Business Week Computer Buying Guide 1995

Here’s a leftover BusinessWeek ToC (Table of Contents) from the mid-’90s that happens to be its “Computer Buying Guide for the year. The editors were apparently quite taken with the Apple Performa 6230CD.

http://www.businessweek.com/1995/45/951106.htm



Best Bets For PC Buyers

RANK OVERALL RATING MANUFACTURER AND MODEL/PRICE


1 8.77 Dell Computer
Dimension XPS P133c
$3,249 w/ monitor
CONFIGURATION
Minitower, 133-Mhz Pentium, 16MB of memory, 1GB hard disk, quad-speed CD-ROM

COMMENTS
Dell provides strong documentation and preloads Microsoft Office, making it
easy to launch excel and Word


2 7.70 Gateway 2000 P5-120
$3,318 w/ monitor
CONFIGURATION
Desktop, 120-Mhz Pentium, 16MB of memory, 1.6GB hard disk, quad-speed CD-ROM
with a unique three-disk cartridge

COMMENTS
Comes with Microsoft's Bob interface and 51 programs on 9 CDs


3 6.72 Gateway 2000 P5-90
$2,168 w/ monitor
CONFIGURATION
Desktop, 90-Mhz Pentium, 16MB of memory, 730MB hard disk, quad-speed CD-ROM

COMMENTS
Same as Gateway 2000 P5-120


4 5.90 Compaq Presario
9546
$2,598 w/ monitor
CONFIGURATION
Minitower, 100-Mhz Pentium, 8MB of memory, 1GB hard disk, quad-speed CD-ROM

COMMENTS
Awesome sound and color-coordinated cables make setup simple


5 5.88 Packard Bell
Pentium 100 System
$2,898 w/ monitor
CONFIGURATION
Minitower, 100-Mhz Pentium, 16MB of memory, 1.6GB hard disk, quad-speed CD-ROM
device

COMMENTS
Internet-ready and comes with 40 software titles and a remote-control


6 5.78 Acer Aspire 2125
$2,598 w/ monitor
CONFIGURATION
Minitower, 100 Mhz Pentium, 16MB of memory, 1GB hard disk, quad-speed CD-ROM

COMMENTS
A stylish aerodynamic look, but a plastic wrist rest attached to keyboad was
annoying


7 5.71 Hewlett-Packard Pavilion
$2,600 w/ monitor
CONFIGURATION
Minitower, 90-Mhz Pentium, 16MB of memory, 1.2GB hard disk, quad-speed CD-ROM

COMMENTS
A stylish design and kid-mode security feature to protect important files


8 5.67 IBM Aptiva
$2,649 w/ monitor
CONFIGURATION
Desktop, 100-Mhz Pentium, 8MB of memory, 1GB hard disk, quad-speed CD-ROM

COMMENTS
A small-footprint desktop unit with speakers that produce good sound


9 5.44 Compaq Presario 7170
$1,998 w/ monitor
CONFIGURATION
Desktop, 90-Mhz Pentium, 8MB of memory, 840MB hard disk, quad-speed CD-ROM

COMMENTS
When you boot up you go into a Presario Plaza, which has tutorials and an area
for kids


10 5.38 Digital Equipment
Starion 910
$2,148 w/ monitor
CONFIGURATION
Minitower, 75-Mhz Pentium, 8MB of memory, 850MB hard disk, quad-speed CD-ROM

COMMENTS
Strong documentation, and system ports are labeled with symbols that make
attaching peripherals easy


10 5.38 NEC Technologies
Ready 9022
$2,699 w/ monitor
CONFIGURATION
Minitower, 100-Mhz Pentium, 8MB of memory, 1gb hard disk, quad-speed CD-ROM

COMMENTS
A handheld remote controls audio and telephone functions. The system ships with
Microsoft's Bob interface and over 20 preloaded software packages

I guess I did pretty good back then: Pentium 180, 32 Mb RAM, 2-2Gb SCSI Hard Drives, ATI Mach 64 Graphics Card / 4 Mb RAM, Soundblaster 16 Audio, 8X CD-ROM... @$3,000.00 CDA which was worth @ $0.75 - $0.80 US. Also... Preloaded with Win 95 and MS Office 95.