Greatest PCs: 22-20
22. Hewlett-Packard 100LX (1993)
The $749 100LX managed to squeeze a lot of functionality into its tiny clamshell design. It had a QWERTY keyboard (with a separate numeric keypad!), an 80-by-25-character monochrome display, and Lotus 1-2-3 in ROM. Best of all, it ran DOS 5.0, which meant that it was compatible with thousands of popular programs.
HP's 200LX, a slightly improved version of the 100LX, was also popular. With the 300LX, however, the company dumped DOS in favor of the then-new Windows CE operating system. Compatibility with desktop software was lost--which might be one reason why the 300LX is forgotten but people are still using its predecessors to this day.
21. Alienware Area-51 (1998)
In 1998 that model evolved into the Area-51 (an Intel machine; its AMD counterpart, the Aurora, came out a year later). It was amped up with gaming hardware, including three video cards (one 2D card, plus two 3D add-on cards with 3Dfx's Voodoo chip) and two sound cards (a Sound Blaster 16 for older games and a newer Diamond Monster Sound card, which took advantage of DirectX-capable features like 3D positioning). Back then a high-end system set you back $3799. In 2000, the company added an array of space-age colors to its still-ordinary Area-51 and Aurora case design; it wasn't until 2003 that the vendor introduced its current hallmark design, the sci-fi "Predator" chassis.
Alienware's innovative and startling design influenced PC cases in general, and gave gaming PCs new street cred (even Dell and HP have produced gaming systems in the years since). The company, which Dell bought last year, continues to refine its distinctive design and to produce top-flight gaming rigs: In May we named the Alienware Aurora 7500 one of the Top 100 Products of 2006, and in July the company introduced an improved alien-motif case design.
20. Gateway 2000 Destination (1996)
The PC itself was black and boxy, practically the size of two 1990s-vintage VCRs stacked on top of each other. It included a wireless keyboard and remote control, a TV tuner, and surround-sound speakers. As with today's DVRs, you could browse TV listings--but you couldn't record TV to the hard disk.
Along with other proto-Media Center PCs such as Compaq and RCA's PC Theatre, the Destination attracted lots of attention but failed to make its way into many living rooms. However, it did find a niche among businesses and schools as a presentation machine. And the basic idea it pioneered returned in 2002, when PCs based on Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center operating system appeared.