Compaq Presario SR1010Z

This business system boasts outstanding performance for a moderate price, and comes with user-friendly features.

Home office or business users will appreciate the $1433 Compaq Presario SR1010Z's solid performance, detailed documentation, and selection of ports for hooking up devices. Those looking for dazzling DVD playback, however, may be disappointed.

Running business applications should be a breeze with the SR1010Z. Outfitted with a 2.2-GHz Athlon 64 3200+ processor and 512MB of DDR400 SDRAM, the system earned an impressive 90 on our WorldBench 5 tests, which is on a par with other 2.2-GHz Athlon 64-based systems we've evaluated.

The gray accents on the Presario SR1010Z's black case give it a professional look. The case has three USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire port, and audio connections halfway up the front panel, making them easy to access whether the PC is placed on a desktop or on the floor. The back has four additional USB 2.0 ports and another FireWire port. All ports are well-labeled with both symbols and words.

Inside the case, though, we didn't find much room for expansion--only one open RAM socket, a single open 32-bit slot, and just one open drive bay in our test configuration. Also, the graphics card's fan blocked the open PCI slot. However, the Presario SR1010Z we looked at didn't skimp on storage space--it came with a 160GB hard drive.

We liked Compaq's user-friendly documentation, which features a comprehensive system manual with clear diagrams and troubleshooting information, a useful set-up poster, and a PC basics guide. Taken together, the package could help consumers avoid lengthy tech support calls.

The 17-inch Compaq FP7317 LCD monitor included in our test configuration produced sharp, clear text and photos, resulting in high scores for its image quality. The system was surprisingly lackluster at video games, however. Despite boasting a 256MB Radeon 9800-based graphics card (which the company no longer offers with this model) and a fast processor, the SR1010Z lagged behind similarly equipped systems in our graphics tests. In our Unreal Tournament 2003 tests, for example, other systems with 256MB of graphics memory averaged 375 frames per minute at 1024-by-768 resolution, but this Presario delivered 181 fpm. Even so, only hard-core gamers are likely to notice. Also, DVD playback on the LCD looked muted and slightly dark, with washed-out colors.

Home and small office users will like the good performance and moderate price of the Presario SR1010Z.

Compaq Presario SR1010Z

WorldBench 5 score of 90, 2.2-GHz Athlon 64 3200+ CPU, 512MB of DDR400 SDRAM, Windows XP Home, 160GB hard drive, 16X DVD+RW and 16X DVD-ROM/48X CD-RW combo drives, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro graphics, 17-inch Compaq FP7317 LCD monitor, Altec Lansing VS2121 speakers; Microsoft Works 7, Money 2004. One-year parts and labor warranty; 24-hour daily toll-free support during warranty period. $1433888/999-4747www.hpshopping.comScott Plamondon