Editors' picks - 56 best business products for 1996 - Buyers Guide

Home Office Computing, Jan, 1997

What a momentous year.

At 1996's start, you were wondering if the Internet could enhance the way you work. By year's end, more than 10 percent of our readers had already set up a Web site. Last January, 16MB of computer memory seemed generous. Now $180 can buy you 32MB and applications seem to gobble up every bit. Most important, the number of small and home offices keeps growing in North America. No wonder the industry responded with a flood of new products on store shelves to meet your needs.

Our fifth annual Editors' Picks awards showcase these changes. Although you'll find such old standbys as Office Suite and Desktop System, you'll also find new categories including Web Authoring Tool, Phone System, and Internet-Based Service. Clearly, companies are hard at work to develop new products and services that will win your dollars.

For these awards, 20 editors and contributing reviewers nominated more than 200 products that we had seen in 56 categories. From this list, we chose winners that we knew would best help your business. Unless otherwise stated, we've provided street prices.

Now it's time to flesh out your 1997 equipment and software purchases. Our Editors' Picks award winners are the products that we recommend you pick up to help position your business for greater growth in the new year.

CORE APPLICATIONS

OFFICE SUITE

Microsoft Office 97

Tighter application integration, animated online help--Microsoft hasn't missed a trick with Office 97. This version of the popular business software suite offers enhanced features for old favorites, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Better still, we were enchanted by its new communications command center--Outlook--which combines e-mail, a calendar, group scheduling, contact manager, and document management. Microsoft, 206-882-8080, 800-426-9400, www.microsoft.com; $399

Runners-Up: Corel WordPerfect Suite for Windows, Lotus SmartSuite Windows 95

INTEGRATED

Claris ClarisWorks 4.0

Do you have an older notebook or desktop system? A full-blown office suite may drag it down when all you do is write memos, crunch numbers, or perform basic database chores. A Works package does the trick without strangling your PC. The best of the bunch: Claris Works 4.0, which operates in as little as 8MB of RAM and takes just under 30MB of your hard-disk space (or as little as 10MB with a minimum configuration). Claris, 408-727-8227, 800-544-8554, www: claris.com; $49.

Runners-Up: Novell PerfectWorks, Microsoft Works 95

DATABASE

Lotus Approach 96

The problem with most databases is that they're, well, databases. That means programming and learning special codes just to track customer information, right? Not with Approach 96. Better than any program we've seen, Lotus provides you with all the tools you'll need to corral your data without resorting to programming. You can even avoid building a new database from scratch by using one of the included SmartMaster templates. Lotus Development, 617-577-8500, 800-343-5414, www.lotus. com; $109

Runners-Up: asksam Systems asksam 3.0 for Windows, Claris FileMaker Pro 3.0, Microsoft Access 97

COMPUTERS

DESKTOP SYSTEM

Gateway's P5 line

The keystone to a complete small office is a properly outfitted desktop computer system. We feel you don't have to look any further than Gateway 2000's P5 line of Pentium computers. Gateway's PCs equip you with everything from fast processors and large hard disks to lots of RAM and 33.6Kbps modems. A build-it-yourself approach lets you choose sound cards, speakers, and bundled business software. Gateway 2000, 605-232-2000, 800-846-2000, www. gateway2000.com; prices start at $1,500

Runners-Up: Acer's Aspire line, AST's Advantage.' line, Compaq's Presario line, Hewlett-Packard's Vectra line, IBM's Aptiva line, Micron's Millenia line, NEC's Ready line

BUSINESS NOTEBOOK

Toshiba's Satellite line

It's clear the folks at Toshiba thought carefully about what today's business traveler needs in a notebook. The Satellite's power-supply, unlike many of its competitors', is built into the system to lessen briefcase cramming, and the lithium-ion battery will see you through a good three hours on your next flight. All this, plus Toshiba's reliable 24-hour technical support, makes this a first-rate line of business notebooks. Toshiba America, 714-583-3000, 800-334-3445, computers. toshiba. com; prices start at $1,999

Runners-Up: Compaq's Contura line, Dell's Latitude line, Gateway's Solo line

PRESENTATION

NOTEBOOK

IBM's ThinkPad 760 line

For getting your message across to clients, take a look at Big Blue's line of presentation notebooks. Where other notebook screens make your clients squint, the ThinkPad 760's active-matrix display spans a bright 12.1 inches. These sturdy systems also have the multimedia bells and whistles you'll need for stand-up performances: 4x CD-ROM drives, quality built-in speakers, and NTSC video output so you can display your presentation on a TV screen. IBM, 914-766-1900, 800-426-2968, www.ibm.com; prices start at $3,199