentium 4-1800 | 256/RDRAM | 40 | 15 (LCD) | VisionTek GeForce3 | Midsize tower | 3/3 | Good: 12X/10X/32X CD-RW drive, network adapter, Microsoft Office XP Small Business Edition | Average/Average | Good/Fair |
| 8 | Xi Computer 1333 DDR MTower SP | July 01 | 77 | Average: $2259 | Windows 2000 Average: 216 | Performance lags slightly behind that of similarly configured systems. Comes loaded with extras. Floppy drive difficult to access. | Athlon-1333 | 256/SDRAM | 61.44 | 19 | Leadtek WinFast GeForce2 Ultra | Midsize tower | 3/2 | Good: 16X/10X/40X CD-RW drive, V.90 modem, Microsoft Office 2000 Professional | Good/Good | 3/Fair3 |
| 9 | Tangent Medallion Pro Plus | Sept 01 | 77 | Average: $2195 | Windows 2000 Good: 220 | Comes with a graphics card that supports two displays at once. Two hard drives provide plentiful storage. (Sept 01) | Pentium 4-1700 | 256/RDRAM | 804 | 19 | Matrox Millennium G450 | Midsize tower | 3/3 | Good: 8X DVD-ROM drive and 4X/4X/24X CD-RW combination drive, network adapter | Average/Poor | 3/Fair3 |
| 10 | HP Vectra VL800 | Apr 01 | 76 | Expensive: $2960 | Windows 2000 Average: 208 | Priciest system on the chart delivers reliable performance and ships with a roomy 21-inch display. | Pentium 4-1500 | 256/RDRAM | 40 | 21 | HP GeForce2 GTS | Desktop | 2/4 | Good: 16X DVD-ROM drive, network adapter, HP's E-DiagTools, ProtectTools 2000, TopTools management software | Average/Good | Good/Fair |
| Percent of overall rating | 10 percent | 25 percent | 10 percent | 10 percent | 15 percent | 30 percent |
For more details, see "A Guide to PC World's Star Ratings."
1A system's performance word score is relative to the scores earned by other PCs running the same operating system. See "Your Guide to the Top 100" for more details.
2We define vertical cases as towers (taller than 20 inches), midsize towers (15.5 to 20 inches), or minitowers (shorter than 15.5 inches); and horizontal cases as desktops (5 inches or taller) or compacts (shorter than 5 inches).
3Insufficient data to give a rating, or the rating is derived from the vendor's Reliability and Service survey scores for its home PCs.
4Total space on two hard drives.