The dream machine - Pentium systems from eight vendors - Hardware Review - Evaluation

Home Office Computing, April, 1996 by William Harrel

We Created Th Ultimate Windows 95 Pentium. Here's How The Top Eight Manufacturers Measure Up

Hard Disk--The more the merrier. You'll want at least 1GB and plan on 2SB if you do significant desktop publishing.

Modem--You need a 28.8Kbps data modem for the graphics-heavy World Wide Web, 14.4Kbps fax capability for quick transmission, and voice capability to screen incoming calls.

Video Adapter--You'll need at least 2MB of video RAM for 1,024 by 768dpi resolution, 16-bit color, a 72Hz refresh rate, and a 64-bit data path.

Sound Card--Make sure your sound card connects to your voice-capable modem to use your PO as a speakerphone.

Hard-Disk Controller--If your controller isn't speeding your data over the PCI local bus, it's ruining your overall system performance.

Processor Speed--With 133MHz speed, you'll be able to run both current Windows 95 applications at maximum speed as well as most of the new applications to be written over the next two years.

RAM--No matter what Microsoft claims, Windows 95 runs best with a minimum of 16MB of RAM. Better yet, try 24MB. You'll like it.

BIOS--The nerve center of your computer, a BIOS should be software upgradable and support Plug 'n Play installation of add-in cards and peripherals.

Cache Memory--Memory caches greatly improve performance. Look for at least a 256K cache and make sure it is expandable to 1MB.

Monitor--With multiple applications onscreen at once, go with a 0.28mm dot pitch, 17-inch monitor. Make sure it runs 1,024 by 768dpi resolution at a minimum of 72Hz refresh rate to reduce eyestrain.

Drive Bays--ideally, you want to have at least one unused external and one unused internal drive bay to add another hard disk, tape backup, or other peripherals.

Speakers--Fun shouldn't interfere with work, so make sure your speakers are shielded to prevent monitor interference. Controls on the front of speakers make for easy adjustment.

Keyboard--Get a Windows 95 keyboard so that you can access the Start button without having to take your hands off the keys.

CD-ROM Drive--A bare-bones requirement is a quad-speed unit for smooth multimedia and fast database searches. Support for three or more disks is a great convenience.

Software Bundle--Look past the games and multimedia titles. You should get a "Works" package at a minimum; a full office suite is better.

Add-in Slots--Minitowers have more slots than desktop units, but make sure you've got at least two open PCI slots for Plug 'n Play expansion cards and one open ISA slot.

Thank goodness for computers. They provide entrepreneurs with levels of productivity unimaginable just 10 years ago. These desktop marvels have also turned many of us into Jacks and Jills of all trades. While sitting at our one-eyed workhorses, we can wear many hats. Whatever software our primary business demands--word processing, spreadsheets, accounting. desktop publishing, you name it--we also use our computers for many other business-related tasks. We can be our own chief financial officer one minute and, simply by switching from spreadsheet to desktop publishing program, become the marketing department in an instant.

We need a computer, peripherals, and software capable of accomplishing all the tasks we face. At the heart of it all sits the PC. Choosing the right machine--one that doesn't require you to go through an expensive upgrade six months down the line just so you can get all your work done--isn't easy. Especially considering the bewildering number of components and configurations vendors provide nowadays.

So, we made it our mission to configure the ultimate Pentium for Windows 95--the perfect computer, that dream machine capable of juggling your many hats. This is no simple chore, to be sure. But we're up to it.

The Search Begins

To find our dream machine configuration, we asked ourselves: Which features and peripherals are essential to a small business? What about clock speed? Hard-disk size? RAM? Expansion options? Multimedia? Just what is the perfect machine? (See the illustration on the prior pages.) Then we polled the top eight PC vendors, asking them to send us descriptions of their best machines, those that come closest to fulfilling our list of desired features. But we didn't let them off that easily. Small businesses also require value. In addition to the ultimate machine for our needs, we demand bang for our hardearned buck, So we also asked vendors to tell us about their best list-price bargains. We've listed each manufacturer's best approximation of our ideal, along with phone numbers and Web sites where you can get additional information on these products.

No matter how you dress them up, in the end the most important features of a computer are still the basics--processor speed, RAM, and hard-disk size. The advent of Windows 95 has made these components even more important. Programs are bigger, requiring more processor muscle and disk storage. And Windows 95 itself requires more RAM. Windows 95 also handles RAM more efficiently, meaning that you can get better performance from a machine equipped with a good complement of memory,.