In the Charts: Fast Computers Offer Massive Hard Drives for a Bargain Price
Chem USA's Chembook 2037 has a Webcam built into its lid.
The two newcomers to this month's Top 15 Desktop PCs chart are well-designed systems that provide a huge amount of hard-drive space for a low price. The Gateway 5200XL and the Velocity Micro ProMagix PCX each have a 200GB hard drive--larger than that of any other system on the value side of the chart. A year ago, value PCs on our March 2004 chart averaged half as many gigabytes; and only power systems packed so much storage real estate. Likewise, today's power models are upping their capacity; the HP Media Center PC M1050y rates as the roomiest of these, with 400GB of available space.
Both the Gateway and the Velocity Micro earned high marks in our WorldBench 5 test suite. The ProMagix PCX scored 94, higher than any other value desktop on the chart. The 5200XL came in at 87; but its long list of features helped it win our Best Buy honor, taking that distinction away from a longtime favorite, the Dell Dimension 4700.
The two new systems look quite different. The Gateway 5200XL appears sober and professional in its black-and-gray case. In contrast, the vertical ribs on the Velocity Micro ProMagix PCX's black aluminum case resemble those of a skyscraper, giving it a stylish look without being flashy.
The Gateway and the Velocity Micro are the only two systems on the value portion of the chart that offer prospective buyers both a DVD+RW drive and a DVD-ROM/CD-RW combination drive. In addition, each supplies a generous number of ports and has a media-card reader on its front panel. One disappointment: Considering the Velocity Micro's nearly $1900 price tag, we were unimpressed with its CRT. Even the $999 CyberPower Gamer Ultra 7500 Elite comes with an LCD monitor.
Notebooks
If you are a fan of Webcams, you'll want to check out the Chem USA ChemBook 2037, which boasts a camera built into the lid for videoconferencing and for taking basic stills and videos. Our new number four desktop replacement notebook, the ChemBook also puts several of its connections--such as a four-in-one media card reader--on the front, where they're easy to use. The unusually large battery sticking out from the rear of the unit makes the notebook difficult to use on your lap, but the battery lasted over 4 hours in our tests.
If you tend to prefer firm keyboards, head for our new number four all-purpose notebook, the Micro Express CL5620. Turning in a scorching WorldBench 5 mark of 97, the CL5620 outpaced every other 2-GHz Pentium M 755-equipped laptop on this month's chart except for the Polywell PolyNote 3015AW, which scored 98.
Inside Info
Sharper Scanners: Canon's first flatbed scanner offering a 4800-by-9600-dpi optical resolution, the CanoScan 9950F, delivered both outstanding image quality and respectable speed (see Top 10 Scanners). Perks include a rich software bundle and film adapters for formats from 35mm to 4 by 5 inches.
More on the Web: PC World uses its industry-standard benchmarking application, WorldBench 5, to evaluate desktop PCs, notebooks, and tablet PCs. We run a number of real-world applications performing real-world computing tasks. See the WorldBench 5 page for more information on the tool. And see more details about PC World's Star Ratings.
The Top 100 Team: Freelance writers Andre Kvitka and Scott Plamondon, Contributing Editor Carla Thornton, and PC World editors Laura Blackwell, Eric Butterfield, Tracey Capen, Kalpana Ettenson, Rebecca Freed, Melissa J. Perenson, Narasu Rebbapragada, Dan Sommer, and Alan Stafford contributed to the Top 100 section this month. Ulrike Diehlmann, Julio Giannobile, Elliott Kirschling, Jeff Kuta, Tony K. Leung, Thomas Luong, and William Wang of the PC World Test Center tested the products that we reviewed for this section, with logistical support provided by Julian Weatherby.