Dec 1995 Reviews

by: John J. Yacono, Technical Editor, John Gartner, Technical Director, Serdar Yegulalp, Assistant Technical Editor, and William Gee, Technical Associate

The American MultiSystem's InfoGold P100's tall, charcoal-colored case is reminiscent of the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. This unit may not accelerate your evolution, but it runs Windows 95 and its attendant apps at close to the speed of light. For overall performance, design and configuration, the InfoGold takes the gold.

Unsnapping the machine's front panel reveals that its side panels, once unbolted, can be swung out, allowing easy access to the inside. (The front panel also holds the sides in place if you don't wish to reinstall the screws.) Because of the case design, both sides of the motherboard are readily accessible, facilitating both heavy and light upgrades. Good organization on the inside keeps cable traffic to a minimum, although getting to the SIMMs is a bit of a project unless you unplug a few things. The CPU is out in the open and comes equipped with its own fan and heat sink.

Motherboard jumpers allow you to set the clock frequency to accept any Pentium CPU, up to 133MHz. Front-panel controls are limited to turbo, reset and power switches. A 64-bit PCI socket--which can also be used for conventional, 32-bit PCI cards--is one motherboard feature that will appeal to those with an eye toward the future. Cache RAM is in a socket, not soldered to the motherboard, enabling you to leap from 256KB to 512KB.

The InfoGold's CD-ROM and hard drives were both attached to the same IDE chain. Although this didn't seem to impede performance, it wasn't necessary, since the second IDE controller was readily available. The motherboard didn't block access to the five-inch or three-inch drive bays, as is sometimes the case in tower systems. Extra drive rails and screws come with the system--very handy if you're migrating drives from a previous system.

In its out-of-the-box configuration, the CD-ROM was set up to use 16-bit (DOS) drivers and MSCDEX (Microsoft CD-ROM Extensions). We commented out the applicable statements and rebooted; Windows 95 detected and installed the CD-ROM, an ATAPI unit.

A black, full-size keyboard and three-button mouse come with the system. The keyboard was quite nice, despite its lack of a full-size backspace key, and the mouse was a simple, three-button Logitech clone.

Telephony hardware and software include a Creative Labs Phone Blaster, which consolidates a sound card, voice mail/speakerphone functionality and a 14.4Kbps modem into a single, full-length card. Everything's preinstalled and preconfigured out of the box. The InfoGold does not require additional drivers beyond those Windows 95 can detect and install automatically. Since the modem portion of the board is designated as COM2 in hardware, reactivating the BIOS COM2 causes a conflict and gums up the whole system.

The monitor, an ArtMedia 15-inch model, uses a Trinitron tube. Its controls feature two pairs of buttons for each image aspect (size, position, rotation, pincushioning and so forth), but there was a kink in the upper-left-hand corner of the image that refused to go away no matter what we did. It also showed a pronounced amount of moire', and the image wasn't as tightly focused at the sides and corners as it was in the middle. But overall, the monitor's image quality is acceptable.

--Info File--
American Multisystems
InfoGold P100
Price: $2,899 (direct)
In Brief: Black on the outside and gold all over, the InfoGold was the best machine all around in this review. A Creative Labs Phone Blaster, voice-mail software and Microsoft Works are all preinstalled, adding that much more bang for the buck.
American Multisystems
800-888-6615, 408-945-2296

First Computer Systems' P5-100 Multimedia looks good inside and out. The sculpted white case has a bright-green clock-speed display, with buttons for turbo, reset and power. Inside, the hard disk and the ATAPI CD-ROM have been attached to separate IDE controllers, so there's no performance compromise for either. None of the SIMMs are obscured by cables, and the CPU is easily accessible without having to unplug or shove anything aside. The cache RAM (256KB) is not on a module, however. It's soldered to the motherboard, limiting upgradability. There is a special plug for voltage-regulating modules, which are necessary when upgrading to a new-model CPU with different power requirements.

The Boca Research 14.4 fax modem had been installed as a generic modem (no brand name). Forcing a redetection of the hardware produced the same result. We manually installed the Boca driver, one of several supported by Windows 95.

Elsewhere in the hardware list, we found that none of the monitor's power-saving features had been enabled. Power-management support had already been installed, simplifying its activation. Although Microsoft's modified Dove soap-bar mouse was included, the keyboard was a generic model--decent, but it seemed a little rickety. It did feature a full-size backspace key. The push-button controls on the 15-inch MAG InnoVision monitor left something to be desired, since they're very small and difficult to work, even with relatively small fingers. Also, despite the digital controls, the screen needs to be readjusted every time you change resolutions and/or refresh rates.

In addition to manuals for the components, peripherals and bundled software, FCS provides its own system manual, which also serves as a general introduction to computers. The manual does not mention Windows 95, but Microsoft's Windows 95 documentation is in the package.

FaxWorks, an all-inclusive program that handles both voice mail and faxing, is bundled with the machine for the fax modem/voice-mail system. Since it's a 16-bit program, it does not use either Windows 95's TAPI extensions or Microsoft Exhange. But it's robust and fairly powerful. Features include voice memos (to yourself or others); fax retrieval on demand, including faxes that are password protected; multiple users and mailboxes. FaxWorks doesn't hog the COM ports when it's idle, allowing other programs, either 16- or 32-bit, to dial out on their own.

--Info File--
FCS P5-100 Multimedia
Price: $2,899
In Brief: This is a system with plenty of power for its very reasonable price tag, plenty of out-of-the-box features (like FaxWorks and voice mail), and it's extremely upgradable to boot.
First Computer Systems
800-325-1911, 770-441-1911

Given the MidWest Micro P5-90's economical price tag, you might assume it's a generic system that skimps on the extras. Think again: This system includes a robust bundle that will satisfy most office needs.

The MidWest Micro is one of only two systems in this review bargain-priced at under $2,500 (the Vektron is the other). Its raft of software includes Microsoft products for work and leisure--Works, Complete Baseball, Encarta and Bookshelf. The peripherals aren't too shabby either. The 28.8Kbps modem, quad-speed CD-ROM and wave-table sound card all meet the latest standards.

The "Mid" in MidWest Micro could stand for midsized. This tower system is small enough to fit comfortably on most desktops, yet large enough to house eight drive bays. The expansion slots and drive bays are uniformly accessible, although the power supply makes attaching the drive connectors a tight fit. Two of the four memory sockets are partially obstructed by the thick power-supply cable. A small fan--the only one near the CPU--rests atop the CPU chip.

With the exception of the highly visual Surviving Day One With Windows 95, the documentation is no-frills. The book covers all the basics--how to create folders and directories, launch applets and so forth in Windows 3.x and 95 on facing pages. The user manual was assembled in a loose-leaf binder and featured little model-specific information. While it includes detailed illustrations of how to attach the system components, it's seriously lacking in technical information.

The MidWest Micro P5-90, as the name implies, was the only system we received without a 100MHz CPU. Despite the lower clock speed, the MidWest Micro was competitive overall with the Quantex, Mitsuba and NEC systems. The ATI WinTurbo graphics card was not on par with S3 chip-based boards that came with five of the systems. The ATI display-control utility, however, is one of the few that currently works under Windows 95; the other systems had to rely completely on Win95's limited controls.

The Aztech Sound Galaxy WaveRider 32+ wave-table sound card took time to get working, but it was worth the effort. The board was incorrectly set up as an FM-synthesis-only card. A call to MidWest Micro's tech support proved fruitless, but a call to Aztech revealed that the wrong driver had been loaded. After installing the software, we were greeted with realistic notes broadcast over the fine Altec Lansing speakers. Viewing the self-branded monitor was not quite the same pleasurable experience. It displayed some color inconsistencies and showed a distinct moire' pattern on lighter backgrounds.

Rounding out the MidWest Micro's peripherals are a serial port, a Microsoft mouse and a noisy keyboard that lacked the usual comfortable resistance. But MidWest Micro's three-year warranty, a slew of Microsoft software and up-to-date accessories make this a genuine bargain.

--Info File--
MidWest Micro P5-90 Home PC
Price: $2,490 (street)
In Brief: Though the price tag is the smallest in this roundup, there's no shortage of extras. Microsoft Works and Encarta, a 28.8Kbps modem and high-quality Altec Lansing speakers round out a great bundle.
MidWest Micro
800-235-9148, 513-368-2309

Like a successful film launch, Mitsuba's Premier is keyed by a great opening. You don't need a screwdriver or any tools to get inside this tower system. Pop off the faceplate, pull the cover forward and lift to remove it. This is a sturdy, well-designed system; you only remove one screw to lower the pallet holding the motherboard.

The expansive chassis provides access to all the upgradable components, including two free SIMM slots. The quad-speed CD-ROM and hard drives are mounted on drive rails that lock firmly into place without screws, so it's a snap to remove them. Even with the drives installed, there are six unobstructed available drive bays. The three free expansion slots are equally accessible, making the Mitsuba a dream machine when it comes time to upgrade.

The software bundle doesn't include either an office suite or an entertainment pack, but AOL, CompuServe and Delrina's WinFax Lite software are in the box. Name-brand components include the Toshiba CD-ROM drive, the Diamond Stealth64 Video VRAM, the Maxtor 1.28GB hard drive and the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Pro sound card. The MaxTech 14.4Kbps modem lacks the telephony features found in some of the other systems reviewed.

Despite the trusty names found within, the Mitsuba Premier doesn't exhibit an Oscar-winning performance. It clearly fell in the second tier along with the MidWest Micro, NEC and Quantex systems, scoring well below the leaders in the Wintune tests and the Microsoft Word and Excel macros. The Diamond video card offers good performance, though.

The keyboard has a steady, familiar feel with the proper tactile response. You can easily adjust the monitor's size and position controls, which are smartly placed at the unit's base. The contrast and brightness slider bars, located on the side, are simple enough to adjust, but don't have the precision of other models. The Mitsuba monitor displays noticeably sharp images, but the display was somewhat dim in the screen's lower regions. The lack of a pincushion control kept us from perfectly aligning the screen's edges.

The OEM speakers marginalized the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Pro's output quality. A small investment in better speakers would substantially enhance sound playback. The documentation included specific manuals for the CD-ROM interface, video adapter and sound card. The expandability and quality components make the Mitsuba a solid investment, but the lack of software and poor performance limit this system's overall value.

--Info File--
Mitsuba Premier System-100
Price: $2,995 (street)
In Brief: With six drive bays and three adapter slots available, expandability is this system's middle name. Upgrading or maintenance is a snap, too, thanks to a spacious work area and thoughtful design.
Mitsuba Corp.
800-648-7822, 909-392-2000

Incorporating voice control, an infrared port, infrared remote control, echo-canceling speakerphone and switched voice/data modem, the NEC Ready 9522 is a bold departure from the typical desktop computer.

Perhaps the feature that takes this system furthest from the beaten path is its remote control. With it, you can place or pick up calls with the speakerphone (which uses the sound-system speakers and microphone) and play back voice-mail messages. It has redial, speed dial, mute, hang-up, skip-message and other telephone-related buttons. The remote also controls CD playback with standard pause, play, skip, stop, eject and volume buttons.

The speakerphone itself is excellent, thanks to the accurate speakers, motherboard-based sound system and custom-made modem. The echo cancellation provides just enough feedback to indicate a connection is live, without the breaks in audio that plague switching-style speakerphones. The speakerphone's software has directories for voice and fax numbers, and supports multiple voice-mail boxes.

The overall sound quality was quite good. CD audio was full-bodied, but for the sake of MIDI playback, wave-table synthesis would have been nicer than the included FM synthesis. (The motherboard has a connector for a wave-table upgrade for the MIDI lover, however.) The sound system also supports SRS Surround-Sound effects.

With the NEC Ready 9522's built-in voice recognition, you can control the entire system through simple voice commands. Using the voice-recognition software's interactive training sessions, the system can learn verbal commands for controlling any Windows program. When we trained the voice-recognition software to launch tasks, it first called up the old Program Manager. Pretrained tasks didn't need Program Manager, so we believe that some simple tweaking will make it work cleanly in Windows 95.

Another super feature already becoming popular is the infrared port. It receives commands from the remote control, and it also enables communication with any portable or printer equipped with an IrDA-port. Tranxit software copies, moves, deletes and synchronizes files via the port, which takes a COM port assignment (COM2 as originally configured). The modem came bundled set to COM1, so the external serial ports are disabled to avoid a conflict. The BIOS doesn't provide too many options for selecting the COM port IRQs, so the modem IRQ needs alteration to reenable an external serial port.

With the switched-voice and data-type modem, you could dial up a colleague, then switch back and forth between conversation and transmitting/receiving data during the same call. It's great for ensuring you're both "on the same page" of a spreadsheet or document.

The abundant bundled software includes multimedia titles and utilities, and some very well-implemented advanced power-management software. It even has power applets like those shipped in notebook computers to power down and save electric bills. A support button accesses NEC's tech support phone and fax numbers.

Ergonomically, the NEC Ready 9522 was more reserved. The keyboard didn't have much of a noticeable click or detent, but it did offer firm resistance. The mouse was nicely sculpted, and it was easy to click buttons, but the cord was a little thick and resistant to motion. Color-coded connectors make it simple to attach the mouse and keyboard.

The NEC monitor was the best reviewed here. Its razor-sharp focus yielded excellent horizontal resolution, while its great color convergence helped produce a full spectrum of color. However, the color temperature--which can't be adjusted--was a little on the red side, making whites and grays appear slightly tinged with pink. The unit has pincushion, contrast, brightness, and horizontal and vertical position and size controls. The monitor degausses itself when turned on, so a degauss button isn't needed.

Opening the system case was quick and easy because the shell is attached with thumbscrews. Also, the front panel simply snaps off to remove the metal blanks covering the two empty 5.25-inch drive bays.

A rat's nest of ribbon cable right above the SIMMs will make a memory upgrade assuredly memorable. The floppy disk drive's cable is the separated-conductor kind, which is more flexible than regular ribbon cable, but the rest are plain ribbon cable.

The motherboard's position relative to the drive cage is another minus. You must remove the motherboard to get at screws for all but one of the drive bays. Also, the fax-modem card blocks access to the video feature and wave-table upgrade connectors. It also covers the sockets for the second megabyte of video memory. Since the system is bundled with only 1MB, you'll have to add the second to make it like the model that we reviewed.

The downside? The NEC Ready 9522 performed poorly in our application tests. In fact, it was the slowest machine when running Word and Excel, probably because of its disk speed: Its 12ms disk-access time, shared by the Midwest Micro, was the slowest in this review.

--Info File--
NEC Ready 9522
Price: $3,098 (street)
In Brief: Voice and remote control, a built-in infrared port, echo-canceling speakerphone, excellent speakers and tons of software make the Ready 9522 a feature-rich bundle. It delivers quite an out-of-the-box experience.
NEC Technologies
800-NEC-INFO, 508-264-8000

Chalking up high scores in every test, the Poly 500T4 was clearly the fastest system we reviewed. The fleet 10ms access time of the Quantum Fireball hard drive (the same model found in the speedy InfoGold) was at least partly responsible.

The system has good ergonomics. It has a split-style keyboard with a very noticeable click that permits comfortable touch-typing. The Microsoft serial mouse is an equally comforting feature, but it takes up a communications port, leaving only one port free.

The Sampo monitor fell short. It features only the standard monitor controls--horizontal and vertical position/size, contrast and brightness--plus a degauss button. During our tests, the monitor displayed poor horizontal linearity and a moire' pattern that was noticeable even when viewing the Windows' desktop, let alone test patterns. That is likely due to the large (0.28mm) dot pitch. On the positive side, the monitor showed no signs of blooming, maintaining excellent focus across the screen. The monitor's cabinet was very deep, so if you're considering getting this system make sure you've got a good-size desk.

The cabinet, featuring a rather retro turbo button, was unique. Instead of the usual three-sided shell, the system's two larger sides come off individually. The top surface remains in place, which makes drive installation cumbersome because you cannot simply lower a drive in from above. The 5.25-inch drive cages must first be removed from the cabinet's front to receive a new drive. Of course, that means disconnecting the power and data cables. Fortunately, the front panel snaps off, revealing the retaining screws and the front of the drive cages. With some careful maneuvering, filling the two 3.5-inch cages toward the back would not be quite as involved.

Connectors for the peripheral cables were in between two adapter slots, making additions to one of the slots cumbersome. The ribbon cables are very stiff, since they're bundled with tie wraps, and they cover the SIMMs, making memory upgrades difficult. You won't ever perform a cache upgrade--the chips are soldered to the board.

These points aside, the motherboard is designed with an eye to the future. It can accept a power-regulation module, which would permit the use of lower-power microprocessors. As is, the motherboard can accept an upgrade to a 133MHz processor.

The unit's documentation is thorough. The very thick owner's manual--which even depicts how to insert a diskette correctly--is obviously geared toward the beginner. Two small supplementary manuals examine the AMI BIOS setup and the motherboard.

The sound system was accurate in reproduction. Considering the quality of the Yamaha speakers, it's a shame the sound card doesn't feature wave-table synthesis, which would have boosted its sound quality.

We were surprised to find that the extra software--BitFax and BitCom for DOS and SuperVoice--was not preinstalled. However, the SuperVoice communications package was well worth the slight effort it took to load. It facilitates fax-on-demand, voice/fax/data mailboxes for up to 999 users, TWAIN-compliant scanner support for outgoing faxes, pager forwarding, and remote message/fax/data-message access with password protection. You can use either a phone handset or the sound-card microphone and speakers to record and play your outgoing message. The phone directory can place callers into groups for easy broadcast faxing, too.

--Info File--
Polywell Poly 500T4
Price: $2,935 (street)
In Brief: The Poly 500T4, the fastest PC in this review, will deliver the goods for a power-freak user. It has an ergonomic keyboard to suit a high-speed touch typist as well.
Polywell Computers
800-999-1278, 415-583-7222

The sound system is definitely the highlight of the Quantex. The wave-table chip on the Ensoniq sound card contains excellent instrument samples, and reproduces them and other sounds well. The Altec Lansing speakers complement the card nicely, reproducing bass well, even without a subwoofer.

Ergonomically, the unit was at cross purposes. The keyboard had a firm feel and fair detent, but the buttons on the odd-shaped mouse were a little resistant and hard to double-click.

The 17-inch MAG InnoVision monitor's extra size was a nice touch, but the horizontal-size control won't let you use the full screen width. The contrast and brightness controls are also limited, so you can't adjust the monitor to display true black properly while allowing for a good range of grays. Geometrically, the monitor had poor linearity, especially visible at the corners of the screen. The alignment of colors across the screen was also poor. However, it displayed excellent horizontal resolution, focus and resistance to moire' patterns. The monitor had vertical position/size, rotation and pincushion controls in addition to those already mentioned. It also featured degauss and program/reset buttons.

The user's manual is aimed only at the beginner, describing how to use a mouse and operate Windows 3.x, rather than IRQ assignments and other, more useful, information. Some items seemed out of place, like video drivers for NT, a Windows for Workgroups/DOS manual and a diskette pack. The system lacked PhoneDisc and Windows 95 CD-ROMs, although the software was installed.

The Windows 95 desktop is set up nicely, with the folders for all the installed applications in plain sight and ready to go. However, we did have to switch the video-card setting to the ATI Graphics Pro Turbo. As Quantex had set it up, the system was trying to use the ATI Graphics Xpression settings, and that made it lock up.

The bundled Complete Reference Library did not work properly. In particular, using the scroll made the scroll button disappear and rendered the scroll region only partly accessible. The remaining included software seemed to work just fine.

Inside the case were a few surprises. There are plastic barrettes in the system to bind and route the ribbon cable, but some cables are bundled by rubber bands, which have a tendency to dry out and crumble, especially in a warm PC case. The wires are bundled so tightly that wiggling them to get to the SIMMs they hide dislodges the connectors. The manufacturer's remedy was to hot-glue the connectors in place. This plan backfired, as the cable for the IDE chain was glued in at an odd angle (probably because the connector was dislodged by the technician), making the hard drive's operation intermittent. Also some hot-glue "cobwebs" found their way onto the processor's heat sink.

The CPU has a large heat sink, but no piggybacked fan. That causes it to run hotter than the others in this review. The motherboard also featured retro DIP-style cache chips, instead of SIMMs, narrowing vendor selection for a cache upgrade.

Two back panels supported connectors controlled by the motherboard, but one of them occupies the area meant for a PCI slot. To use the slot, the connectors would have to be moved to the chassis. That means removing the back-panel bracket, detaching the two connectors, popping out punches on the back of the PC and installing the connectors there.

The drive cages, which have no top, make it easy to lower drives into place, a structural plus. However, there are no 3.5-inch external drive bays available for expansion for an additional, small floppy disk drive, tape backup or audio equalizer.

While not the slowest machine in this review, the Quantex performance scores were pretty low in everything but the processor benchmarks.

--Info File--
Quantex QP5/100 SM-1
Price: $2,699 (street)
In Brief: A 17-inch monitor, wavetable synthesis sound card, Altec Lansing speakers, and a V.34 modem are the highlights of this moderately priced system.
Quantex Microsystems
800 632-5022, 908 563-4166

Vektron's Multimedia Ultimate-P100 has some good features, but its internal design and organization leave something to be desired, and it needs a better monitor.

First the good news: The Multimedia Ultimate-P100 sports a good deal of power in its mini-tower case. It ranked third from the top in our performance scores. The keyboard is a soft-touch model--soft enough to be comfortable in marathon typing sessions, but not mushy, and ergonomically curved to receive one's fingers well. Paired with the provided Microsoft mouse, it makes the Multimedia Ultimate-P100 a pleasure to plug away at even when burning the midnight oil. The ever-popular Creative Labs Sound Blaster AWE32 sound card, with great-sounding wave-table synthesis, comes ready to juice up everything from presentations to games. A pair of Labtec speakers, which deliver very decent sound even without a subwoofer unit, provides a better experience than quality headphones.

The Vektron's monitor, an ADI MicroScan 15-inch model, ranked the lowest of the system monitors we reviewed. The screen's bottom third was consistently darker than the top two-thirds--an effect observed across various resolutions and color depths. Images at the screen's edges suffered from misconvergence and a severe lack of linearity and focus. The controls consisted of a button for switching among the various adjustments (indicated by a row of lights and attendant symbols), and a pair of buttons for changing settings. Fortunately, the degree of resolution for the controls was fine enough to make precise adjustments.

When you unbolt the case--some of Vektron's other machines have thumbscrew-locking cases, but not here--you'll find a tangle of cables. But there's more: The sides of the mounting racks nearest the motherboard are just about impossible to get to without actually removing the motherboard, making adding or removing drives a far more difficult project than it should be. Getting to the memory chips is a whole project on its own; you must unplug a great many cables. Not only that, but the right edge of the chip sockets is just hidden behind one of the drive cases. Even adding an ISA-based card required us to unplug the main IDE controller cable, which connects to the board between the banks of ISA and PCI slots. Cache chips are soldered, not socketed, to the motherboard. On the plus side, the CPU has an attached cooling fan.

The CD-ROM and hard drives shared an IDE controller chain; both operated simultaneously without a noticeable performance hit. Oddly enough, the CD-ROM was being controlled through the DOS ATAPI drivers that are provided with the system on diskettes. When these drivers were disabled, Windows 95's automatic hardware detection kicked in and was still able to use the CD-ROM.

Cheyenne Software's BitWare, a suite of products that includes the often-bundled BitFax and BitCom, handles the telephony and fax functions. Since it's a 16-bit Windows app, it doesn't fully exploit Windows 95's TAPI subsystem, but it's feature-rich and straightforward enough that a moderately experienced amateur can get it working quickly.

--Info File--
Vektron Multimedia
Ultimate-P100
Price: $2,495 (street)
In Brief: A powerful machine at a fine price. Its overall scores were third from the top, so everything from multimedia to Microsoft Word zips along. Telephony is courtesy of the eclectic and feature-rich Cheyenne BitWare package. The keyboard is very comfy, too.
Vektron International
800-725-0026, 214-606-0280

This latecomer to our review process has some nice features.

Dell Computer Corp. got a machine into the WinLab too late for full-scale testing, but we were able to set it up and make some observations. As the Dimension XPS P100c makes clear, the company still has a system aimed squarely at the middle of the PC market.

Wintune 95 tests produced an impressive batch of numbers: 186MIPS and 58MFLOPS for the CPU and FPU, respectively, and 9.32Mpixels per second, courtesy of the 9 Imagine 128 graphics board. Cached hard disk performance peaked at 21.5 megabytes per second.

Nice touches abound. For example, the entire Windows 95 installation disk is copied to a separate directory on the hard drive, freeing you from having to dig out the CD-ROM when adding system components. The CD-ROM and 1GB hard drive are on separate EIDE controller chains, affording both the requisite speed. Dell's trademark QuietKey keyboard lives up to its name: It's much quieter than the average keyboard, but it's also somewhat stiffer, at least out of the box. The CPU's outfitted with a heat sink (no cooling fan, though), and the 256KB cache RAM is socketed for upgrading. Labels on the motherboard provide details about every jumper setting, so the board can accept processors up to 133MHz without problems. Creative Lab's Vibra16 supplies the sound.

Dell's documentation is tops--especially its Diagnostics and Troubleshooting Guide, which puts similar efforts by most other companies to shame. It's larger than the user's guide for the machine itself and addresses just about every possible problem.

Testing systems is an exhaustive (and exhausting) process.

To rate the Pentium systems, we ran a battery of objective and subjective tests in the WINDOWS Magazine Labs. To start the machines on an even footing, we made sure that their internal and external caches were turned on in the BIOS. Then we set video resolution to 800x600x256, disabled power management, and checked Control Panel to ensure Windows 95 was set for optimal operation and had the appropriate drivers installed. We eliminated all wallpaper and patterns, and removed nonessential programs from the Windows Start-up group. After installing our test-suite applications, we defragmented the hard disk.

We performed each of our objective tests three times and averaged the results. For our low-level benchmarks, we used an advanced-beta copy of Wintune 95 (the test engine was set in final code, but the user interface was still being tweaked). It measured the performance of the CPU, floating-point unit (math coprocessor), video (graphics board), RAM, and the hard disk's cached and uncached performance.

As real-world simulation tests, we ran WinLab's macros in Microsoft Word and Excel. Our Word macro formats the U.S. Constitution, and the Excel macro builds a large spreadsheet, complete with graphs and charts. We also timed renders in Fractal Design Painter 3.0 (Fractal Design Corp., 800-297-COOL, 408-688-8800). In that test, we measured how long it takes to replay the Burning Ice Cube session that ships with the program.

To judge monitor quality, we used Sonera Technologies' DisplayMate (Sonera Technologies, 800-932-6323, 908-747-6886). This program provides tests that reveal geometric distortion, misconvergence, poor focus and other common flaws. Each monitor was connected to its own PC, rather than a reference source, so that we could rate the overall video bundle. The PCs were kept "on the same page," all displaying the same test pattern simultaneously, by sending them input from a single keyboard via a pair of Cybex AutoBoot Commander boxes (Cybex, 205-430-4000, fax 205-430-4030).

To test the systems' sound quality subjectively, we played audio CDs, MIDI and WAV files on each during a single listening session. As a group, we then assigned scores to what we had heard.

We had the modems connect to AOL three times to check their performance.

• Performance: How well does the machine perform relative to other machines in this review, particularly for applications?
• Construction: Are the case and machine put together well? Are the parts sturdy and well-designed?
• Ergonomics: Is the machine easy to use? Are the keyboard and mouse comfortable? Are the switches and other controls for the system and monitor easy to handle and on the front of the equipment?
• Expandability/serviceability: Is the system easily upgradable? Are the drive bays, SIMM sockets and slots within reach? Are they sufficient in number to handle additional memory, peripherals or disk drives? Can you get to all areas of the case for replacement/repair?
• Sound System: Do the speakers and sound card reproduce sounds with quality and sufficient volume? What synthesis method does the sound card use?
• Video System: Is the monitor's picture distortion-free? Were the controls ergonomically designed, and do they offer enough flexibility for adjusting the image quality?
• Additional Features: How much value is added to the bundle with extra hardware and software?

• The American Multisystems InfoGold P100 is an eye-catcher in many ways. Looking beyond its distinctive charcoal color, it ranked consistently high in our performance tests--second only to Polywell's machine by a very narrow margin. The InfoGold's main unit overall had the most intelligent design and best apparent durability of the machines here. Everything in the cabinet was readily accessible, well-organized and easily upgradable, with plenty of room for expansion.
• As an added plus, the InfoGold sported a Creative Labs Phone Blaster card--a one-slot solution for voice, fax, data and multimedia audio. Everything's preconfigured, so all you have to do is customize the system with your phone number, fax header and so on, without messing with IRQs or drivers. All these features produce quite an out-of-the-box experience and made the InfoGold worthy of a WINDOWS Magazine Recommended seal.
• The NEC Ready 9522, another feature-laden machine, deserves honorable mention. While it was the second slowest, features like the speakerphone, infrared remote and port, voice control and bundled software make it a formidable system. For those who prefer a well-appointed luxury car to a speedy little sports model, this computer is worth considering.