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The Best Values From
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OFTWARE PROGRAMS DON’ NEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS.
chart, and drop it all back into your Word document.
Its like one big technological swap fest. The end benefit being, you can concentrate on your work, instead of your software.
Naturally, you'll want to share your handiwork with the regional managers. Just a couple of clicks later, you've created personalized letters for each one
of them from within Microsoft Word. Brilliant. One final touch. Click a
presentation. Call it a “career- enhancing” move.
And while we're on the sub- ject of relationships, we should mention the Microsoft Office is the only product of its kind that has unlimited product support with no service charge?
Clearly, Microsoft Office with OfficeLinks marks a quan- tum shift in what software enables you to achieve. And it’s
a clear indication of where the
future is heading.
To find out the rest of the story (a small sample of which we've covered here), visit your retailer or call (800) 894-6642, Dept. VAC, for your Office Information Kit.
With the Microsoft Office, you ll not only improve the relationship between your pro- grams, the same will go for you
and your computer.
Microsott. Offi
| Microsoft
RHINOCEROS AND OXPECKER POPULATIONS AT TANZANIA STUDY SITE
Create powerful presentations
easily with information from
different programs. Suddenly, youre a whiz presenter.
button and transform everything,
into an eye-popping PowerPoint’
SOON SOR accH Onan ANE
miatinr VAIL ACCESS
PROFESSIONAL
OOM CIR COCR em ARCO eco mioRareR Are aetcnetne
ce. © 1994 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft Office Professional, shown here, includes: Microsoft Excel, Word, the PowerPoint presentation graphics program, the Microsoft Access database management system cal Microsoft subsidiary or (206) 936-8661. Customers who are deaf or hard of hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (1'1/ TDD) services by calling (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Microsoft,
IN THE MICROSOFT OFFICE,
JUST COHABIT, THEY FORM
You might say we simply borrowed the idea from nature. Programs that live in the same place should work together.
Consider what you have to
do in a single week. Letters.
Memos. Reports. Spreadsheets.
Charts. Graphs. Presentations. Wouldnt’ it be great if there were a product that could help you pull it all together? In a nutshell, that’s the idea behind the Microsoft’ Office. Now all your programs can
work together like one. Thanks
The Lion And Its Prey
W Gazette & §€ Ani %
: & Wildebeest % ze & B other
Now its simple to combine information from different programs. So you can spice up a flyer with, Say, a Microsoft Excel chart.
Poel C Morgan Park Wildlife Preserve
Dr. John Rodman 317 University Drive Acton, CA 90025
Dear Colleague:
z 4 2 —.
Thanks to you, last year proved to be an incredible year for the Morgan Park Wildlife Preserve. Due to a successful membership drive, our Board of Directors has approved an increase in our research budget for large African animals. As a member of our advisory board, please submit your opinions and comments regarding worthy research candidates.
O Membership 1991
EB Attendance 1993
Its easy to update or manage text, data and graphics in one document with the latest object linking and embedding technology (OLE 2.0). Just click where you need to work and the tools you need are right there.
to our intuitive OfficeLinks tools,
you can now share text, data and graphics seamlessly between our best-selling programs. What’ this really mean? Simply, you'll be able to get more done. With a lot less effort. Say youre working on a sales report. You'll probably start by
writing in Microsoft Word.
Then you click to open your Microsoft Access database and call up your sales data. By region. By salesperson. By month. By client. By vendor.
But why stop there?
You can easily send that data to a Microsoft Excel spread- sheet in just a click of a button,
analyze it, turn it into a dramatic
“Support for Microsoft Office is no-charge; however, normal telephone company charges apply. Microsoft support services are subject to Microsoft's then-current prices, terms, and conditions, which are subject to change without no and a Mail workstation license (server and software must be acquired separately). In the 50 United States, call (800) 894-6642, Dept. VAC. For information only: In Canada, call (800) 563-9048; outside the U.S. and Canada, call your | PowerPoint, Microsoft Access and the Windows logo are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
THEY SHARE. THEY COMPLEMENT
EACH OTHER. THEY GIVE AND TAKE.
\
*
e
fae eee
rs eS
uying a system? Sure, you
want price and performance. Support? Too often it’s an afterthought.
Problem is, too many direct- order companies treat support the same way. They make the sale, then disappear.
At AMBRA™ we’d rather build a long-term relationship with our customers. So before we sold a single PC, we enlisted the best service organization in the business: IBM2®
Whenever you need help,
3 We've got IBM computer experts— not switchboard operators—standing Seed by. Toll-free,
24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And, every system carries one- year IBM onsite technical service.
It’s for reasons like these that InfoWorld (4/25/94) says, “AMBRA has been able to offer good support and customer service as
well as good prices.” All good reasons to buy from AMBRA.
THE AMBRA ASSURANCE
ae A Toll-free IBM technical support, available a 24 hours, 7 days a week.
a A 30-day, airtight, money-back guarantee. ~ | A&A One-year warranty on oe parts and labor.
| z All Blue Lightning™
3 systems are
oe rigorously tested.
|) & XXCAL Gold Certification Program.
IOOMHZ AT
IBM BLUE LIGHTNING:
Your Windows™ apps need speed, while you need
something to fit your budget.
Here’s a solution that’s a bolt from the blue: the
D4100BL from AMBRA.
It takes advantage of IBM’s Blue Lightning 1OOMHz processor. With clock-tripling technology, it boosts speed
without heating up the price.
PC World named our 66MHz Blue Lightning a “Best Buy.” Guess that makes our 1OOMHz an even better best buy. You want one, you better get on the horn. They’re going
as fast as they run.
D466BL NOW $ 1399
Business Lease: $49/Month
A 486/66MHz Blue Lightning
A Upgradable to Pentium™ Technology
A 16KB L1 and 256KB L2 Cache
A 4MB RAM, Max: 64MB
A 212MB Enhanced IDE Caviar™ Hard Disk Drive
A 15” FST-NI Color Monitor-LR (13.6” viewable screen size)
A VESA® Local Bus Graphics Accelerator 1MB
A Integrated 32-bit SCSI-2 Controller
A 3 16-bit ISA and 2 32-bit VESA Bus Slots
A 3.5” 1.44MB Diskette Drive
A 5 Drive Bays
A Integrated Ethernet-10BaseT
A Lexmark™ 101-Key Keyboard
A MS-DOS? 6.2, Windows 3.1, Mouse
and
ae ’ a4 4 4 L& 3 2a Oe
D4100BL NOW : 1699
Business Lease: $60/Month A 486/100MHz Blue Lightning A Upgradable to Pentium Technology A 16KB L1 and 128KB L2 Cache A 4MB RAM, Max: 64MB A 212MB Enhanced IDE Caviar Hard Disk Drive A Double-Speed Multisession CD-ROM Drive A 15” FST-NI Color Monitor-LR (13.6” viewable screen size) A VESA Local Bus Graphics Accelerator 1MB A VESA Local Bus IDE Hard Drive Controller A 4 16-bit ISA and 1 32-bit VL Bus Slots A 3.5” 1.44MB Diskette Drive A 5 Drive Bays A Lexmark 101-Key Keyboard A MS-DOS 6.2, Windows 3.1, Mouse
| CALL NOW... get an upgrade on any
CD-ROM system to multimedia with 16-bit sound card
©1994 AMBRA Computer Corporation. The AMBRA logo and logotype are trademarks of AMBRA Computer Corporation.
AMBRA is a trademark of ICPI Ltd. and used under license therefrom. All other brands and product names are registered trademarks, trademarks or service marks of their respective holders. Please call for details regarding AMBRA’s money-
66MHZ PRICES.
A BOLT FROM THE BLUE.
Winbench 4.0 a Blue Lightning
Microsoft PowerPaint - [Pre
View insert Format Tools Draw Window Help
486DX2/66 Average’
D4100BL NOW $2099 ri So Sled Business Lease: $74/Month A 486/100MHz Blue Lightning A Upgradable to Pentium Technology A 16KB L1 and 256KB L2 Cache A 8MB RAM, Max: 64MB A 420MB Enhanced IDE Caviar Hard Disk Drive A Double-Speed Multisession CD-ROM Drive A 15” FST-NI Color Monitor-LR (13.6” viewable screen size) A VESA Local Bus Graphics Accelerator 1MB A VESA Local Bus IDE Hard Drive Controller A 4 16-bit ISA and 1 32-bit VL Bus Slots A 3.5” 1.44MB Diskette Drive A MS-DOS 6.2, Windows 3.1, Mouse A Borland Office™ on CD? (WordPerfect® Quattro® Pro, Paradox®)
AMBRA
Desktop model shown. Mini-tower and other configurations also available.
1800200-3389
back guarantee, warranty and credit terms. Lease based on 36 months, offered by IBM Credit Corp. Onsite service may not be available in certain locations. Offerings may differ in Canada. Prices do not include shipping. Return shipping and insurance charges are the responsibility of the customer. 'AMBRA results independently tested 3/31/94. *From PC Magazine, December 7, 1993. *All manuals are on the CD. Printed manuals can be purchased directly from Borland® and WordPerfect.
PG WORLD
Cover Story
132 Top 20 PCs: Beyond the CPU You can’t judge a PC by its processor. ‘Vhis month, DX4-100s battle Pentiums and 486-66s take on DX4-100s. ‘To find the best values, we tested and rated them all. ‘The champs: Dell’s Dimension XPS 90, Diamond’s D'T’ 486-66, AT&'T’s Globalyst 200, and IBM’s ‘ThinkPad 500. Plus, complete rankings of 224 PCs, from SX-25s to Pentium-90s.
Special Report: Small Office/Home Office
230 The Savvy Shopper Where’s the best place to buy a new PC? Our undercover shopper explored the warehouses and malls of America. Here’s his advice.
239 Top Picks for the Home Office
‘These are a few of our favorite things.
243 Great Communicators Business phone strategies that will keep customers from hanging up.
Cover photography by Robert Cardin, digital composition by TX Unlimited/San Francisco
4 PC WORLD ¢ SEPTEMBER 1994
Graphics
172 Speed Demons: Top Windows
Accelerators
Whether it’s to put some zip into Win- dows or power up for heavy graphics or multimedia work, a new generation of accelerators gives your PC the assist it needs. We tested 33 graphics boards and named Best Buys for mainstream as well as multimedia applications.
Fax-Modems
190 The Right Connections
We tested 23 fax-modems to find the best for combining fast online communi- cations with automated fax transmission. From high-speed Internet surfing to paperless faxing, our Best Buys will hook you up just right for under $150.
Investing
206 15 Ways to Leave Your Broker
When your full-service broker talks, do you still listen? PC software and online services are now available for investors, from bewildered beginners to experi- enced mutual-fund hobbyists. We bring you advice from the experts and review leading software and services.
Top of the News
58
61
62
The Cyrix Advantage: A Better DX2-66 More powerful than a DX2-50, cheaper than a DX4-75—Epson’s notebook, the first to use Cyrix’s Cx4861DX2-V66, 1s the light- est 66-MHz mobile PC we've ever tested.
Close-Up Telecommuting Norton-Lambert’s $199 Close-Up 6.0 synchronizes directories to make remote
computing easy for telecommuters.
How to Make Your PC Listen
‘Talk to your PC and watch it respond. Kurzweil 1.0 for Windows is a cost-effective voice recognition keyboard replacement.
Making the Best of Peer Connections Peer-to-peer nets give you the advantages of LANs without the hassle. Here’s how to get connected and what to buy.
VOLUME 12 NUMBER 9
Networking 72 Manage Your Group’s Documents Here's How
PC Docs and SoftSolutions give your group control over critical documents.
76 Struggling to Make Work Flow Work ‘This Notes-based work-flow system offers a major payoff—but not without a
major struggle.
Reliability and Service 170 Win a Pentium-66 PC
How satisfied are you with your PC? Whether it’s trouble-plagued or trouble- free, tell us about it. Fill out and fax in
this month’s survey for a chance to win a 254 Help Line Zeos Pantera 66, a Best Buy PC from September's ‘Lop 20 charts.
258 Spreadsheets 262 Word Processing 266 Windows
Windows
274 Data Management
278 Publishing & Presentations
219 Windows Detective: Solving the Mysteries of Error Messages ‘They appear out of nowhere, without reason, devouring documents and dis- rupting work. Error messages have terror- ized anyone who’s ever used a Windows PC. Here’s a definitive guide to what those messages mean and what to do
about them. i Departments
15 In This Issue
New Products 19 Letters
30 Consumer Watch
280 Communications 282 Hardware 286 Star-Dot-Star
95 Ascentia 900N and 800N 102 Select-Ease keyboard 108 Lotus Forms 1.0 for notebooks; Bravo MS, $e AdPid and Penmouse Windows 43 Real Problems, Real AST Premmia MX and pen tablets 117 SelectPhone CD ROM Solutions GX desktop PCs ' ; : rm : we 106 Photoshop 3.0, Micrografx 117, CompuServeCD 51 Inside Source Epson Stylus Color and Picsure Pablishers.0 ; a DECcolorwriter 520ic ink | 120 GroupWise +1 electronic 324, Break Time as . 107 Peachtree Accounting 3.0 mail and groupware jet printers Poe cdas 324 Home Office
120 Eclipse Fax 6.0
98 ‘loshiba T3600CT. ee 107 NoMousc 5.0 for Windows 121 CaLANdar 3.0 group
T2400C’'T, ‘T2400CS, lation sof T1960C'T. T1960CS emulation software sealer
Resources
10 Howto Contact PC World
ee ee 108 Borland Sidekick 1.0 for OF Cee Cinco , Windows personal infor- ; 98 Dell Dimension XPS MT P cross-platform system 288 PC World Catalog ) : _— mation Manager . _ ; Pentium minitower 122 Quick ‘lakes 299 Mail-Order Shopping — Guide = PC World™ (ISSN 0737-8939) is published monthly at $29.90 for one year (12 issues), $59.80 for two years (24 issues), $89.70 for three years (36 issues) by — PC World Communications, Inc., 501 Second St. #600, San Francisco, CA 94107. Foreign orders must be prepaid in U.S. funds with additional postage. Add 317 Advertiser Index ee DATA GROUP $18 per year for Canada and Mexico; add $46 per year for airmail for all other countries. Canadian GST Registration #R124669680. Second-class postage paid at San Francisco and additional mailing offices. Canada Post International Publications Mail Product, (Canadian Distribution) Sales Agreement No. 0463566. 319 Editorial Product Index
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to PC World, Subscription Dept., P.0. Box 55029, Boulder, CO 80322-5029. Editorial and business offices: 501 Second St. #600, San Francisco, CA 94107, 415/243-0500. Copyright © 1994, PC World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. The trademark PC World is owned by International Data Group and used under license by PC World Communi- = : cations, Inc. Consumer Watch and Star-Dot-Star are trademarks of PC World Communications, Inc. Printed in the United States. 322 Comin iad l Ip
SEPTEMBER 1994 * PC WORLD 5
Get Your Editors’ Best Buy, lop Choice,
EXPERTS NAME THE ZEOS’ PANTERA‘ #1 | [ a7) Ptéomputing
“Rocket fast performance and a great price make this our favorite Pentium of the lot,” PC/Computing said.
‘Top computer experts at seven leading publications agree that the ZEOS Pantera is the best Pentium- processor based system available.
The ZEOS Pantera has earned:
@ PC Magazine Editors’ Choice
(April 12, 1994) & Computer Shopper “top choice” (April & August 1994) @ PC/Computing BEST (May 1994) @ PC World Best Buy (June 1994) B Windows Sources Experts’ Pick June & August 1994) These prestigious awards all add up to one thing—ZEOS computers are your #1 choice.
Don't settle for less. The Pantera has it all. PC/Computing concurs: “Hot per- formance, room for expandability, and a low price make this system our top choice.”
POWER BEYOND POWER
' mJ =f Sa os
cs
GHOIGE IGE.
May 1994
June & August 1994
Silene OA A . E a
new ZEOS Pantera- 66, a Pentium-66 that recorded the fastest benchmark results ever to come out of the PC World Test Center,” reported PC World.
PC Magazine said: “ZEOS Pantera-66 combines quality features, good price, and high performance. ... A consistently above-average performer on all our benchmark tests....”
The ZEOS Pantera received the highest marks on many benchmark tests including the important Graphics WinMark and Disk WinMark tests run by PC Magazine. In fact, its Disk WinMark surpassed the next closest competitor by 35 percent!
What makes the Pantera fly at supersonic speeds? A ZEOS designed motherboard with exceptional features such as a hot new integrated PCI Local Bus IDE Controller
PANTERA
(supporting up to four IDE devices) that, as PC Magazine said, “pushes disk access into new territory”
PENTIUM & 486 PANTERAS
Even better, we now incorporate the latest award- = 744 winning Pantera technology (including PCI)toour | g§ 486 PCs. The expanded Pantera line includes more MAGLI processors—from a 486SX-25 to a DX4-100 all the PHOIGE
way to a Pentium-90! The best news: The Pantera DX4-100 also earned PC Magazine's Editors’ Choice June 28, 1994).
These new, improved and even more affordable systems feature local bus IDE hard drives from 214MB to 1GB; memory from 4MB to 24MB; a new 64-bit video controller; 3 PCI slots (one contains our PCI local bus video card) in addition to 5 ISA slots; and on-board Fast SCSI-2 option. And all Pantera systems are 100% compatible with every major network operating system on the market.
ALL THE EXTRAS INCLUDED What's more, we give you all this at a marvelous price. There’s no doubt about it. PC/Computing said: “We suggest you spend your money on this machine-it offers the best value of any sys- tem we tested.” Windows Sources agrees: “ZEOS Pantera offers the best performance for the price.” The value doesn’t stop with your purchase. You get the best service and support in the business. In fact, no company has won more PC Magazine Readers’ Choice for Service & Reliability awards than ZEOS-s1x in all. And we were the first to provide 24-hour toll-free technical support- every day!
ZEOS offers you all this and more. It’s easy to see why the Pantera is the “number one power desktop Best Buy?” It’s the Editors’ Choice. Make it your choice. As PC/Computing . said, “there’s no doubt which machine you should choose: ZEOS'’s Pantera...this is a deal you simply can’t pass up.” Call your ZEOS Systems Consultant now at 800-554-5220.
June 28,1994
_—
es It runs with
NetWare
BES |
PROCESSORS
486SX-33 486DX-33 486DX2-66 DX4-100 PENTIUM-60 PENTIUM-66 PENTIUM-90
More processors available. Call for detatls.
STANDARD WITH EVERY ZEOS PANTERA’ SYSTEM = Genuine Intel Processor.
= PCI local bus color graphics card upgradable to 2MB.
# Two high-speed serial ports and one enhanced parallel port.
= Three PCI slots and five ISA slots.
= Optional on-board Fast SCSI-2 socket.
@ Flash BIOS.
= 200 watt power supply with built-in surge suppressor. Switchable between 115/230V.
@ ZEOS 101-key space-saving keyboard.
= FCC Certified Class B;
UL Listed.
= Complete ZEOS Customer Satisfaction Package.
PENTIUM EXTRAS: = RAM expandable to 192MB. = Integrated business audio.
486 EXTRAS: =# RAM expandable to 128MB. m EPA Energy Star compliant.
Fax Orders: 800-362-1205 or 612-362-1205. Phone Orders: Government: C ALL N OW TO LL FREE
800-245-2449, Outside U.S. and Canada: 612-362-1212. Purchase Orders,
Choice, Experts’ Pick.
ZEQOS PC Now!
PACKAGE 1 ey V0 @\C] iy PACKAGE 3 ANG @ NC]
$1495 Lease $63/mo. S17 95 Lease $65/mo. $2295 Lease $83/mo. $2845 Lease $103/mo. S 1645 Lease $60/mo. S 1945 _Lease$70/mo. $2445 Lease $89/mo. $2995 Lease $108/mo. S 1745 Lease $63/mo. $2045 Lease S4/mo. $2545 Lease $92/mo. $3095 Lease $102/mo. s 1995 Lease $72/mo. $2295 Lease $83/mo. S27 95 Lease $101 /mo. $3345 Lease $110/mo. S 1995 Lease$72/mo. $2295 Lease $83/mo. $27 95 Lease $101/mo. $3345 Lease $110/mo. $2095 Lease$7/mo. | $2395 Lease $s7/mo. | $2895 Lease $105/mo. | $3445 Lease $ti4/mo. $2395 Lease $87/mo. $2695 Lease $98/mo. $3195 Lease $105/mo. $3745 Lease $124/mo.
= 4MB RAM = 8MB RAM = 16MB RAM @ 24MB RAM
= 214MB local bus IDE @ 528MB local bus IDE @ 720MB local bus IDE @ 1GB local bus IDE hard drive w/32K cache} _ hard drive w/256K cache | hard drive w/128K cache} _ hard drive w/256K cache
3.5" 144MB @ 2X CD-ROM drive, @ 2X CD-ROM drive, @ 2X CD-ROM drive, floppy drive 3.5" L44MB floppy 3.5" 144MB floppy 3.5" 144MB floppy
@ 64-bit Windows-accel- | ™ 64-bit Windows-accel- @ 64-bit Windows-accel- @ 64-bit Windows-accel- erated PCI local bus erated PCI local bus erated PCI local bus erated PCI local bus SVGA color graphics SVGA color graphics SVGA color graphics SVGA color graphics card with IMB RAM card with IMB RAM card with IMB RAM card with IMB RAM
m ZEOS 14" 1024 x 768 m ZEOS 14" 1024 x 768 @ ZEOS 15" 1024x 768 =| @ZEOS 15" 1024 x 768 non-interlaced SVGA non-interlaced SVGA non-interlaced SVGA non-interlaced SVGA color monitor, .28mm color monitor, .28mm color monitor, .28mm color monitor, .28mm dot pitch dot pitch dot pitch dot pitch
@ Sixbay desktop case @ Sixbay desktop case @ Sixbay desktop case @ Sixbay desktop case with two cooling fans with two cooling fans with two cooling fans with two cooling fans
= MS-DOS 6.2, Windows | #@ MS-DOS 6.2, Windows | ® MS-DOS 6.2, Windows | # MS-DOS 6.2, Windows for Workgroups 3.11, for Workgroups 3.11, for Workgroups 3.11, for Workgroups 3.11, Microsoft Mouse Microsoft Mouse Microsoft Mouse Microsoft Mouse
@ Choice of Lotus = Choice of Lotus Windows application Windows application WO) 1h fe) ale)
528MB TO 1GB HDD UPGRADE 96/48/24 V.42 BIS 1MB TO 2MB VIDEO RAM UPGRADE SEND/RECEIVE FAX MODEM
DIAMOND STEALTH 64/PCI VIDEO INTERNAL TAPE BACKUP
CARD WITH 2MB VRAM 2 80 to 250MB (with compression),
UPGRADE FROM A14"TOAI5"MONITOR —_"ludes backup sottware
ZEOS SVGA NI, 1024 x 768, flat screen 10-BAY VERTICAL CASE
UPGRADE FROM A 15" TO A17" MONITOR MULTIMEDIA UPGRADE
ZEOS SVGA NI, 1280 x 1024 $3 16-bit sound card. Stereo speakers
ADAPTEC 6360 SCSI CONTROLLER CHIP LOTUS SMARTSUITE UPGRADE
For on-board SCSL Includes drivers $ Five Windows applications in one box! ............... $299
14.4 BPS V.32 BIS MODEM Many other affordable upgrades WITH 14.4 BPS SEND/RECEIVE FAX and options available. Call for details!
MasterCard, VISA, Am Ex, Discover, Z-Card™ COD and affordable leasing 80 O - 5 5 4 = 52 WJ O yA EOS .programs. Open 24 Hours a Day, 365 Days a Year! INTERNATIONAL, LTD.
Purchase orders are subject to approval. Business leasing programs available. Lease prices based on a 36-month lease; 10% purchase option. All prices, specifications and availability are subject to change without notice; call to confirm these and warranty details. Prices do not include shipping. The Energy Star emblem does not represent EPA endorsement of any product or service. All products and company names are trade- marks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Intel Inside and Pentium are trademarks of Intel Corporation. ZEOS is a registered trademark; Z-Card and Computers Now! are registered servicemarks;
Pantera is a trademark of ZEOS International Ltd. © 1994 ZEOS International Ltd., 1301 Industrial Blvd., Minneapolis, MN 55413 USA. ZEOS is a publicly traded company (NASDAQ symbol: ZEOS).
Circle 237 on reader service card
PAN-PCW-9409
a EDITOR IN CHIEF Philip Lemmons Senior Analyst Susan Silvius EDITOR Cathryn Baskin Test Center Coordinator Mike Salayko
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Russell Glitman USER GROUP ADVISORY BOARD
MANAGING EDITOR Luis Camus Steve Bass, Pasadena IBM Users Group; OUC ART DIRECTOR Robert Kanes Roger Bender, Microcomputer Managers Association; Jack Bolton, Atlanta PC User’s
SENIOR EDITORS
Features Steve Fox Group (APCUG); Brian Camenker, Boston Consumer Issues Roberta Furger Computer Society; Rollie Cole, APCUG; W CT] Reviews Owen Linderholm Paul Curtis, APCUG; Mary Dolce, Chicago News Joe Abernathy Computer Society; Sandy Frunzi, Las Vegas SENIOR TECHNICAL EDITOR Karl Koessel PC User Group; Al Harrison, Houston Area OUT EAST COAST EDITOR Randy Ross League PC Users; David Hoffman, NYPC; epitdpiad Joseph Rigo, NYPC; Irving Samuels, Capital Assistant Managing Editor Anne Kandra a { Associate Editors Jeff Bertolucci, Rex Founder David Bunnell . CI | ) Farrance, Bryan Hastings, Michael S. Lasky, Founding Editor Andrew Fluegelman SV; Dan Miller, Lincoln Spector, Christina Wood Assistant Editors Michael Desmond, John PC WORLD LOTUS EDITION Goddard, Anita Hamilton, Melissa Riofrio Executive Editor Eric Bender Hoar Assistant Technical Editor Shane Rau Senior Associate Editors Richard Cranford, Asst. Editor, East Coast Laurianne McLaughlin Ann Kremers, Carrie ‘Thomas
Editorial Assistant Caroline Jones Associate Editors Catherine Kenny, Andrea C. Fact Checker Arden M. Hoffman Powers, Carol White
Is ] ead Copy Chief Richard Johnson LOTUS EDITION MAILING ADDRESS Senior Copy Editors Barbara Lewis,
77 Franklin St. #300, Boston, MA 02110
Iolani Ninyasniltts Peppy !auls Phone: 617/482-8470 Fax: 617/426-0235 Copy Editors Stephen Compton, Gail Nelson
¢ lee Editorial Production Associate Henry Pham LOTUS PUBLISHING CORPORATION Assistant to the Editor in Chief Ken Blaylock Publisher Craig G. Pierce
Editor in Chief Jennifer J. Smith
bd Administrative Assistants Stephanie Daigre, Heidi Zinsmeister Wolff Marketing Director Jacqueline L. Migell P Business Manager Scott Danish Production Manager Andrew Ochrymowych
. . l h Librarian Stella Chan PC WORLD ONLINE
ART & DESIGN Publisher Jim Moody (America Online, Associate Art Director Greg Silva PCW JimM; CompuServe, 71154,212) Senior Designers Barbara Adamson, Director of Online Services Dennis Sheridan IBM PS System Board Laura Guerin (America Online, PCW Dennis; CompuServe, epair ervice Caan ibis . Director of Sales and Marketing ‘Thomas Gewecke ‘ SEIOL Deore ner IMUSTapIiS ee Cr (America Online, PCW ‘Thomas; CompuServe = Factory direct Assistant Designer, Infographics Hope Winslow 72520,2165) Production Arti Tobi m Post-warranty service Palen AE raanene se Systems Operator Nancy H. Miller (PC World w Original parts CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Direct BBS, 415/974-7303) : . Anita Amirrezvani, Steve Bass, ‘TJ Byers, Administrative Assistant Licia Slimon = One or five-day service George Campbell, David Coursey, Scott (America Online, PCW Licia; CompuServe, Dunn, Bronwyn Fryer, Brett Glass, Michael 71154,767) Call today for more information: Goodwin, Judy Heim, Richard Jantz, Eric Knorr, Robert Luhn, Lou Miranda, Celeste PC WORLD COMMUNICATIONS, INC. 1 (800) 159 “ 6995 Robinson, Richard Scoville, Gene Smarte, President, CEO Patrick Kenealy Scott Spanbauer, Daniel Tynan Publisher, COO Richard J. Marino PC WORLD TEST CENTER Senior VP, Circulation, Marketing, Research Director Gregory Smith Heather Martin Maier Manager, Performance Testing VP, Director of Advertising Jeff Edman Ulrike Diehlmann VP, Manufacturing Linda Manes Goodwin Manager, Usability Testing Dean Andrews vP, Human Resources Richard Willoughby
VP, Finance Vicki Peilen
Circle 142 on reader service card
8 PC WORLD « SEPTEMBER 1994 | >
The Ultima The New
lo U notebook
eridian:
High Quality Superior | Performance & Power Up To 1(00MHz.
Finally, a color subnotebook that’s powerful enough to take where:
Travel around the world or to the highest peak. At just four pounds and -
change, the ZEOS Meridian 400C is the ——- a and the ultimate color subnotebook! =—s_—y What makes the Meridian 4¢ 400 0C so ideal? Durable, sturdy construction that will travel anywhere, incred-
heights, and more options than a road map. To meet - your exact needs, we offer you power, speed and : memory choices— genuine Intel 486SX-33, 486DX2-50 or DX4-100 microprocessors; 4 or 8MB RAM user Specate lo to 20MB; and IDE hard drives from 175MB to 350MB.
The Meridian includes the latest and hottest features; high-speed _ local bus video for super-fast video performance; a 78" diagonal ee backlit screen; two Type II PCMCIA slots for fax/modem, SCSI and sound cards; and an 84-key keyboard with inverted “T” arrow keys and the new integrated TruePoint™ pointing device.
Reach the highest point of notebook computing with the new ZEOS ;
Meridian Subnotebook. There's no limit. With its light weight, super power, awesome performance and technologically-advanced features, you can keep in touch with the office, write memos, organize your — calendar and work on priority documents—wherever you are. To sey portable power, call a ZEOS Systems Consultant today at 800-554-5220.
Circle 193 on reader service care
ible power and performance that will take you to new
STANDARD WITH THE ZEOS MERIDIAN 400C: WM Intel 486SX-33, 486DX2-50 or DX4-100 microprocessor.
| @8K (DX4 only: 16K) internal system cache.
@ RAM expandable to 20MB.
@ (DE hard drive upgradable to 350MB.
2 PCMCIA siots, Type IL
@ High-speed local bus video with IMB video RAM.
@ Display: 640 x 480 STN color VGA backlit LCD, 78" diagonal, up to 256 colors.
@ Supports an external SVGA color monitor, up to 1024 x 768.
@ 84-key keyboard with embedded numeric keypad and 12 dedicated function keys, inverted “T”
@ Eraser-shaped integrated TruePoint™ pointing device.
@ Replaceable, rechargeable NiMH battery.
@ Serial port, enhanced parallel port, keyboard or PS/2 mouse port, external VGA port, and external FDD port.
@ Full power management features include Low Power mode and programmable Standby features.
m@ AC-DC adapter with full range from AC110-240V to DC.
@78"x 10.2"x 1.7" 4.2 lbs.
@ EPA Energy Star compliant.
m@ FCC Certified Class B; UL Listed.
™@ Complete ZEOS Customer Satisfaction Package.
PACKAGE 1 486SX-33 $1995 Lease $72/month
| 486DX2-50 $2195 Lease $79/month
DX4-100 $2495 Lease $90/month @4MB RAM
@ 175MB IDE hard drive
@ MS-DOS 6.2
PACKAGE 2
486SX-33 $2295 Lease $83/month
486DX2-50 $2495 Lease $90/month
DX4-100 $2795 Lease $101/month
@4MB RAM
m@ 260MB IDE hard drive
@ External 3.5" 144MB floppy drive, 9.2 oz.
® Custom carrying case
@ MS-DOS 6.2, Microsoft Windows for Workgroups 3.11, Lotus Organizer
PACKAGE 3
486SX-33 $2595 Lease $94/month
486DX2-50 $2795 Lease $101/month
DX4-100 $3095 Lease $102/month
™8MB RAM
@ 350MB IDE hard drive
@ External 3.5” 144MB floppy disk drive, 9.2 oz.
@ Custom carrying case
@ Extra battery
@ MS-DOS 6.2, Microsoft Windows for Workgroups 3.11, Lotus Organizer
CALL NOW TOLL FREE
Fax Orders: 800-362-1205 or 612-362-1205. Phone Orders: Government: 800-245-2449, Outside US. and Canada: 612-362- 1212. Purchase Orders, * iM MasterCard, VISA, Discover, Am Ex, Z-Card,” COD and affordable leasing programs. Open 24 Hours a Day, 365 Days a Year! Purchase orders = fet to approval. Business leasing programs available. Lease prices based on a 36-month lease; 10% purchase ces, Specifications and availability are subject to.change without notice; call to confirm these and warranty — Arbo do not include shipping. All products and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Intel Inside Logo is a trademark of Intel Corporation. ZEOS is a registered trademark; Z-Card and Computers Now! are registered servicemarks; ZEOS Meridian and True Point are trademarks of ZEOS Intemational Ltd. ©1994 ZEOS International ETD, 1301 Industrial Blyd., Minneapolis, MN 55413 USA. ZEOS isa publicly traded company (NASDAQ symbol: ZEOS) MER-PCW-9409
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Circle 138 on reader service card
10 PC WORLD « SEPTEMBER 1994 | &@
IND:
Advanced Logic Research, Inc.
33-MHZ 50-MHZ 66-MHZ
erful
STARTING AT
ACCELEKATED VIDEO
hanks to the new ALR Express, the whole rela- _ cessing software and graphics oriented spreadsheet | become an established favorite among PC specialists tionship between price and performance has just programs. Built for long-lasting performance, it offers | and users worldwide. been redefined. Powered by your choice of fast a single chip upgrade path to higher levels of 486
486SX and 486DX2 microprocessors and fortified processing and Pentium™ Overdrive™ technology. So come on, find out what all the critics have been with accelerated graphics, the ALR Express flies raving about. Visit your nearest authorized ALR through Windows™ without hesitation. Even the Best of all, the Express is built by ALR. Witha roster __ reseller, and take a look at the new ALR Express and lowest priced models run at a quick 33-MHz. Yet all of recent awards that includes PC World's "Best our complete family of award-winning systems and this performance is available for less than $750! Buy", 1994, "CADalyst's "Highly Recommended," PC multimedia solutions. For more information call
A perfect home office PC, network node, or general magazines "Editor's Choice," BYTE's "Best of Spring ALR today:
business system, the Express is an ideal match for Comdex, 1993," and Le Monde Informatique's ,
today's sophisticated desktop publishing / wordpro- "Product of the Year, 1993" ALR systems have ] SO0e4446e AALR
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Install an ALR Digital Express Multimedia Kit! , | a Drive
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Circle 9 on reader service card
@ Experts Choice....Micron:
P90PCI POWERSTATION
Intel™ Pentium™ 90MHz processor
8MB RAM (expandable to 192MB)
420MB 14ms IDE hard drive
256K write-back cache (to 512K) EDITORS’ 4 ISA, 2PCI, 1 ISA/PCI slots, Flash BIOS CHOICE 2X CD-ROM drive, 3.5” floppy drive JUNE 28, 1994 PCI graphics accelerator (2MB) POWERSTATION 15” Micron 15FGx, 1280NI, .28mm, MPRII Desktop “Tool Free” chassis, 3 cooling fans Microsoft® Mouse, 101-key keyboard
MS-DOS® & Windows™ for Workgroups
Microsoft Office® 4.2 on CD*
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LEASE-$101/MO. Af NALYST’S
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$3,099 $4,599 $6,499
LEASE - $106/MO. _LEASE - $158/MO. LEASE - $223/MO.
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tered trademark and Windows, Windows NT and the Window: day risk-free money back guarantee does not include return freight or shipping and handling charges, applies only Mi icron brand products, and begins from date of shipment. All returns require RMA numbers and must be shipped in the original condition prepaid and insured ‘Lease prices head > 36, Font lease.
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APRIL 26, 1994 JANUARY 26, 1993 466VL MAGNUM 466 MAGNUM
JUNE 28, 1994
POWERSTATION
433 MAGNUM LP
BB Intel 486SX 33MHz processor
MB Pentium Technology Ready (ZIF)
BP 4MB RAM (expandable to 48IMB) @ 210MB 14ms IDE hard drive
IB Local bus graphics (1B)
@ 14" Micron 14G, 1024l, .28mm
§ Low profile desktop case
WE 5 16-bit ISA slots
BB Microsoft Mouse, 101-key keyboard BB MS-DOS & Windows for Workgroups B Microsoft Works for Windows
$ ] , 199 case - s4smo.
NEW MICRON LOW PROFILE SYSTEMS!
P66PCI POWERSTATION
BB Intel 66MHz Pentium processor
@ 8B RAM (expandable to 128MB)
BB 420MB 14ms IDE hard drive (PCI)
BB 256K write-back cache, Flash BIOS
@ 4\SA, 2PCl, 1 ISA/PCI slots
BB 2X CD-ROM drive, 3.5" floopy
PCI graphics accelerator (2B)
M15" Micron 15FGx, 1280NI, .28mm, MPRII BB Desktop “Tool Free” chassis, 3 cooling fans Microsoft Mouse, 101-key keyboard
B® MS-DOS & Windows for Workgroups Microsoft Office 4.2 on CD*
$2,499 LEASE - $90/MO.
® I6MBRAM MB 527MB HD IDE Wi 15" Micron 15FGx
$2,799 LEASE - $101/MO.
B® 32MB RAM W ).0GB SCSI-2 HD M17" Micron 17FGx
$4, 299 LEASE - $147/MO.
- PCWEEKLABS iss
JUNE 27, 199 P90PCI POWERSTATION
DECEMBER 1993 DECEMBER 1993
EVIE EVIE RO:
eee
DECEMBER 1993 JUNE 1994
DECEMBER 1993
486 FAMILY MPC
Mi 2X CD-ROM drive, 3.5” floppy drive
16-bit sound card, speakers & joystick
BB 9600/2400 Fax/ Modem & WinFax Lite
MB Local bus graphics (1MB)
Wi 14" Micron 14G, 1024I, 28mm
BB Low profile desktop case
B® Microsoft Mouse, 101-key keyboard
BB MS-DOS & Windows for Workgroups
BB MS Works Multimedia CD, Encarta 94’ CD
Quicken CD, On-line trial services
@ 3 LucasArts CD games: Rebel Assault, Indiana Jones & Day of the Tentacle
BE A86SX 33MHz ‘Ml A86DX2 66MH2 BB AIVB RAM BB GMB RAM M210VBHD = MIA20VBHD $1,399 $1,899
LEASE - $51/MO. LEASE - $69/MO.
P66PCI POWERSERVER
BB Intel 66MHz Pentium processor
BB 6MB RAM (expandable to 192MB) M@ 527MB 12ms SCSI-2 hard drive
BB 512K write-back cache, Flash BIOS BB PC! 32-bit Fast SCSI-2 controller
BS EISA, 2PCI, 1 EISA/PCI slots
WB 2X SCSI-2 CD-ROM drive, 3.5" floppy @@ PCI graphics accelerator (2MB)
Hi 14" Micron 14G, 10241, .28mm
@ Tower: 10 drive bays, 3 cooling fans Wi Microsoft Mouse, 101-key keyboard MY MS-DOS & Windows for Workgroups Hi Microsoft Office 4.2 on CD*
$3,699 LEASE - $127/MO.
Mi 32MB RAM Mi 1.0GB SCSI-2 HD MH 15" Micron 15FGx
$4,599 tease -sissimo
i 64MB RAM MB 2.068 SCSI-2 HD 17" Micron 17FGx
$6,899 LEASE - $237/MO.
$200 MULTIMEDIA UPGRADE KIT*
@ Sound Blaster 16 sound card & speakers @ Kraft thunderstick joystick @ Microsoft Encarta® 94’ CD
@ Quicken® CD-ROM Deluxe Edition
@ 3 LucasArts CD games: Rebel Assault, Indiana Jones and Day of the Tentacle
“Available with system purchase only
ws logo are trademarks of Microsoft Corporati
ion.
The
©1994 Micron Computer, Inc. All rights reserved. All prices and specifications subject to clea nge without notice. es be Computer, Inc. cannot be responsible for omissions, errors in typography or photography. Intel, Intel Inside, Pentium and Ove
May 1994 MARCH 1994 SEPTEMBER 1993
466VL MAGNUM
BB Intel 486DX2 66MHz processor
i Pentium Technology Ready (ZIF) 8B RAM (expandable to 64MB) MB 420MB 14ms IDE hard drive (VLB)
BB 256K write-back cache, Flash BIOS M7 expansion slots: 2 VESA, 7 ISA
M@ 2X CD-ROM drive, 3.5” floopy drive BB Diamond Speedstar Pro VLB (1 MB) @ 14" Micron 14G, 1024|, .28mm Desktop “Tool Free” chassis
MB EPA Energy Star compliant
BB Microsoft Mouse, 101-key keyboard BB MS-DOS & Windows for Workgroups B® Microsoft Works Multinedia on CD*
91,899
H j i I iy LEASE - $69/MO. {<M
HOICE 466PCI MAGNUM
BB Intel 486DX2 66MHz processor
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BY 2X CD-ROM drive, 3.5” floppy drive PCI graphics accelerator (1MB)
@ 14” Micron 14G, 1024I, .28mm
B® Desktop “Tool Free” chassis
B® Microsoft Mouse, 101-key keyboard MB MS-DOS & Windows for Workgroups BB Microsoft Works Multimedia on CD*
$1 899 LEASE - $69/MO.
M@ 16MBRAM
MB 527MB HD IDE M15" Micron 15FGx BB MS Office on CD
$2,499 LEASE - $90/MO,
MAY 1994
@ Matrox MGA-II 2MB PCl............ add $200 Matrox MGA-II+ 4MB... ccc add $500 Hi Diamond Stealth 64 2MB PCl.....add $200
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t's not just who you know, it’s what you know about them. All over the world, people are joining the ACT! revolution. Piling up prospects. Doing two, even three times as much business as before. And astonishing their customers with a level of personal service they've never experienced. For over 700,000 success-driven people, ACT! has already become a way of life.
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THE TOP-RATED, BEST-SELLING, CONTACT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE THAT’S CHANGING THE WAY THE WORLD DOES BUSINESS.
choose from over 30 predefined (and customizable) business documents and reports. Then let ACT! fill in the names and addresses, and print the letters and envelopes. Or instantly send them out by electronic mail or fax to any number of contacts. It’s never been so easy to stay in touch with your contacts.
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ACT! is your comprehensive activity planner too. Pop-up reminders let you know exactly who you need to call and what you need to do at any time of the day. Need to change an appointment? Just “drag and drop” the appointment to its new time slot. Then print your up-to-the-minute calendar by day, week, or month — choosing from over 20 personal organizer formats, including Day- Timer, Day Runner and Franklin Day Planner. With ACT! you'll always be on time and on top of your schedule. Even share contact data, activities, letters, and reports on a network or through electronic mail with ACT! 2.0 for Windows.
WHAT THEYRE SAYING Asout ACT!
1 “There’s good reason for ACT!’s on- * | aa going dominance of the contact == ° | management field.”
PC Magazine, Editors’ EDITORS’
Choice Award, GHOIGE. = August, 1993 ACT! for Windows 1.1
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Offer valid in the U.S.A. only. Prices listed in U.S. dollars. Resellers not eligible. Offer valid while supplies last. ACT! also available in DOS and Macintosh versions. For more information in Canada, call 800-667-8661. Symantec and ACT! are registered trademarks of Symantec Corporation. Other brands and products are trademarks of their respective holders. ©1994 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved.
“ACT!, on any platform, was the clear winner.” Home Office Computing, 4-Star Award, February, 1994
“The productivity in our office has increased 3 to 4 times with ACT! 2.0 for Windows. Because we can share contacts, documents and activities on the network, what used to take 10 steps now takes only two.”
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MICHELE CLEMENT
IN THIS ISSUE
A Skeptical Inquiry: 120-MHz Pentiums for $5000?
Skepticism is the trademark of edi- tors. Here at PC World, it’s our job to listen, question, test, and accurately assess not only PC products on the
market now but industry promises of products to come.
During a visit to Intel’s offices in Santa Clara, California, early this year, our skepticism kicked into high gear. Intel representatives told PC Wor/d edi- tors that by the end of the year, PCs would double in performance with no increase in price. While no one disputes Moore’s Law—the axiom that processor power doubles every 18 months—the notion of double the power with no price premium in just 12 months had the skeptics among us scoffing.
In dollars and sense, what did this mean? In our February ‘lop 20 review, the top-ranked power desktop, IBM’s ValuePoint Penttum-60, earned a per- formance rating of 80 and sold for about $5000. For Intel’s projection to hold true, we'd expect to see PCs with a per- formance rating of 160 for $5000 or, con- versely, a performance rating of 80 for around $2500 in time for next Febru- ary’s Lop 20 review.
‘That level of pure performance is sull months away, but price/performance 1s fast approaching the level that Intel pro- jected. Check this month’s cover story, “Top 20 PCs: Beyond the CPU.” Micron’s DX4-100 earns a performance rating of 80 and sells for $2599. Zeos’s Pentium-90 earns a performance rating of 102 and sells for $3595. Clearly, even before year’s end, PC price/perfor- mance will double.
How Can You Go Wrong?
‘This leap in price/performance is likely to trigger a new round of capital expen- diture requests in corporations across the country. But there’s a catch. Look at
this month’s ‘Top 20 again. Austin’s Pen- tium-66 outperforms two Pentium-90s we tested. NEC’s DX4-100 outper- forms six Pentium-60s and -66s. Ambra’s 486DX2-66 outperforms two Pentium-60s. At one time a PC’s pro- cessor gave buyers a rough but accurate guide to a system’s price/performance, but that simple indicator no longer works. Performance levels and prices, too, are all over the map.
And it won't get easier: New note- book PCs using Cyrix’s just-released 486DX2-V66 will try to compete in per- formance and price with notebooks based on Intel’s DX4-75. Cyrix says it will ship new 80-MHz 486 chips soon; desktop PCs using this chip, the com- pany says, will outperform PCs with Intel’s 486DX2-66 and cost the same. We expect DX4-100s to be scarce and pricey in upcom- ing months as companies push Pentium-60s and -66s. Intel will continue to slash prices on Pentium proces- sors and introduce faster DX4s and DX2s that have write-back caches. NexGen should ship its Penttum-compatible CPU soon. ‘The less skeptical among us expect to see user-installable Pentium upgrades by the end of the year. And all the while, Moore’s Law continues to operate qui- etly in the background as Intel, IBM, Motorola, Apple, and Cyrix work on the P6 and P7, the PowerPC, the M1, and other next-generation CPUs.
Sorting Out the CPUs
What's a skeptical buyer to do when faced with competing claims about PC price/performance? World ‘Yop 20. In this month’s ‘Top 20 charts, we rank desktop and notebook PCs with no fewer than 16 different CPUs—tfrom a 486SX-25 all the way to Pentium-90s—from chip makers Intel, IBM, and AMD. ‘These ‘lop 20 rank- ings factor in not only performance but
tonsult the PC
price, resulting in a clear, straightfor- ward guide to value. And this month, as an aid to readers who anticipate buying a new PC this fall, we’ve supplemented the ‘lop 20 charts with rankings of 224 all the
systems we've tested that are stull on
desktop and notebook PCs
the market since we started the ‘lop 20 charts last February. Consult these ex- panded rankings if you’re considering a particular PC not listed on our ‘lop 20 charts. Starting next month, we'll test an additional 10 systems per month, ranking about 400 PCs by the time next February’s ‘lop 20 rolls around.
Now Then, Where to Buy It? ‘Those fortunate—or unfortunate— enough to have an IS manager responsi-
ble for PC purchases are spared the dif-
Intel predicted that by the end of the year,
PCs would double in performance with no increase in price. We scoffed.
ficult job of deciding where to buy their PCs. But if you own a small business or run a home office, that task falls to you.
This month, in “The Savvy Shop- per,’ Contributing Editor Steve Bass offers his advice. Braving L.A. freeways and plaguing Southern California sales- people for weeks, Steve trudged up and down aisles at CompUSA, Micro Cen- ter, Circuit City, Office Depot, Price Club/Costco—even Montgomery Ward and Sears. He evaluated selection, avail- ability, price, service and support op- tions, and the technical Know-how of store personnel. Whether you're in the market for a PC, dog food, or Reeboks,
his guidance will help.
(YW
Cathryn Baskin, Editor
SEPTEMBER 1994 « PC WORLD 15 | &@
get a tough deciion. But i? Vat wort a Powerful datahore ou Cah actually
What's the difference between apples and oranges? In this case, it's the difference between powerful features and power-
ful features you can actually use.
Introducing Lotus Approach ‘Kelease 3.0.
In 1983, Lotus® introduced the world's first
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like tracking sales, managing projects, taking orders, invoicing,
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Collision on the Information Superhighway
Remember the S&Ls J oe Abernathy is the best political re- porter in computer journalism today. That’s a peculiar distinction but one PC’ World should be proud of. “Highway Robbery: Selling the Net” [May] is the sort of story about the information su- perhighway I wish I’d seen about the savings and loans before it was too late. Remember that S&L deregulation was deemed too technical for people to understand or elected officials to take responsibility for. I'd like to think such a situation won’t happen again, but it will unless people are well-informed. That is not the responsibility of PC Wor/d alone, but your efforts are, so far, singular. Good job! John Robert Behrman, MCI Mail
A Palpable Hit J oe Abernathy’s timely and insightful piece about the [nternet is a first-rate piece of investigative journalism. It should be required reading for all who will be affected by the flow of informa- tion in the future—that’s nearly every- one. ‘This kind of far-reaching news doesn’t always appear in your pages, but you scored a major hit with this article. I urge readers to voice their opinions about the direction that the informa- tion superhighway should take. They should contact their representatives in Washington, many of whom are not technically sophisticated and may be easily influenced by the massive lobby- ing effort on behalf of the telecommu- nications and entertainment giants.
Bill Pierce, Des Moines
Heritage Rebuts Report
oe Abernathy undermines the credi-
bility of his “investigative” report by parroting false allegations that he could have checked with a quick phone call.
According to one of Abernathy’s sources—Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Media Educa- tion—industry not only is lobbying
Congress but has, in effect, purchased the support of several probusiness think tanks. Abernathy quotes Chester as say- ing, “The Heritage Foundation, the Manhattan Institute, the American En- terprise Institute, the Cato Institute, all have telecommunications projects try- ing to influence public policy...they’re all funded by the telecommunications industry.”
For the record:
LETTERS
Information Highway by Lawrence Gas- man was “funded by the telephone industry.” ‘That claim is false, and I’m amazed a reputable publication would print it without double-checking it.
I don’t know how Abernathy came up with this notion. Perhaps he noticed that 1 of the 75 or so corporate and
foundation sponsors of the Cato Insti-
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‘The Heritage Foun- dation has no such project. We perform no contract work. Of the more than 2000 policy papers and
articles we’ve pub- lished in the past five years, only 3 had anything to do with telecommuni- cations policy. An- other is scheduled for publication this year, but I’m told the author’s recom- mendations are at odds with many of the demands made by industry. Of the 23 companies mentioned by name in that article—and the several regional Bells not mentioned by name—only one is a Heritage Foundation contribu- tor, providing us last year with approxi- mately % of 1 percent of our total income. We also received funding from a second company involved in telecom- munications last year, an additional $15,000 out of $22.9 million in income. If the rest of Abernathy’s Nader-style diatribe is as accurate as the paragraph I take issue with, PC Wor/d owes its read- ers an apology. Herb Berkowitz, vice president, The Heritage Foundation
Cato Disputes Claim n “Highway Robbery: Selling the Net,” Joe Abernathy claims that the “writing and publication” of 7e/ecompe- tition: The Free Market Road to the
HIGHWAY ROBBERY: SELLING THE NET ¢
Tax dolfars laid the feundation, business and academia made % attractive. Now, cable and telephone companies wast it.
tute listed in our annual report is the Ameritech Foundation. ‘That’s a slim reed on which to base the claim that a particular book was funded by the tele- phone industry. You might as well say it was funded by the American Farm Bureau Federation, the Coca-Cola Company, or the Golden Rule Insur- ance Company, all recent contributors also listed in the annual report.
‘The Cato Institute defends individ- ual freedom, limited government, free markets, and civil liberties across a whole spectrum of issues. In the telecommunications field, that means letting the free market work and guar- anteeing First Amendment protection for broadcasters and other communica- tors. If you find us taking money from a corporation and subsequently opposing free-market, voluntary solutions, then you'll have a story.
I not only support the capitalist sys- tem that makes innovation and technol- ogy possible, I admire the individuals
SEPTEMBER 1994 © PC WORLD 19 | »
08/2 Mos use considerable dink
Edited by Russell Glitman
‘(Continued on page $9)
ee LE AF AI PO A OE T/L S/H LAN PA CAN FP ME. LCR
LETTERS
and companies who bring us new products and services. So if any company that pro- vides goods and services to consumers wants to contribute to the Cato Institute’s defense of free markets and civil liberties, we'll be happy to accept its support. David D. Boaz, executive vice president, Cato Institute
Author’s response: All the foundations criticized in Jeffrey Chester’s quote were offered the opportunity to respond before
the article was published. The Heritage Foundation did not respond, and the Cato Institute did not respond substantively on questions regarding the sources of funding.
Moreover, having only a few direct contri- butions from the telecommunications in- dustry does not mean that these founda- tions do not get considerable amounts of money from the industry or from individu- als with substantial interests in it. ‘Vhe Her- itage Foundation may not have many direct
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corporate telecommunications backers, but its annual report indicates that major fund- ers include the Scaise Family Foundation, the Bradley Foundation, and the Olin Foundation, all of which back media-relat- ed projects promoting laissez-faire govern- ment and antiregulatory policies. In addi- tion, the foundation claims to have over 200,000 contributors, most of them individ- uals whose identity is concealed.
Similarly, only Ameritech can be identi- fied as a direct corporate telecommunica- tions backer of the Cato Institute. But the Cato Institute’s annual report shows back- ing from the IT. Rowe Price Associates Foundation. ‘That Wall Street firm’s New Media Fund, focusing on information su- perhighway development projects, lists “government regulation” as one of the risk factors of which investors should be aware.
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tions, I was able to identify how much each lawmaker accepted in contributions from known special interests. Rep. Ed Markey, for instance, doesn’t accept “hard” dona- tions from telecommunications interests, but he accepted $61,000 in “soft money” from individuals associated with the tele- communications industry. Only if the Cato Institute and the Heritage Foundation agree to disclose the names of individual supporters and the amount they’ve donated will the full range of influences on their pol- icy positions be known. So far, they have declined to do so. —Joe Abernathy
If It Looks Like a Bug and It Acts Like a Bug...
n “Bug Blamefest [Le/ters, May], Paul J.
Mulcahy states, “This dinosaur—with 32 years of programming, systems analysis, and consulting experience—believes that unso- phisticated users often expect too much from a software package,” and implies that users often perceive bugs that don’t exist.
The real dinosaur in this case is the atti- tude that users should adapt themselves to the way the designers intended a program to behave. If an interface has elements that seem like bugs to a novice, then effectively they are bugs and should be reworked. In designing software, it 1s best to sacrifice originality for simplicity and directness.
20 PC WORLD * SEPTEMBER 1994 | >
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INTRODUCING THE ASCENTIA” 900N PERFORMANCE NOTEBOOK. Not since the days you bumped up to the front row in an old Chevy and looked up at a screen the size of a building has something looked so striking. This is one monster screen, with ten and a
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Your work will dazzle with vibrant colors, and your audience will appre- ciate the kind of high definition that makes the most complex graphics, even the fine print, quite readable.
Still, there’s plenty more to the
©1994 AST Research, Inc. All rights reserved. AST is a registered trademark of AST Research, Inc. AST Computer, the AST logo, Ascentia and “You'll Like the Way We Work” are trademarks of AST Research, Inc. The Intel Inside logo is service in over 30 countries outside the U.S. is on a carry-in basis to the nearest AST-authorized service provider. **In the U.S. only. fCY93 unit volume shipments of AST and AST manufactured brands (International Data Corp. ).
AST IBM COMPAQ TOSHIBA 900N 755C,Cs LTE ELITE T4800CT
Screen 10.4" TFT 10.4" TFT 9.5" TFT 95” TFI 10.3” DS-STN 9.5” DS-STN
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Pointing Integrated Integrated Integrated External Device — Trackstick Trackpot Trac Trackball
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9OON than just an eye-popping screen.
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processor, up to 75MHz. Local bus architecture combined with hardware accelerated graphics deliver as much as 16 million WinMarks.
Inside, AST’s intelligent power management system actually adjusts the computer to your work habits, taking a breather when you do. So the battery life lasts from four to eight hours or about the length of a Godzilla film festival. That’s longer than a similar Compaq or Toshiba laptop.
In fact, everything you need to be truly mobile is right here. For instance, the pointing stick is right at your fingertips. There are two PCMCIA slots. Or, if you prefer, you can add a docking station for more expansion.
Of course, there is a three-year worldwide limited warranty,* with a year of 48-hour rapid repair service.** And our telephone support group is here to help you every day, 24 hours a day. It’s the kind of responsiveness you'd expect from the fifth largest manufacturer of personal computers.’
You've got to see the new Ascentia 900N notebook from AST. For a screening or more information, please call 800-876-4AST:
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® COMPUTER
LETTERS
If developers—even the big names—foist buggy and confusing software on us, let’s seek out new software.
Russell Belfer, MCI Mail
Double Crush on the Nerves egarding your news item “Keeping Up” [Consumer Watch, May]: Medical re- search since 1973 has indicated that carpal tunnel syndrome often results from a “dou- ble crush” on the nerves leading to the
hand. ‘The nerves are pinched and injured where they exit the spinal column and again at the wrist in the carpal tunnel. Research shows that if the pinching of nerves at the spinal column is not relieved, carpal tunnel won’t be relieved by surgery or any other method. ‘This is not chiroprac- tic baloney; it’s hard-and-fast medical re- search published in neurology journals. The tendency of medical doctors to ignore this research ts typical of their medi-
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cine-and-surgery mindset. Not all chiroprac- tors do such a hot job either; however, if any of your readers suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome, they should get their neck treat- ed as well as their wrist.
Jesse Jutkowttz, chiropractor
Washington, D.C.
Tip Touch-Up | n reference to up 14 in “50 Word Process- ing Tips” [May]: In WordPerfect 5.1 and 6.0 for DOS, you can save a keystroke when starting the block function by pressing <F12> instead of <Alt>-<F4>. ‘To block to the end of the current line, just press <End>. Word- Perfect 6.0 for DOS does not require the <Home><End> key sequence noted in
your article. Gerald W. Litynski, Crestview, Florida
Corrections and Clarifications
n April New Products, we reported that
Hewlett-Packard’s DeskJet 560C can print 600 by 300 dots per inch. We should have pointed out that it does so only in black and white. And although HP told us the 560C has an optional PostScript up- grade module, this option exists only for the DeskWriter 560C (for Macs).
In tip 13 of May’s “50 Word Processing Tips,” the <F1>R keystroke doesn’t work to paste a block in WordPerfect 6.0. In that version, use <Ese>R instead.
Due to an editing error, June’s “Big Hard Drives: 300MB and Counting” misstated the number of drives that are supported by the Enhanced IDE standard. Under the new standard, the IDE interface supports four IDE devices if the system uses a dual channel [DE setup. (It will support more using multiple [DE connectors, but the dual channel setup is likely to be the most common.)
In July’s “Best Products of 1994,” we list- ed incorrect version numbers for two soft- ware packages. We should have listed Lotus Notes 3.0 as the winner of the Groupware category and Intuit’s QuickBooks 2.0 for Windows as the winner of the Accounting category. We also gave the wrong phone number for Calera Recognition Systems. ‘The correct number is 800/422-5372.
PC World regrets the errors.
Letters welcomes your responses and ideas (see page 10 for contact information).
24 PC WORLD « SEPTEMBER 1994 |
The cost of computer toys can really
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Blast off to MPC Level 2 standards with our double-spin CD-ROM drive and Sound Blaster™ compatible 16-bit stereo sound card with stereo speakers. Run wild with one of these CD-ROM bundles: the first system includes Compton’s Interactive Encyclopedia™, Microsoft® Dinosaurs, and Microsoft Works, while the other features Compton’s Interactive Encyclopedia, Dictionary of the Living World, Compton’s Family Choice, Mayo Clinic Family Health Book, and the Kodak® Photo CD!
Plus, go for the gold with Microsoft Money and Microsoft Entertainment Pack. Zip along the communication highway with our built-in high-speed fax/modems. Access over 17,000 data- bases with CompuServe®, Prodigy®, and America On-Line. And the Pentium™ OverDrive™ Ready ZIF socket makes future processor upgrade- ability a cinch.
Take advantage of this multi-faceted multimedia package from Quantex. Give us a call now. You’ll discover we may sell toys, but we don’t fool around.
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e! Thank you for your cooperation. We look forward to working with you in the future Sincerely, Paradox for Windows has superior integration with Perfect Office and © Paradox for Windows is the most Microsoft Office applications. Thanks to OLE 2.0, you can place a “live” nnonzine award-winning Windows database Paradox table into a Microsoft Word or WordPerfect document and Bh Se on the market with over 20 major
edit the data in place. (Access 2.0 cannot do that.) February 1994 November 1993 June 1994 —‘ industry awards for excellence.
Copyright © 1994 Borland International, Inc. All rights reserved. All Borland product names are trademarks of Borland International, Inc. Offer good in U.S. and Canada only. All prices in U.S. dollars. Dealer prices may vary. BI 7402
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CONSUMER WATCH
Unequal Distribution: The Information Haves and Have-Nots
In the barrage of news stories about the information su- perhighway, you may find at least a passing mention of the thorny issue of access to techno-
logy—who has it and, just as important, who doesn’t. A new report from the ‘Times Mirror Cen- ter for the People and the Press, “Tech- nology in the American Household,” sheds some light on this subject and points out an alarming disparity be- tween PC-equipped households and those that have yet to become part of the PC revolution.
According to this study, released in May, the higher your income level, the more likely you’ll have access to the lat- est and greatest high-tech equipment. ‘That doesn’t come as a huge surprise. After all, the more disposable income you have, the greater the chance you'll spend some of it on electronic gadgetry of all types. But the disparity is more apparent with PCs than it is with just about any other equipment, says An- drew Kohut, director of the ‘Times Mir- ror Center. And the difference appears even more pronounced when you factor in the education level of the respon- dents, he adds.
Consider these statistics: Households in which the adults earn $50,000 or more a year and at least one adult has a college education are five times more likely to own a PC and fen times more likely to go online. ‘That news is dis- turbing enough, given the critical role PCs play in the distribution of and access to information; but the study goes on to consider what effect the unequal distribution of technology has on kids. Among college graduates with children, 49 percent of households sur- veyed had a PC; that compares with
By Roberta Furger
30 PC WORLD * SEPTEMBER 1994 | >
just 17 percent of homes in which the parents had only a high school diploma.
Kids who don’t have access to PCs at home can’t compete on an equal basis with classmates who do, notes Kohut. They may not do as well in school, go on to four-year colleges, or earn signifi- cantly more than their parents. “If the road to equality is access to information technology, then there are some real roadblocks in place,” says Kohut. He believes that the playing field can be leveled by providing children more equal access to computers—either through schools or through local com- munity groups. And he’s not alone in holding that belief.
Righting the Scales Currently, a small but growing number of groups is working to bring individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds into the computing world. Right now, these groups operate largely indepen- dently of one another, each one focus- ing on a small community where the reach may be minimal but the effects can be enormous.
One such project is in eastern Long Island, New York, where three groups
have come together to form the Learn-
ing and Information Network for Com- munity Telecomputing (LINCT). For the past nine months, the coalition has been working to develop a community bulletin board system (BBS) as well as a computer access program. Organized through the local community center, the program’s goal is to help residents achieve universal—and equitable— access to computers, at the lowest possi- ble cost, says Ken Komoski, executive director of the Educational Products Information Exchange Institute and one of LINCT’s founders. LINCT solicits donations from corporations that are upgrading their computers, and it passes along the still-usable hand-me- downs to low-income residents. ‘Jo par- ticipate, families need only sign up for computer classes through the commu- nity center; they earn the computer as they take classes on how to use It.
It’s a great program—the kind of arrangement that not only puts comput- ers in the hands of disenfranchised groups but also makes sure that they know how to use their new machines. LINCT is working to establish similar programs in two other areas of the coun- try—Indian River County, Florida, and the Englewood district of Chicago.
Running out of memory? A new
marketing gimmick from Z- RAM (a division of Camintonn Corporation) should make upgrading your computer’s memory a lot easier. PC- equipped kiosks that are set up at computer retailers dis- play a software program that takes some of the confusion out of upgrading RAM. Type the name and model number of your PC, notebook, or laser printer, and up pops a dia- gram showing the number of slots available for upgrading—and the part number and price. The downside: You’re limited to the computers and printers for which Z-RAM
KEEPING UP
sells memory, and the display is currently available only at Computer City stores—though Z-RAM says more will follow... Corel Software joins the crowd of software companies charg- ing for technical support. Instead of getting free support on a toll line, Corel customers will now pay a fee and use a toll-free number for the call. When you register CorelDraw, Corel Gallery, or CorelFlow, you receive credit for one 15- minute tech support call on a toll-free line. After that, you can purchase additional cred- its, or call 900/896-8880 (United States cus- tomers only) and pay $2 per minute.
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Fax phonebooks that are drag-and- drop simple. And improved fax annotation tools that even let you add your signature.
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Don't try this with a fax machine.
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These desktop printers are creatures like no others - able to operate in mixed environments of PC, Macintosh® and workstation systems with standard and optional interfaces. Yet, with all their impressive power, they are both surprisingly affordable.
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QMS, the QMS logo and Hammerhead are trademarks or registered trademarks of QMS, Inc. One Magnum Pass, Mobile, AL 36618, 205 633-4300. PostScript is a trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated which may be registered in certain jurisdictions. All other product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
CONSUMER WATCH
LINCT equips its PCs with a variety of software, plus a modem and software for logging on to the area’s community BBS. Based on the Cleveland Free-Net model (see Consumer Watch, September 1992), the BBS includes E-mail and a wide range of information about community and govern- ment services. ‘Ihere’s even an area where residents can barter goods and services.
‘The only downside to these programs is that the donated computers are rarely state- of-the-art. So although more people have access to PCs, there’s still considerable dis- parity between the donated equipment and the newer, more powerful machines used in more affluent homes. But it’s a start toward a goal worth pursuing on a wider scale. After all, riding a bike—even an old one-speed— is a whole lot better than walking.
Shop Talk
We Tore Up Your Check
n April’s Consumer Watch (“If It Sounds
‘loo Good to Be ‘True...’ Associates said that customers who request- ed the “early bird” version of CA-Simply ‘Tax (free, except for a shipping and han- dling charge of $9.95) would not be charged an additional $3.95 for the final “free” edi- tion—and that people who had already paid the $3.95 fee would be reimbursed.
In January I sent the company a check for $3.95, along with the order card that came with my early bird edition. I never received the refund for $3.95 or the final edition of the software. I finally gave up and prepared
’), Computer
my tax return manually.
George W. Snavely, Jr, Franklin, Tennessee Editor’s note: We contacted Computer
Associates to see what happened to Snave-
ly’s refund—and his software package. A
spokesperson for the company told us that
POWER TIP 10.309
Quick Desktop Cleanup
To delete a Windows program group, first close the group’s window, then delete the icon. That way, you don’t have to delete the group’s program icons one at a time.
Robert Luhn Contributing Editor
it never cashed any of the $3.95 checks received for the upgrade and that it credited
_ anyone who paid with a credit card. Com-
puter Associates enclosed a note with the final edition of CA-Simply ‘Tax explaining that the checks had been torn up, but be- cause Snavely’s order was lost or misdirect- ed, he never got that letter. ‘The representa- tive apologized for the inconvenience.
Secondhand Warranty
ecently, my hard drive began to develop
bad sectors, so [ contacted the local com- pany that made my computer. ‘The cus- tomer service representative told me that even though the hard drive was less than a year old, the warranty was void because I had purchased the PC secondhand. Not dissuaded, I called Seagate—the manufac- turer of the hard drive. A company repre- sentative told me that the hard drive was still under warranty and that I should ship it back to Seagate; the company even paid the return shipping costs.
It’s a pleasure to find a company that stands behind its products and 1s helpful when something goes wrong. I do wonder, though, what the local computer company would have done with my old hard drive— shipped it back for repair and resale?
Larry Mormino, Cary, North Carolina
Editor’s note: Most hard drive manufac- turers warrant their drives to the reseller— not to the customers who finally purchase them. But most manufacturers will stand behind their products if you can’t resolve the problem through the reseller, as was the case for Mormino. You may have more trou- ble than he did, but be persistent.
Back in the Fold
n October 25, 1993, I wrote to Consumer
Watch concerning very poor customer service from PC Connection in Marlow, New Hampshire. Within a few weeks of sending that letter, I received a call from someone at PC Connection who told me he knew nothing of the problem until he was contacted by PC' World. He agreed that the situation had been mishandled and offered to make amends.
When I told the representative that I had already purchased the software from anoth- er company, he gave me his direct phone number and told me to call him if I required something in the future and
SEPTEMBER 1994 * PC WORLD 33
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CONSUMER WATCH
wished to give his company another chance.
Recently, I was shopping for three soft- ware upgrades and decided to see what PC Connection had to offer. I called the repre- sentative directly and—true to his word— he handled my order in a most satisfactory manner. He sold me the three upgrade packages at company cost. Once again, I’m a satisfied customer, and PC Connection will continue to be my first source for soft- ware purchases.
Since I registered my complaint, I felt that I should now register my satisfaction. Marguerite Sweeney, [pswich, Massachusetts
The Part Costs as Much as the Whole Reon the president of my company
told me that the screen on his previous laptop—an IBM ‘ThinkPad 700C—was shattered and that he didn’t intend to have it fixed; he had heard that a replacement for the active-matrix screen would be prohibi- tively expensive.
I couldn’t believe it, so I checked it out for myself. All the authorized IBM service centers that I called charged more than $3000 to replace the screen on a $4000 lap- top. Again doubting what I heard, I called the IBM parts warehouse in Colorado. ‘To my dismay, they quoted $3201 for the same part. I then asked my local dealer whether the screen was still covered under warranty. ‘The warranty had expired, but the dealer checked with IBM to see what could be done. IBM told him that the screen was never covered under the warranty.
I think anyone considering a laptop should be aware of this and should check what’s covered under warranty and how much replacement parts are likely to cost. Michael Nevins, Houston
Editor’s note: An IBM spokesperson told us that the active-matrix screen is the most expensive part of the ThinkPad 700C and confirmed that $3000 is about the going rate for a replacement. ‘The spokesperson ex- plained that two factors contribute to the high price tag: It’s new technology, and the few suppliers worldwide are unable to keep up with the high demand for the product. (IBM offers other ThinkPad models with smaller or monochrome screens.)
It’s often cheaper and easier to upgrade to a newer, more powerful notebook than to get new parts for your old one. For those who want to keep the computers they
have—or just don’t want to pay the high price for new parts—GE Computer Service, one of the largest providers of on-site com- puter service, has introduced GE Remar- keting Service, which offers nearly 900,000 used PCs and computer parts. A GE repre- sentative told us that a 486 motherboard costs between about $300 and $2500, depending on how many you buy, the speed of the processor, and the brand name. ‘The company stocks computer equipment from 1500 manufacturers, including IBM, Compaq, Epson, and NEC, and parts for many notebooks (including some batteries and screens, though they do not yet sell IBM ThinkPad screens). GE Remarketing Service also offers technical assistance for installing and troubleshooting the parts it sells. For more information, call 800/ 431-7671.
Waiting by the Telephone
purchased my first computer—a Compaq
Concerto 486-33 notebook—in Decem- ber 1993. ‘The first unit I recetved wouldn't “hibernate” (to conserve the battery). After spending about 2% hours on hold with Compag technical support, I was told that the company would send me a disk to help the computer reboot and activate hiberna- tion. Then a battery problem cost me another 10 hours. Finally, Compaq sent me another Concerto, but it also had problems that resulted in another 5 hours on hold.
I don’t think you should recommend Compag computers. Each time I’ve called Compaq, I’ve had to wait on hold for a min- imum of 1 hour to talk to an actual person, who was not always able to fix the problem. Niki Carrino, Plantation, Florida
POWER TIP... 310
A Faster Way to WordPerfect for Windows Envelopes To avoid plowing through layers of menus to get to the WordPerfect for Windows (versions 5.1 and 5.2) enve- lope printing macro, change the macro name from ENVELOPE.WCM to CTRLE.WCM. Thereafter, press <Ctri>-E to launch the macro.
William H. Shepherd, Jr.
Alexandria, Virginia
SEPTEMBER 1994 * PC WORLD 35 >
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HIGH-RESOLUTION LASER QUALITY PRINTING IS NO LONGER HIGH PRICED PRINTING. INTRODUCING THE OKIDATA 400e-SERIES.
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Okidata Reg. T.M., M.D. Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. “Your Business Has Never Looked Better” T.M. Oki America, Inc.
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CONSUMER WATCH
BUG WATCH Microsoft Excet 9.0
In May, Microsoft posted 39 Excel 5.0 bugs reported by users. Many of them are related to OLE procedures, incom- patibilities between Excel versions, or functions that don’t per- form as expected; they can cause incorrect on-screen formatting, dialog boxes that don’t work, or difficulty printing. Some cause General Protection Faults (GPFs) that can result in the loss of unsaved data.
Find a list of the bugs in the Microsoft Knowledge Base on CompuServe (GO MSKB) in document Q112180, “XL5: Sum- mary List of Known Bugs.”
Meanwhile, Microsoft has announced an interim version, Excel 5.0c. The compa- ny says version 5.0c includes new features (such as support for Lotus Notes FX) and changes to the interface that synchronize Windows and Macintosh versions.
5.0c fixes these three common bugs:
¢ If you run a Visual Basic procedure that uses the SQLExecQuery or SQLRe- quest functions to query an external data source, and your query is larger than 255 characters, you may get a GPF.
e You can’t reference a name on a closed Excel 4.0 workbook if the name is not defined on the first worksheet.
¢ When you use the horizontal scroll bar under the preview window in the Text Import Wizard to scroll the columns ina text file, you may experience a GPF.
As we went to press, Microsoft had not finalized plans for distributing the 5.0c upgrade, but a company source stated that it would be too large to download and would likely be mailed. Call Microsoft cus- tomer service at 800/426-9400.
Editor’s note: When we got Carrino’s let- ter, we contacted Compaq. A spokesperson admitted that the company “did have long waits on the portable-PC support line earli- er this year,” but he also added that the issue 1s “pretty much resolved.” Just to be sure of this, we double-checked with the PC World reviews staff, which routinely checks technical support as part of review-
ing a product. Our staffers report that the
WinComm Pro 1.0
Delrina recently released WinComm Pro 1.0b, a downloadable patch file that fixes several bugs in the first version of the pro- gram. The corrected bugs include problems with printing when using certain terminal emulations, difficulty in entering serial numbers during product registration, lack of support for numeric session names, glitches when buttons are added to the pro- gram’s tool bar, file corruption during trans- fers using the Kermit protocol, and unex- pected ‘Path not found’ errors when exiting from Chat mode in host-mode sessions.
The patch also provides new features: one that lets you specify how long Win- Comm Pro will wait before returning port control to the WinFax Pro or WinFax Lite fax software; a larger scroll-back buffer; and the ability to launch COM, BAT, and PIF files using the Run command.
Find the self-extracting archive file (WCP001.EXE) on CompuServe (GO DELRI- NA) or Delrina’s BBS (416/441-2752). Or call Delrina (416/443-4395).
Correction: Contrary to a statement in June’s Bug Watch, versions 4.0 and 5.0 of Microsoft Excel don’t automatically open files named STARTREK.XLS stored in the main Excel program directory. In fact, when you launch these versions of Excel, they open the files in that directory that begin with the letters START.
—Scott Spanbauer Have you run into a software bug or hard- ware incompatibility? Call us at 415/978- 3253 with the details. We'll investigate problems and report on those with the broadest interest. Due to the volume of queries, we may not be able to return your call, and can’t provide technical support.
Scott Spanbauer is a contributing editor for PC World.
average wait for Compaq is now about 7 minutes. (I got through on the first try.)
Shop Talk is written and researched by PC World associate editor Christina Wood. Think
you've gotten a raw deal—or a great one?
Consumer Watch wants to hear the detai!s. We'// investigate complaints and publish Tet- ters with the broadest interest (see page 10 for
contact information).
SEPTEMBER 1994 * PC WORLD 37 @
Okidata Reg. T.M., M.D. Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.
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Call | (800) OKI-TEAM, Ext. 500 (U.S. or Canada) for a dealer near you.
Look for us on all the major networks.
Word about PCs from Hewlett-Packard is getting around, and ratings are soaring. According to a recent CRN/Gallup survey, “Use of HP desktops in Fortune 1000 companies has doubled in the last year.”
And with good reason. Our broad range of PCs not only meets users’ expectations for power and ease of use, it also answers the needs of a network manager. With built-in features like on-board networking, advanc- ed security and asset tracking, HP PCs have what it takes to be top performers on virtually any network. And soon our expertise in network management will reach all the way to the desktop, as we continue to pioneer the development of DMI (Desktop Management Interface).
For more information or the name of your nearest HP dealer, call us today at 1-800- 322-HPPC, Ext. 8324. And tune in to the network superstars.
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HEWLETT® PACKARD
Give your other PCs something to look up to.
If you’re connecting PCs to a network, scan this chart and you'll see it’s time to hook up with HP.
HP VECTRA COMPAQ DELL STANDARD NETWORKING FEATURES M2 PC DESKPRO/XE NETPLEX
Advanced Bus Architecture Integrated Networking Interface Integrated, multiprotocal Boot-ROM
ISA Plug-n-Play Compliant
Multilevel Security Features X Asset tracking |
PC tattooing : Optional Desktop Management Software
Bi-directional parallel port xX
Desktop Management Interface (DMI)°
HP quality in value-priced PCs.
e Intel 4S6SX, 48S6DX2 and DX4
° Chip upgrades to higher performance
¢ On-board accelerated local-bus video
e 210-MB hard drive’
e 4-MB RAM, expandable to 64-MB
e¢ 512-KB or 1-MB of Video RAM standard
¢ ISA Plug-n-Play compliant ¢ Desktop Power Management e FPA Energy Star certified
HP Vectra VL2
¢ Local bus Fast-IDE hard disk interface*
e 1280 x 1024 video resolution”
¢ Optional 128- or 256-KB cache memory”
e Free three-year limited warranty for parts and labor?
from
51,099
High-performance network-ready PCs in aslimline package.
e Intel 25- and 33-MHz 486SX,
50- and 66-MHz 486DX2, upgradable to Pentium Overdrive
¢ Optional 128- or 256-KB second level cache
e 170-MB, 14-ms Fast-IDE hard drive
e 32-bit Fast-IDE local-bus hard disk interface
e 4- or 8-MB RAM, expandable to 96-MB
e Ultra VGA2 local-bus accelerated video supporting up to 1280 x 1024 resolution
NEW! HP Vectra N2
e 7 MB of video RAM standard, expandable to 2 MB
e Slimline package with two mass storage shelves and three ISA slots
¢ Optional integrated 10Base-T networking
¢ Multilevel security e EPA Energy Star certified
e ISA Autoconfiguration utility (Plug-n-Play)
e Integrated Desktop Manage- ment Interface (DMI):
e Free three-year limited warranty for parts and labor?
1309
High-performance PCs for the connected office
¢ Intel 33-MHz 486SX; 50- and
66-MHz 486DX2, 100-MHz DX4, upgradable to Pentium Overdrive
¢ Optional 128- or 256-KB second level cache
e Four mass storage shelves; four expansion slots
e One available 32-bit VL-bus slot
e 210-MB, 14-ms Fast-IDE hard drive
¢ 32-bit Fast-IDE local-bus hard disk interface
¢ S-MB RAM, expandable to 96-MB
NEW!
HP Vectra M2
e Ultra VGA2 local-bus acceler- ated video supporting up to 1280 x 1024 resolution
¢ Optional integrated 10Base-T networking
e Systems Diagnostics Utility e EPA Energy Star certified
e ISA Autoconfiguration utility (Plug-n-Play)
e Integrated Desktop Manage- ment Interface (DMI)*
e Free three-year limited warranty for parts and labor?
1679
Top performance for experts in connected environments.
e Intel 60-MHz Pentium with
256-KB write-back cache
e One PCI slot, one shared PCIISA slot, two ISA slots
¢ Four mass storage shelves
e 270-MB Fast-IDE hard drive with 12-ms access time’
e Integrated S3 928PCI graphics accelerator
¢ 2 MB of VRAM expandable to 4 MB, 1600 x 1200 video resolution
¢ S-MB RAM, expandable to 192-MB
HP Vectra XP
e Integrated 16-bit 10Base-T networking interface with bus-master DMA
¢ Flash EPROM
e Systems Diagnostics Utility e Power-on Self Test
e Multilevel security
e Asset tracking with non- erasable serial number and customizable PC tattooing
e Bi-directional parallel ports
e Free three-year limited warranty for parts and labor?
$3550
All HP Vectra PCs come with MS-DOS® 6.2 and MS Windows for Workgroups 3.11 pre-installed; HP mouse and keyboard included. *Feature included with some NetWare Models. tList price, dealer prices may vary. Monitor not included. ‘Other capacities available. 2First year on-site, 24-hour service. Second and third year return Tested and to dealer. 3Available 9/1/94. #$With permission CRN/Benchmark. MS-DOS is a U.S. registered trademark and Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Approved Pentium and the Intel Inside logo are U.S. trademarks of Intel Corporation. PPG403 ©1994 Hewlett-Packard Company
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AROUND FOR 6,000 YEARS. WE FEL IT WAS TIME TO IMPROVE IT.
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Introducing new Microsoft’ Project version 4.0. As long as people have had things to plan, they've always looked for better ways to organize and
manage the process.
Now there’ software that helps you do it more effectively than ever. It helps you plan, manage and communicate with ease.
With new Microsoft Project, planning is easier than you ever imagined. Simply type a list of what’s to be done. By whom. And how long they'll need.
Your plan is automatically con- verted to easy-to-read reports. Calendars. And charts. (Like the
examples you can see at the left.)
It watches how you work and guides you step by step. Like other programs in the Microsoft Office family, Microsoft
The world’s most
pesatar business Project features IntelliSense™ tech- project planning nology. Simply stated, your software software just got By: PY oy
hetter with now senses what you want to do Microsoft Project
version 4.0. and helps you do it.
For example, PlanningWizards offer suggestions as you go, to help you avoid problems down the line.
Cue Cards help you set up your
plan with step-by-step instructions that stay on the screen as you work.
With GanttChartWizards, you just choose a great-looking format and it does the rest. (Just like the ChartWizard in Microsoft Excel.)
Whats this all mean? Simply that you can get started right away. And learn as you go along.
Now it's easy to keep
everyone in the loop.
Chances are youre not the only one working on the project. Microsoft Project was developed with this in mind.
You can now distribute reports through your existing electronic mail system? Click on a button to collaborate. Click to delegate. Click to get the status of your plan. Even set reminders on important tasks.
‘To do all this (and a lot more) all you have to do is take the first step: Call Microsoft at (800) 671-3955, Dept. KZ5, for more information or for the name of a reseller near you.
You'll wonder how you ever
managed without it.
Micresoftt
“Some workgroup features require MAPI-compliant mail systems, acquired separately. © 1994 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft is a regis tered trademark and IntelliSense is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. In the 50 United States, call (800) 671-3955, Dept. KZ5. Customers in Canada, call (800) 563-9048. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, call your local Microsoft subsidiary or (206) 936-8661.
FAST RELIEF FOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Suh sauler Scheduler 6 |
a ¢ i i 4
In the real world of project manage- ment, the only constant is change.
format. inating a “what-if” scenar- |
Managers are faced with coordinating - josisalsoabreeze “$5rs oumakea project
more activities in less time, with tighter Easy to learn and use | | with Project Heel — —
eae 7 oS Seas project management | Sche oe ’ summary.
across the DUullaing and aroun eC software 7 aI ty O perorm Call 415-570-7700
world. So what can managers at all . : ‘multiple undo/
levels of experience count on to keep Fast project organization | : tedos in seconds.
them up to date and in control — Project Multi-project environments fo Xe ____ Our software's built-in object-
scheduler 6 for Windows! Advanced modeling et oriented report writer provides extra- Unlike many software programs and analysis kore | ordinary flexibility and convenience.
that claim to be easy to use, Project eee _Andas the first project management
Scheduler 6 for Windows really is, and Flexible reporting ft \ are to share information with
the experts agree. According to a recent ; ' a other ODBC-compliant applications, it
InfoWorld review, “Project Tt Scitor ae _ even helps build greater reporting and
Corporation Asta:
Scheduler’s interface is a joy to use...Scitor understands how people use project management software.”' But Project Scheduler 6 offers managers more than just relief from
oe ata management efficiency through- _ Out the enterprise.
— So, as Windows Magazine recently putit “If you’re seeking a Windows project management product that
occasional project stress. | does it all and then some, Project “Project Scheduler 6 surpasses Scheduler 6 fills the bill.” ° Microsoft Project and CA sophisticated modeling features, like 79? | SuperProject — in addition the Advanced Resource Tracking - to challenging many high Spreadsheet (ARTS) let you evaluate TI Scitor end packages.” wrote resource costs and usage on a penod by : ss InfoWorld’? penod basis using a familiar spreadsheet Corporation
© 1994, Scitor Corporation. 393 Vintage Park Drive, Suite 140, Foster City, CA 94404. Tel. 415-570-7700. In France, call (1) 43 29 44 37. In Germany, call 0 69- 6 66 80 25. In the United Kingdom, call 0562-882125. Project Scheduler 6, ARTS, and the Scitor name are trademarks of Scitor Corporation. Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. ‘InfoWorld, August 9, 1993. *InfoWorld, January 3, 1994. *Windows Magazine, November 1993.
Circle 236 on reader service card
JAMES MCGOON
Auto Execs
or most managers, creating a report is a crazy-quilt process. You spend long hours pulling numbers from a database or crunching them in spreadsheets, cutting and pasting them into a word processing file, and routing the product through E-mail. All are vital tasks, but they beg for automation. This month, Lee Allen, a manager in Schering- Plough’s Contracts and Information department in Union, New Jersey, tells how he uses an off-the-shelf software package to save his pharmaceutical manufacturing company an estimated $180,000 in labor every month. —Fd.
Contract-itis
In my 36-person department, 8 people support nearly 60 field personnel who work with organizations in the managed care segment of the health care industry (HMOs, nursing homes, hospitals, and the like). The field staff uses the infor- mation we give them to negotiate con- tracts for purchasing drugs. ‘The object of the game is to see that Schering- Plough is on their lists of approved pharmaceutical providers.
‘Two years ago, when I began working at this $4.3 billion, 22,000-employee company, managed care contracts accounted for 20 percent of our busi- ness. This year they’ll account for over half, in part because managed care is a key component of the government- sponsored health care reform plan.
The Run-Around Our group is made up of business ana- lysts meant to work behind the scenes helping field personnel negotiate con- tracts. But because we know how to access the corporate mainframe data- base and field personnel don’t, we end up being an administrative arm as well. Until recently, a representative would call in to find out when an HMO’s con- tract expired or what its sales volume was. We’d access information from the
REAL PROBLEMS REAL SOLUTIONS
mainframe and call the rep back with the an- swer. Fifteen minutes later, another person would call with the same question on an- other account, and we’d go through the identical process again.
Because our in-house staff is versed in Excel, WordPerfect, and other applications (the field force is not), we had to pull this data into pre- sentations, contracts, and other documents. After getting data on a customer from the mainframe, we would often have to crunch the numbers in Excel, copy the data to a word processing file, then import por- tions into a presentation. Finally, we would print the whole thing and ship it to the field representative, who would invariably want to make changes. This usually meant doing the contract all over again. Multiply that by 75 contracts per month, and you get the picture.
Meanwhile, our managed care busi- ness grew 200 percent in two years. And like other corporations, we were downsizing. We didn’t have the person- nel to support the demand: ‘The labor required to support one representative cost around $4000 a month.
We needed to automate the process so field representatives could assemble their own information. But how? ‘Teach- ing them to access the mainframe and use a word processor or spreadsheet was out of the question: ‘They were there to manage contracts, not learn software.
An Application Daisy Chain
Earlier this year, we discovered a Win- dows product that helped solve the problem: ProdeaSynergy 2.0 from Prodea Corporation (800/776-3321). It
provides a remarkable way to connect applica- tions so they all work
together. manager with
cooperatively (ProdeaSynergy sells for $295 through September and $495 thereafter.)
I know nothing about linking tools like DDE or OLE, but I found ProdeaSynergy easy to use. I taught it to do what I normally had to
do to get information from the corporate database into the presentation pack- age—via Excel and Word.
I did this by simply connecting a set of icons—one icon for the communica- tions software that connects us to the mainframe, one for the database query tool, one for the spreadsheet, one each for the word processors, and one for the presentation graphics package. (When you draw an arrow between these stan- dard Windows icons in ProdeaSynergy, the program knows to shift data from one application to another.)
For example, I dragged the commu- nication icon tool into a work space to establish a connection to the main- frame. Then I dragged the data query
SEPTEMBER 1994 * PC WORLD 43 |
Lee Allen is a
Schering-Plough in Union, New Jersey.
5 Chas re? ve pout an He us & cane” rare sale? La n oo ae cor order? AA
EARL HAS SOME BUSINESS TO TAKE CARE Of.
Al THE OFFICE OR ON THE ROAD,
t home or on the road, Earl gets
the job done. Because he turned
to Austin Direct for the tools he needs. Like a racy little notebook for when it’s time to hit the street. And a speedy desktop system for when he’s hanging out at the office.
HE TURNS TO AUSTIN DIRECT.
For the ultimate in laptop performance, RUPE choose Austin’s new DX4-powered cms 1 0tebooks. Intel’s DX4 chip is
the most powerful technology available for notebooks today.
And our laptops have the expandability
$8 and flexibility that make them a ei BUY
tough gang to beat.
You'll burn rubber through today’s desktop applications with Austin’s new Pentium- wm = powered desktop computers. With plenty of power to handle tomor- row’s applications too. Austin Direct offers custom systems, flexible configurations, and multiple upgrade options. And best
of all, they’re affordable — and available right now.
e An average tech support response time of
e Award-winning systems
e Top rated service and support
e Lifetime tech support seven days a week,
e Two year warranty on desktop systems: first year on-site, second year parts and labor
e One year warranty on notebooks
e 30-day money back guarantee
“...among the new class of portables, these fine components add up to a hard- to-beat combination.”
PC Magazine, December 1993
“Blazing Performance.” Windows Magazine, January 1994
“If you’re looking for the most speed and capacity for your dollar, this is the system for you.”
Home Office Magazine, March 1994
CHOOSE ONE THAT'S RIGHT FOR YOU.
$1,489 cenesis.senx2-66 $2,099 tueeputaner $1,669 premierseepx2-66 1,999 powersysTEM-60
¢ |ntel 6(OMHz Pentium Processor
¢ 8 MB RAM, 256 KB L2 Cache
¢ 425 MB Hard Drive
¢ PClI-Bus Windows Accelerator with 1 MB
¢ 3.5” 1.44 MB Diskette Drive
¢ 14” SVGA Monitor
¢ 2 PCI, 1 PCI/ISA and 4 ISA Slots
¢ 101-Key Keyboard & Mouse
¢ MS-DOS 6.21, Windows 3.11, & MS Works 3.0
¢ Lease $83/mo.
¢ Intel 486DX2-66 Processor ¢ 8 MB RAM, 128 KB L2 Cache ¢ 425 MB Hard Drive ¢ 1 MB Local Bus Windows Accelerator for 1024 x 768 ¢ 3.5” 1.44 MB Diskette Drive ¢ 14” SVGA Monitor e 2VL and 5 16-bit ISA Slots ¢ 101-Key Keyboard & Mouse ¢ MS-DOS 6.21, Windows 3.11, & MS Works 3.0 ¢ EPA Energy Star Compliant
¢ Lease $78/mo.
¢ Intel 486SX-33 Processor ¢ 8 MB RAM, 128KB Cache ¢ 212MB Hard Drive ¢ 1 MB Local Bus Windows Accelerator for 1024 x 768 ¢ 3.5” 1.44 MB Diskette Drive 14” SVGA Monitor, 16-bit Sound Card Video playback using MPEG1 Sony Double-Speed CD-ROM 5 16-Bit ISA Slots e 101-Key Keyboard,Mouse, & Speakers ¢ MS-DOS 6.21, Windows 3.11, & MS Works 3.0 e EPA Energy Star Compliant
¢ Lease $83/mo.
$2,699 power systEM-90
e Intel 90 MHz Pentium Processor
¢ 8 MB RAM, 256 KB L2 Cache
¢ 425 MB Hard Drive
¢ PCl-Bus Windows Accelerator with 2 MB
¢ 3.5” 1.44 MB Diskette Drive
¢ 15” NI SVGA Monitor
e 2 PCI, 1 PCI/ISA, and 4 ISA Slots
¢ 101-Key Keyboard & Mouse
¢ MS-DOS 6.21, Windows 3.11, & MS Works 3.0
¢ Lease $107/mo.
¢ Intel 486DX2-66 Processor ¢ 4MB RAM, 128 KB Cache e¢ 212 MB Hard Drive ¢ 1 MB Local Bus Windows Accelerator for 1024 x 768 ¢ 3.5” 1.44 MB Diskette Drive ¢ 14” SVGA Monitor ¢ 5 16-bit ISA Slots ¢ 101-Key-Keyboard & Mouse ¢ MS-DOS 6.21, Windows 3.11, & MS Works 3.0 e EPA Energy Star Compliant
¢ Lease $62/mo.
System Upcrapes
¢ Multimedia Kit (Double Speed CD-ROM, Media- Magic ISP-16 Sound Card, and Speakers), $259
¢ 425 MB to 540 MB hard drive upgrades, $90
¢ 15-inch monitor upgrade from 14-inch, $90
¢ Double Speed CD-ROM, $159
(Only with system purchase.)
$3,399 AUSTIN PCI-P5 SERVER
¢ Intel 66 MHz Pentium Processor
¢ 16 MB RAM, 256 KB L2 Cache
¢ 1.08 GB SCSI-2 Hard Drive, SCSI-2 Controller ¢ 3.5” 1.44 MB Diskette Drive
¢ 14” SVGA Monitor
¢ 1 MB Video Adapter
¢ 10-BASE T Ethernet Adapter
¢ Tower Case, 8 Drive Bays
¢ 2 PCI, 1 PCI/ISA, and 4 ISA Slots
¢ 101-Key Keyboard & Mouse
¢ MS-DOS 6.21
Lease $143/mo.
$2,149 POWER SYSTEM-66
Intel 66 MHz Pentium Processor
8 MB RAM, 256 KB L2 Cache
425 MB Hard Drive
PCl-Bus Windows Accelerator with 1 MB 3.5” 1.44 MB Diskette Drive
15” NI SVGA Monitor
2 PCI, 1 PCI/ISA and 4 ISA Slots
101-Key Keyboard & Mouse
MS-DOS 6.21, Windows 3.11, & MS Works 3.0
Lease $95/mo.
We can build a custom system to your specifications! Ask your Austin Direct sales representative about additional hard drive,
RAM, and processor options.
MoNocHROME SCREEN $1,439 = AUSTIN 486SX-33
¢ 4 MB RAM and 127 MB Hard Drive ¢ Lease $57/mo.
$1,739 AUSTIN 486DX2-50
¢ 4 MB RAM and 262 MB Hard Drive ° Lease $69/mo.
$1,899 AUSTIN 486DX2-66
¢ 4 MB RAM and 340 MB Hard Drive ¢ Lease $76/mo.
Active Matrix SCREEN $3145 AUSTIN 486SX-33
¢ 4MB RAM and 262 MB Hard Drive ¢ Lease $125/mo.
$3299 AUSTIN 486DX2-50
¢ 4 MB RAM and 262 MB Hard Drive ¢ Lease $131/mo.
$3,489 AUSTIN 486DX2-66
¢ 8 MB RAM and 340 MB Hard Drive ¢ Lease $139/mo.
$3,899 AUSTIN 486DX4-75
¢ 8 MB RAM and 340 MB Hard Drive ¢ Lease $155/mo.
$4,099 AUSTIN 486DX4-100
¢ 8 MB RAM and 524 MB Hard Drive ¢ Lease $127/mo.
Duat Scan ScREEN $2,029 AUSTIN 486SX-33
¢ 4 MB RAM and 262 MB Hard Drive ¢ Lease $81/mo.
$2,229 AUSTIN 486DX2-50
¢ 4 MB RAM and 262 MB Hard Drive ¢ Lease $89/mo.
$2,579 AUSTIN 486DX2-66
¢ 8 MB RAM and 340 MB Hard Drive ¢ Lease $94/mo.
$2,849 AUSTIN 486DX4-75
¢ 8 MB RAM and 340 MB Hard Drive ¢ Lease $113/mo.
$3199 AUSTIN 486DX4-100
¢ 8 MB RAM and 524 MB Hard Drive ¢ Lease $127/mo.
Austin NotEBooKs
Intel 486SX, DX2 or DX4 Processors
4 MB or 8 MB RAM Expandable to 32 MB 127 MB to 524 MB IDE Drive, User Replaceable
3.5” 1.44 MB Diskette Drive
Local Bus Video with 1 MB VRAM
Local Bus IDE
9.5” Monochrome, DSTN or TFT Active Color Screen
2 Type Il or 1 Type Ill PCMCIA Slots Integrated 16mm Trackball
DX4 Series: 16-Bit Business Audio Features Including Built-In Microphone and Speaker, External Jacks for Line In and Line Out EPP/ECP Parallel Port, 16550 High Speed Serial Port
Advanced Power Management
1 Parallel, 2 Serial, Keyboard Port, VGA Port Dimensions: 11.1” x 8.58” x 2”
Weight: 6.3 Ibs. with battery
NoteBook Accessories
4 MB RAM, $219; 16 MB RAM, CALL; Docking Station, $299; Car Adapter, $59; PCMCIA 14.4 Fax/Modem, $299; Built-In 14.4 Fax/Modem, $199; PCMCIA Ethernet Adapter, $220
(Only with system purchase.)
Roan Warrior PACKAGE
Premium Notebook Carrying Case 14.4 Internal Fax/Modem
Car Power Adapter
External Charger Package Price, $490 ¢ NiMH Spare Battery Back (Separately, $585)
eeee
Ask your Austin Direct sales representative about additional configurations.
. AUS Tin
BEST SERVICE AND
BEST SUPPORT 0098 MICROSOFT D-it-R-E- C- iy WINDOWS READY-TO-RUN ———S AUSTIN QUALITY = ce | g 0 0 ] 5 2 | 5 ] 1 Commitment to Quality Award ee CE airy from the City of Austin . —— 2121 Energy Drive, Austin, Texas 78758 = =a coe er @ E- 512-339-3500 © FAX 512-454-1357 Ad Code: PCWD0994 oe a SS H- ©1994 Austin Direct. All rights reserved. The Intel Inside logo is a registered trademark of Intel Corp. Intel DX4, DX2, DX are trademarks of Intel Government Sales: 1-800-833-4472 Corp. Microsoft is a registered trademark and Windows and the Windows logo are trademarks of Microsoft Corp. All other company names and _ products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The above are special promotional prices. Prices and specifications Fortune 1000 Sales: 1-800-622-5506 are Subject to change without notice. We are not responsible for errors in typography and photography. *Lease term reflects 36-month contract. For More Information By Fax: 1-800-341-7500
Circle 22 on reader service card
here are three types of computer
users: those who have lost data due to a power problem, those who are going to, and those who have protected them- selves against the inevitable surge, black- out or brownout with the most reliable UPS they can buy: Back-UPS by APC. In fact, editors and users alike agree that if
your system demands absolute reliability, you can depend on APC Back-UPS. According to a study by Bell Labs, failure will occur, but when. Whether due to undervoltages represent the overwhelming construction, wiring, weather, other office majority of power problems likely to hit equipment, or accidents, power problems your computer. The question is not ifa are as inevitable as death and taxes. That’s mow oo why you need instantaneous battery backup power from the Back-UPS to prevent data loss, hard disk crashes, and hard- ware damage. If you’re concerned about
In a recent poll by PC Magazine’s MagNet, APC was voted the most reliable UPS manufacturer by a 3- to-1 margin. That’s dependability that will see you though years of unmatched power protection.
inner in price
q 4 lightning, rest assured that a rf Ormance...it s when measured using the
UK cuoice
August 1993 APC Back UPS 1250
» _ egory A test wave, Back-UPS are % superior to
awe a. =
3 y
Latiahishe Remogenhioh ona Ra apne
LIFETIME EQUIPMENT PROTECTION
$25,000
FOR AS LONG AS YOU OWN THIS PRODUCT, iF YOUR PROPERLY CONNECTED EQUIPMENT EVER BY AN AC SURGE, INCLUDING
© 1994, APC. Back--UPS, PowerChute are trademarks of APC. Other trademarks are the property of their owners. Specs subject to change without notice.
ck-UPS prevail
Gates a ne
“All other brands of UPS die regularly in this lightning prone environment. My APC won't die!” said Paul Sisilli, Systems Analyst, City of Port St. Lucie . “With other brands, users don’t find out until it is too late. The power interruptions here are very hard to live with. The other brands are dying off. Typically they last just beyond their warranty period. My Back-UPS is going on three years...no other brand is as reliable.”
virtually all separate surge suppressors. Surge performance is even backed by a $25,000 Lifetime Equipment Protection Guarantee.
If you’re protecting a network server, a communications interface port (on models Back-UPS 400 and higher) provides the security of an automatic shutdown to all major OS including NetWare, Windows, Windows NT, LAN Server, LAN Manager, LANtastic, SCO Unix, OS/2, Banyan Vines, AppleShare/System7 and more, so your data is safe whether the system is attended or not. (PowerChute software and interface kits sold separately.)
Andsince data processed on networked clients needs protection too, the $139 Back-UPS 250 provides an
MADE IN
Back-UPS (R to L)
250 LAN nodes, internet hardware, POS $139 400 Desktop 486, 386 systems, servers $229
PX eye) icer-leceya) Sugg. List
450 Tower 486, 386 systems, servers $279 600 Heavily configured systems, CAD/ CAM workstations $399 900 Multiple systems, longer runtime $599 applications 1250 Multiple systems, LAN hubs, small minis, telecom equipment $799
Don Traux knows first hand about Back-UPS reliability: “It ought to be against the law to buy a computer without an APC Back-UPS 250. I recently had a direct lightning hit right outside the house...my computer never blinked. Each morning I get a surge down the line and both APC’s hate it - they simultaneously ‘holler ‘n clamp’ while my ‘Brand T’ quietly sleeps in. I've relegated that unit to non-critical
household stuff like my VCR.”
More than...
APC has won more awards for performance and reliability than all other UPS vendors combined...including four consecutive LAN Times Readers Choice awards...
Windows Mag. Readers Choice
economical solution for all your LAN work- stations.
Discovering how essential Back-UPS protection is can be hard...if you wait for the next storm to roll through. But discov- ering how afforable it has become is easy...
Call today and find out (the easy way) why more than 1,000,000 satisfied users bank on Back-UPS from APC. With more
awards than all other > brands combined, field- “2 APA) provenreliability,andatwo (0 year warranty, Back-UPS
INDOWS. Tested and are power protection you
PC World
Reselict News Top 20 Re . ERS N yy Upgrade 7 ‘N y
1990
COMPATIBLE Approved
\ /ESSERP Scan purchase with confi- Sp dence.
Solaris
COMPATIBLE
LAN NAGER VERSION 2.1
Circle 45 on reader service card
BIS eatin aS
Andrew Wargo, Manager at Baxter Land Company, tried two other brands before Back- UPS. “One lasted a days, a second one went up in smoke after 48 hours, a third lasted less than 24 hours! I then bought my Back- UPS for less than half of what I had paid for the others. We’ve purchased three more Back- UPS and for the past 14 months they've been just hummin’ away on the same power line that was eating the other brands alive!”
. AWARD-WINNING FEATURES
Instantaneous backup power beats blackouts and brownouts
Unmatched lightning (tested to UL1449) and surge protection for maximum hardware safety
Network-grade line conditioning and EMI/ RFI filters prevent glitches :
LAN Interface (on Back-UPS 400 and up) provides automatic shutdown to all major OS: Windows, NT, NetWare, LAN Server, LAN Manager, LANtastic, Unix, OS/2, Vines, AppleShare/System7 and more.
Site diagnostics automatically spot missing ground and reversed polarity, two common miswirings which usually require an electrician’s visit to diagnose.
Option switches allow you to customize transfer voltage and alarm settings.
Test Switch for ongoing peace of mind 2 year warranty and full safety approvals $25,000 Lifetime Equipment Protection
SUA
AMERICAN POWER CONVERSION
800-800-4APC
APC EUROPE (+33) 64625900 / ASIA/PACIFIC FAX: 401-789-1631 / L. AMERICA FAX: 401-789-9771 / Compuserve: GO APCSUPPORT FOR GOVT/GSA SALES, CALL 1-800-788-5414
Dept. P3
And Listens!
Portable Computing With Built-In Business Audio.
No matter how hectic your pace, our 450 Colorscan stays with you every step of the way. It’s light-weight, powerful, and packed with features, including complete business audio, dual scan display, PCMCIA slots, and optional mini-docking station. So whether you’re on the road or in the
office, you’re in control! Built-in business audio includes preloaded Audio Applications software, a microphone that, lets you anotate your work, speakers that enable you to present it, and the freedom to use external speak- ers and microphones if you choose. The dual scan display means your presentations will look as good as they sound. And PCM- CIA makes adding additional periph- — erals a snap. Snap-in a mini-docking station and you can integrate your Colorscan into your office system with a single clip. So you're up and run- ning the mo- ment you sit down — on the road or at your
desk!
Bn,
Sa Me
cas)
450 Colorscan
L) IntelSOMH2z/486DX2 Processor _] 4MB RAM Expands To 8MB
Or 20MB J] 84-Key Layout -Serial,
_) 250MB Hard Drive Parallel Keyboard Ports And
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L] Two Type 2.0 or One Type 3 _) Audio Applications 3.0 PCMCIA Slots SS Software
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(Lease For $94/mo.) C Add : ZZ, : 450 Colorpro LOM U Plug your 450 Colorscan into our $3,695 CUSTOMER DRIVEN, BY DESIGN. optional mini-docking ene (Lease For $131/mo.) : -.- Only $89. 12303 Technology Boulevard Austin, Texas 78727 Microsort: "Tested and REAIVTORUN Perot ©CompuAdd Corporation 1994. Prices neeedieten ate subject to change without notice. CompuAdd is not liable for due to
omissions or typographical errors. The Intel Inside logo is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Circle 73 on reader service card
MICHELE CLEMENT
INSIDE SOURCE
The Intelligent Person’s Guide to Online Services
CompuServe. Prodigy. Delphi. MCI Mail. Ameri- ca Online. Nexis. Now, which online services have I for- gotten? And how long has it been since | checked on my NewtonMail? Hope there isn’t any- thing important sitting there.
Remembering—passwords, user IDs, how the interfaces work, what informa- tion is on which service, which service has the information for the lowest price—is a big part of being a cyber- naut. You also have to remember to can- cel the services when you’re finally fed up with them or have settled on one you'd like to call home.
It’s easier, of course, not to join the “wrong” service in the first place. Which 1s where I come in.
America Online You have to wonder why a service that has been so bogged down with new users would keep send- ing free sign-up kits and 10 hours of connect time to every person in the United States who might possibly own a computer. Nah. When you’re a Wall Street darling, you have to keep stoking the fires, night?
AOL is, in some ways, like those peo- ple you only run into at cocktail parties: Pretty, great for casual conversation, occasionally charming, always friendly, but not the brightest person you'll en- counter. And possessing quirks that, at first winning, are ultimately frustrating.
Still, AOL is an excellent service for newcomers and has online versions of many popular magazines, including this one. AOL has also recently added par- tial Internet access and news groups. It is not a bad place to have an electronic mail account on the Internet. On the other hand, the message boards are real- ly clumsy, and the service was obviously
By David Coursey
designed to handle a far smaller num- ber of users than it has today. ¢ America Online, 800/827-6364, 703/448-870. Reader service no. 801
CompuServe is most of what an online service should be. Its scope is encyclo- pedic, from all the online technical sup- port you're ever likely to need, to inter- est groups devoted to tropical fish, cooking, genealogy, and most anything else people do for love or money.
“CI$,” as regulars call it, tends to be more expensive than other services. Don’t even think of using the service without a copy of CIM or WinCIM, the CompuServe Information Manager pro- gram for DOS or Windows.
CIS lacks access to Internet services, aside from mail, but makes up for it by being so complete in itself. CIS is the best service available today. © Compu- Serve; 800/848-8199, 614/457-0802. Reader service no. 802
Delphi Internet Services, once a low- cost CompuServe wannabe, has recast itself as a low-cost Internet access ser- vice, at least during off-hours. If you need full access to the Internet and you don’t mind a nongraphical interface, then Delphi might be the one for you.
NVidia, a Silicon Valley start-up, says it’s created a one-chip solution for GUI acceleration under Windows. The chip pro- vides 3-D and 2-D video, wave-table audio, and game control, but doesn’t require new software. The chip should start showing
up in PCI-based machines next year, improv- ing performance and simplifying system design...Have you played with Apple’s digital camera? There’s a Windows version, and it’s really pretty cool if you have about $700 burning a hole in your pocket...When I’m missing a font, Elseware’s FontWorks, about
LOOKING AHEAD
© Delphi; SO0/695-4005, 617/491-3342. Reader service no. 792
Prodigy lake everything Sears knows about computers, add everything IBM knows about retailing, and you've creat- ed an online service that illustrates why its two owners fell upon hard times. Prodigy is reasonably inexpensive and comes with its own software, but other- wise I really can’t think of a reason why you'd want it, unless you have compu- kids. With its mail monitors, Prodigy 1s probably the safest place to let kids play. (Prodigy users: Flame me at my AOL address: dcoursey@aol.com. ) © Prodigy; 800/776-3449. Reader service no. 804
You may get the idea that many more bad services exist than good ones. But all the online services are dramatically improving their interfaces and lowering prices. It’s more important to be online than to wait for the perfect service. I’ve been waiting for 14 years, and it still hasn't happened!
Contributing Editor David Coursey edits P.C. Letter. He can be reached on PC World Online (see page 10 for more information).
$79 on the street, cre- ates it for me and gives useful advice on which fonts look good togeth- er...The new Peachtree small business account- ing software for Windows, due about the time you read this, looks great...! wish | could say | had a good time at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago, but most of the software— including a Rush Limbaugh screen saver and the Penthouse Pets (they look better from a distance than up close)—makes me understand why some parents won’t let their kids near a PC.
SEPTEMBER 1994 * PC WORLD 51
‘THE NEW PREMMIA™ Gx. It merely starts with Intel’s Pentium™ microprocessor, in two speeds, the fastest and very, very fast. In other
words, 100 MHz or 90 MHz.
From there, AST engineers
© 1994 AST Research, Inc. All rights reserved. AST is a registered trademark of AST Research, Inc. AST Computer, the AST lo trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. *WinMarks 3.1 (4.0 score: 41 million
raised the bar, and the new
what you could do.
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go, Premmia and “You'll Like the Way We Work” are trademarks of AST Research, Inc. The Intel ). **CY93 unit volume shipments of AST and AST manufactured
brands (International Data Corp.). The information included is
calculating load and stress numbers Ethernet is already built right in. Premmia GX Pentium 90 & 100 MHz, dual processor capable, OverDrive™ Ready. PCI and EISA. 256KB Synchronous Burst
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That’s not all. The PremmiaGX _ nect peripherals like a hard drive
is affordable like a personal com: or a scanner than with the GX’s Mode cache. 64-bit PCI local bus puter. But with a weak graphics card. 2MB VRAM array of in y tegrated FastSCS]-2 controller. upgradable to 4MB. Supports
innovati ive features, it actually per- up to 1280 x 1024 x 16.7
mply talking million colors non-interlaced. ak Integrated PCI local bus FastSCSI-2 it ope Wite o, , © It all Tating Quic adds up controller. Integrated Ethernet. - Integr ated Cte w
fo rms like g true Workstation, All the Newest 33.)
Type Ill PCMCIA capability.
Plug-n-play capable. DMI support.
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Premmia MX Pentium 60 MHz, IntelDX4/100 and 486DX2/66, OverDrive Ready. PCI and ISA. Pentium models: 256KB cache. 486 models: 256KB cache on hard drive models, 64KB or 256KB options on base models. 64-bit PCI local bus graphics card. 2MB VRAM upgradable to 4MB. Supports up to 1280 x 1024 x 16.7 million colors non-interlaced. Type II] PCMCIA capability. Plug-n-play capable. DMI support. Energy Star.
lhita our own extra responsive telephone personal computer (or ca : rt is here to help 1) you ud like on yout des po oup 1s her . tio sda as © , -worksta ap. A flash. A
Would you expect anything less from na a blink: A $n "the world’s fifth largest personal heartbeat. A nanosecond) So why eee manufacturer?" oo - don’ t you | hit speed dial and call
Well, then, i i this the kind of “us at at 800-876-4AST.
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Inside logo is a registered trademark and OverDrive is a trademark of Intel Corporation. All other product or service names mentioned herein may be accurate as of July 1, 1994, but is subject to change without notice.
AT PRICES LIKE IE A COMPAQ OR YOU
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Preinstalled MS-DOS 6, MS-Windows 3.1, and TabWorks
products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Microsoft and MS-DOS are registered trade- marks, and Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. TabWorks is a registered trademark of Xerox Corporation.The Intel Inside Logo is a registered trademark and Pentium is a trademark of Intel Corporation. Offer available in the U.S. only. a |
Compaq Contura
Monochrome Color 1799 $2099 Or $65 Or $75 per month* per month*
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Preinstalled MS-DOS 6, MS-Windows 3.1, and TabWorks
“Leasing is provided by GE Capital Services for a term of 36 months and is subject to approved credit and certain terms and conditions. 7 | Call for details. tRestrictions and exclusions apply. Monitors, battery packs and certain options are covered by a one-year warranty. he / Compaq Contura Aero and Concerto are covered by a 3-Year Pick-Up Warranty. © 1994 Compaq Computer Corporation. All Compa } rights reserved. Compaq and the Compaq Logo Registered U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Contura is a registered trademark; 3-Y% DirectPlus is a registered service mark; Concerto, ProLinea, Aero, EasyPoint and EasyAccess are trademarks; and Solution Paq is W. Car y a service mark of Compaq Computer Corporation. Products, prices and programs are subject to change without notice. Other arranty?
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Powered by Cyrix’s Cx486DX2-V66, Epson’s ActionNote 766C offers a new measure of performance.
58 PC WORLD © SEPTEMBER 1994
INSIDE: Remote Control Your PC 61 | Its Master’s Voice 62 | Getting Connected—How to Do It and Why 64
When it comes to note- ooks, a DX2-50 is not d DX4-75s have a new r to contend with: 66 processor. While on Intel’s 50-MHz DX2 D ovided some great deals tems powered by the new mise better than DX2-50 per- nd will cost much less than The 3.3-volt Cx486DX2-V66 pro- All debut this fall in notebooks that be priced like DX2-50-based products ould run faster than Intel DX2-66 tebooks—by 10 percent or more, analysts say, Epson will be among the first vendors sat to ship notebooks using the new Cyrix - processor, with systems due at the end of September. IBM Microelectronics is now making the chip for Cyrix, so there should be plenty of processors available for would- be vendors—potentially including IBM. Cyrix’s performance advantage is expect- ed to arise from the chip’s integrated cache. While the Intel DX2-66 includes 8K of write-through cache, the Cyrix processor can support 8K of either write-through or faster, more efficient write-back cache.
Write-Back Benefit
A preproduction Epson notebook we tested didn’t have write-back cache implemented, although it will be in production models, and it also had only 4MB of RAM. While it slightly outran similarly configured DX2-50 systems, the Epson lagged on DOS applica- tion tests, probably because its PCMCIA drivers left only 512K of RAM free. ‘The Epson will perform even better with the write-back cache implemented. PC World tests also indicate that simply adding 4MB of memory will improve Windows perfor- mance by 50 percent, which would position the Epson above the average for DX2-66 notebook performance.
Cyrix’s new 66-MHz chip has two other advantages over Intel’s DX2-66: a low price and a low-voltage design. In early July, Cyrix’s chip was priced at $221 in volume to PC vendors, while Intel was charging $271. ‘That can save vendors as much as $50,000 for every 1000 chips they buy from Cyrix instead of Intel. Another advantage: ‘The Cyrix chip uses 3.3 volts, compared to the Intel’s 5 volts, so it generates less heat and draws less power. As a result, notebook de- signers can opt for longer battery life, or can trim battery size and therefore notebook weight—the route Epson chose.
Epson Sets a New Standard At 4.9 pounds, the Epson ActionNote 766C with a dual-scan color display weighs less than any 66-MHz notebook PC Wor/d has tested. “We see this Epson as almost a new category,” says Mike McGuire, an industry analyst at market research firm Dataquest. “Tt’s got all the features of a notebook but comes in almost at subnotebook weight.” ‘To achieve a low subnotebook weight, manufacturers usually shrink screen or key- board size, or make the floppy drive exter- nal. Not so with the 766 series of notes. ‘he portables sport either a 9.5-inch dual-scan color screen or an 8.5-inch active-matrix screen. ‘he units also include an internal floppy drive and an almost-full-size 85-key keyboard—hard to find on a subnote. A 12mm trackball sits below the <Space> bar. ‘The Epson ActionNote 766C has a street price of $2999 with 8MB of RAM (expand- able to 20MB), a 260MB hard drive, and a dual-scan color display. Another dual-scan ActionNote offers 8MB of RAM and a 340MB drive for $3099. All the Epson hard drives are removable. Pricing 1s in the range of low-cost DX2-50 notes. For example, the Gateway ColorBook DX2-50 with 8MB of RAM, a 250MB hard drive, and a 10.3-inch dual-scan screen costs $2999,
Edited by Russell Glitman
News Monitor
NEW ON-RAMPS TO THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY: Cable, computer, and telecommunications companies are teaming up to test new technolo- gies that could bring high-speed data networks—the conduits of the informa- tion superhighway—into your home. Here’s a compilation of products and services under development.
Superfast Modems Intel Corpora- tion is working with General Instru- ments to develop high-speed cable modems. The devices connect a PC to your existing cable TV network, and they can transmit data hundreds of times faster than a conventional modem, which connects to a standard phone line. Trials are currently under way in the Philadelphia area. Intel expects cable modems to ship next year at “high-end modem prices,” around $500 or less, says company spokesperson John Raftrey.
Killer Apps Faster may be better, but nobody needs a superfast modem for mundane tasks like reading sports scores online. Industry pundits see real-time video and graphics-intensive, interactive software as the killer apps for cable modems. In San Diego, Prodi- gy is testing a cable-based service (called Prodigy TV, naturally) that lets subscribers watch video clips without having to download huge files first. Subscribers can instantly view color photos that accompany news stories— a time-consuming chore with a 9600- bits-per-second modem. They can also view live video feeds from, say, ESPN and click an icon to read statistics
(continued on page 61)
SEPTEMBER 1994 * PC WORLD 59 &
PHOTOS: JOHN GREENLEIGH; ILLUSTRATION: PHILIPPE LARDY
Top of the News
TEST REPORT
Epson ActionNote 766C: DX2-50 Price but Better Performance
| RAM (MB) | Application performance (in minutes:seconds)
Epson ActionNote 766C (Cx486DX2-V66) a 210°
Average of four Intel DX2-50 notebooks a
Shorter times are better.
0 1.2.3.4 S38. 7.8 9 10 41.32 13 14.15.16 (0) 1-2-3 release 3.4 (J Excel 4.0 [2] Word 2.0 for Windows
(9) WordPerfect 6.0 for DOS
Tests run on preproduction unit. PC World Test Center application benchmarks.
With an 8.5-inch active-matrix display, the Epson ActionNote 766CX provides 8MB of RAM and a 260MB hard drive for $3399 and 8MB of RAM and a 340MB hard drive for $3499,
Using a NiMH battery, these notebooks should run for 3 to 5 hours, according to the vendor. ‘The battery 1s hot swappable and recharges in 1.5 hours. ‘The AC adapter weighs just under 6 ounces.
The ActionNotes include all the extras, such as local bus video with 512K of VRAM and Cirrus Logic’s 5426 accelerator chip. Each unit has a PCMCIA ‘Type II slot, a 14.4-kilobits-per-second fax-modem incor- porated onto the motherboard, and Delri-
Intel Slashes Pentium Pric@s: siteistougn at
the front of the pack. Scrappy competitors such as Cyrix and AMD continue to nip at Intel’s heels, introducing newer, faster 486 clones and promising cheap Pentium-compatible CPUs later this year. Meanwhile, industry giants IBM, Motorola, and Apple are pro- moting the PowerPC chip as the true Pentium-killer and have gone
so far as to produce special effects— laden television advertisements that equate Intel’s microprocessor with the long-extinct dinosaur.
What’s the Tyrannosaurus rex of processors to do? The answer: make Pentium systems so affordable no buyer can afford to pass them up. Over the past year, the price that computer man- ufacturers pay for a 60-MHz Pentium chip has fallen from just under $900 to a little over $400, resulting in dramatic price reductions on Pentium-based PCs. Recently Dell Computer was the first major vendor to announce a fully config-
60 PC WORLD © SEPTEMBER 1994
na’s Winkax Lite software. Epson has bun- dled Borland’s new personal information manager, Sidekick for Windows, and has preloaded both DOS and Windows along with their online documentation.
Epson provides an impressive three-year warranty, plus Extra Care Road Service, which guarantees a replacement notebook within 24 hours and Federal Express ship- ment of your notebook to and from Epson.
Bounty for Bargain Hunters
Analysts expect more machines using the 66-MHz Cyrix chip to ship this fall, at even more competitive prices. ‘he Cx486DX2- V66 is hardly Cyrix’s last hurrah. The
Pein Prices Plummet
Gam 60 MHz Gam 66 MHz
AMarch’93 |
Source: Intel Corp.
“Wrha ove “Aug. ‘04 A :
Richardson, ‘Texas, firm plans to ship a 3- volt 80-MHz 486 chip, the Cx486DX2-V80, for midrange desktop systems. According to Cyrix, these PCs will hit the street in Octo- ber or November, priced about the same as Intel IDX2-66—based systems. Cyrix claims this chip outperforms an Intel 486DX2-66 by up to 20 percent. ‘he company says it’s still on track to deliver a Pentium-compati- ble processor by year-end. IBM has an agreement to manufacture all these chips, as well as Pentium-compatible processors due early this fall from NexGen in Milpitas, California. Seems as though your selection of processors is only going to increase.
—Laurianne McLaughlin
Epson ActionNote 766 Series
First notebooks to use Cyrix’s Cx486DX2- V66 weigh as little as 4.9 pounds.
Key Features: 9.5-inch dual-scan color or 8.5-inch active-matrix color display
e Almost-full-size keyboard ¢ Internal floppy ® Local bus video
Pricing: $2999 to $3499
Availability: Immediate
Epson, 800/289-3776
ured Pentium system with 8MB of RAM, a 340MB hard drive, a 15- inch color monitor, DOS, and Windows for under $2000.
And the Pentium’s desktop-only orientation will soon end. Intel plans to introduce a 75-MHz Pentium processor for notebooks, and Pentium-based portables should reach store shelves this fall, according to Intel officials. To support its Pentium push, Intel is
rapidly increasing production of the chip: The Pentium will account for 25 percent of Intel’s CPU shipments by the end of the year, the company says.
So is the 486 dead? Not quite yet, say industry pundits. With Cyrix and AMD at the 486 party, buyers should find excellent prices on systems that are fast enough for standard business applications such as word processing and spreadsheets. But if your com- pany is making the leap to processor- intensive tasks such as video confer- encing, the Pentium (or one of its speedy competitors) is the better bet.
PHILIPPE LARDY
Close-Up Telecommuting
TEST DRIVE (oe I recently moved to bi
+ couver, Washington. It’s
a long commute to PC’ Wor/d’s San Francis-
co offices, where I’m publisher of online
services. Nonetheless, to be effective I
must stay in touch with my colleagues and the people who report to me.
Flying back and forth every day was out of the question, and spending the entire work week away from my home and family was too unpleasant to contemplate. ‘The compromise solution: ‘Two days a week I tele- commute to work using Norton-Lambert’s Close- Up 6.0, a speedy and well- behaved remote control program. Close-Up has made both my work life and my family life a lot simpler. ‘he new version is faster than its predecessor and sports new transfer op- tions including my favorite: the capability to synchronize, or mirror, files.
I start my long-distance workday by read- ing my E-mail and answering voice mail remotely. (My San Francisco office phone calls are forwarded to my home office tele- phone when I’m in Vancouver.) Then I fire up Close-Up and use its Remote feature to log on to my computer at PC’ World (which uses the Host part of Close-Up.) The pro- gram’s automatic call-back feature prevents anyone but me from accessing my comput-
Close-Up 6.0
Operate your office PC from a mobile or home office system.
Key Features: File synchronization
© Zippy performance
Pricing: Host and Remote $199 Availability: Immediate Norton-Lambert, 805/964-6767 ext. 1 Reader service no. 810
12:46 <DIR> 94/29/94 12:46 <DIR> 01/14/94 16:11
er: Close-Up reads my password, hangs up the phone, then dials my computer in Van- couver, using the telephone number associ- ated with that password.
Once Close-Up connects, I log on to the PC World network just as if I were sitting in my office—in fact Close-Up is so fast, I sometimes forget I’m working from home. Using Close-Up I can “chat” with col-
Host Files
<Parent Directory> <DIR> 06/01/94 99:4
Pega -
25 Files 40,198,144 Bytes Free 21 Files 27,320,328 Bytes Free
If a marked file has the same name as an existing file on the other side, it will be overwritten if its date & time are older than the marked file.
FILE SYNCHRONIZATION is made easy with Close-Up’s Mirror facility, which lets you rapidly update files on two systems.
leagues interactively (as long as they’re run- ning a copy of the program) and check my personal information manager (PIM) for meeting requests and changes in my sched- ule. A 10-to-20-minute connect time in the morning usually sets me up for the day. In the evening I update both computers by
~ using Close-Up to call again and murror
essential directories.
Using the program’s built-in file-transfer software, I can mirror two directories, bring- ing both of them up-to-date with any addi- tions or deletions.
Close-Up installs like a dream: It finds your modem and the COM port the mo- dem’s using, warns you of any potential conflicts, then installs itself without a hitch—yjust specify your modem model (Close-Up supports over 650).
Easy to use, fast, and full-featured, Close- Up 6.0 makes telecommuting better than being there. My thanks—and those of my wife and family—to Norton-Lambert.
—Jim Moody
News Monitor
(continued from page 59) about a certain team or athlete. Ameri- ca Online and CompuServe are devel- oping similar services.
High-Speed Phone Lines Motorola is designing its CableComm service to boost the throughput of cable net- works for high-speed voice and data services, including video teleconfer- encing. CableComm will offer two-way communications services over cable at transmission speeds up to 384 kilobits per second, according to Motorola. CableComm subscribers will be able to make phone calls via the cable net- work, and tap into online services at much higher transmission speeds than those offered by analog phone lines or high-speed digital services like ISDN. Market trials are slated to begin in the middle of next year, with customer shipments starting in late 1995.
ALANinthe Home Microsoft Corpo- ration is working with California utili- ties provider Pacific, Gas & Electric and the TCI cable network to provide energy management services to con- sumers. Due to be tested in Walnut Creek, California, the service utilizes a TCI set-top TV box with Microsoft-devel- oped software. It creates a mini-net- work capable of transmitting data across a house’s existing electrical wiring—useful for, say, using your office PC to turn on your air condition- er before you head home. According to Microsoft, testing will continue through 1996.
(continued on page 63)
SEPTEMBER 1994 * PC WORLD 61 ®>
Top of the News
have been talking to my computer for
years—mostly saying things you can’t
print in a family magazine—and,
frankly, I’ve been a little disappoint-
ed by the lack of response. But now that there’s Kurzweil Voice, my PC can finally listen to me—even if it’s still a little hard of hearing.
Unlike low-cost sound board utilities, which let you bark out simple commands to launch applications and shuffle files, Kurzweil Voice 1.0 for Windows 1s a full- fledged keyboard replacement: Simply open your word processor or spreadsheet and start dictating. An accomplished “dicta- tor’ could enter 40 to 50 words a minute— faster than many people type.
In the past, such speech recognition sys- tems were hard to use and cost thousands of dollars, which limited their use to disabled people and those 1n specialized fields such as medicine. But Kurzweil Voice’s slick Windows interface and $995 price place voice input within reach of business users.
‘The implications of voice technology are enormous. Besides making PCs accessible
to people who can’t type, voice input could even- tually make keyboards a thing of the past—and enable computers to be- come far more portable. Unfortunately, to use voice input today, you'll need to learn an entirely new way of working with your computer. For the average user, the effort may not be worth the ageravation involved.
Look, Ma, No Hands
Like its competitors— IBM’s Personal Dictation System for OS/2 and Dragon Systems’ Dragon Dictate for Windows—Kurzweil Voice grad- ually “learns” your voice, becoming more accurate over time. Unlike the IBM and Dragon systems, Kurzweil doesn’t require hours of training before you can use it; you simply install the software and the voice-
How to Make Your PC Listen
processing board, plug in the headset micro-
phone, and begin talking. (However, you'll get better results if you “enroll” your voice by reading a list of 400 words; this takes about 15 minutes, plus another 90 minutes or so for Kurzweil to process the data.)
Survey of Americans and Technology:
Technophiles are hip, and they constitute a majority in the United States today, according to “Technology in the American House- hold,” a survey the Times Mirror Center for the People and the Press conducted that studied how Americans are using electronic technologies. The survey, performed in January and February 1994, involved phone interviews with 3667 adults and 400 children nationwide. Here are some of the specific findings: The Good: ¢ PC users aren’t geeks; they’re just as likely as nonusers to have an active social life and to participate in sports, and