Okay, first let me state I bought this *slightly used* from a friend. Only used by him like 5 times.

Down to business.

Stats:

Processor model Athlon
Processor clock speed 1100 MHz
System memory installed 128MB
Hard disk capacity 20GB
Monitor diagonal size 17 in.
Graphics memory amount 16MB
Graphics chipset Nvidia TNT2
Supported operating systems Windows Me
Graphics card Nvidia TNT2 Vanta
Monitor type CRT
Processor manufacturer AMD
Installed L2 cache 256K
System memory maximum 512MB
System memory type SDRAM
Monitor model Gateway EV700
Monitor dot pitch 0.28 mm
Graphics memory type SDRAM
Hard disk model U Series 5 (ST320413A)
Hard disk rotation speed 5400 RPM
Hard disk interface UltraATA/100
CD-ROM drive LG Electronics CRD-8483B
CD-ROM drive speed 48X
Speakers: Boston Acoustics

Impressions:
Fast brother, real fast. I booted up the system for the first time and thought I was in love with Windows ME. After a few fatal errors, cdrom issues, and a few nightmares trying to get my usb printer working, I broke up with ME.

After a fresh install of Windows 2000 Professional, the system was clean, and ready to roll. I loaded Quake 3 Arena, Office 2000, Unreal Tournament, and Fruity Loops 3.

The systems performance was sort of lacking in the area of graphics, though they were clear and fast, the quality could have been better. That's alright though, thats a video card issue. Unreal ran a little better through testing but not much.

Office 2000 literally flies on this machine, no hangups, no waiting for large files to open. The same was true under Fruity Loops and Adobe Photoshop 6. The AMD Athlon processor screamed its way thru the largest files. I will admit I believe the speed was hindered a little by the sluggish hard drive.

The speakers are a bit of a joke. Mind this is coming from someone who likes lots of bass, and clear sound. If you are just looking for something to hear the system alerts or play cd's then none of this will be an issue.

Now comes the tourture.

The mid-tower case eliminates the need for tools by opening via 2 tension latches. All drives and even the power supply are remove with the shift of a lever or click of a button.

The case is roomy and comfortable with enough room for hands and drives when adding or removing components. (no more scuffed knuckles). Okay I admit it I was surprised.

I formated the hard drive, and installed Slackware Linux 8.0. Everything was detected first time thru, except for the combination NIC/56k modem. I suppose I will have to wait for drivers for this.

The system speed was wonderful, especailly under the 2.4.5 linux kernel.

All in all this is an abover average system with decent performance under 2 demanding operating systems. If you decide to get one take the plunge and scrap Windows Me ASAP.



Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 1200
Operating System: Windows
Processor: AMD Athlon (K7)
Processor speed: over 1000
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: CD-ROM
Hard Drive (GB): 13-20