Route Fifty

Explorer 4.0 is easy to launch, unstable in use

Not long ago, character-based MS-DOS hid behind a Windows 3.x facade that sometimes crashed without warning in dreaded General Protection Faults. Internet Explorer 4.0 doesn't go that far, but it does follow the unstable, old-fashioned model of a shell on top of an operating system. When I made a full installation of IE 4.0 on a factory-fresh PC that had been working flawlessly for a week, Win95 began to hiccup and cough. IE 4.0 did

By Michael Cheek
January 12, 1998

Dell's OptiPlex is first with a tower that's easy to open

Not anymore. Dell Computer Corp. has improved on what we thought was already an administrator-friendly system with a minitower chassis for the easy-access OptiPlex line. The OptiPlex GXa has only one button. When you press it the side panel opens. The interior, as in previous OptiPlex models, is neat and accessible with a card cage for three PCI, two ISA and two shared PCI/ISA slots.

By Michael Cheek
November 24, 1997

Tillamook chip adds punch to Dell, Compaq notebooks

But two out of three ain't bad, as Dell Computer Corp.'s re-engineered Latitude CP and Compaq Computer Corp.'s updated Armada 7700 each illustrate. Both production units came with Intel Corp.'s newest 233-MHz Pentium MMX processor, known as Tillamook. That's the fast portion of the equation, and boy, are they speedy.

By Michael Cheek
November 10, 1997

Compaq hits hard line drive with Deskpro 6000 PCs

The compelling Deskpro 6000 line from Compaq Computer Corp. has some of the best-engineered, heavy-duty, enterprise-ready computers available to government buyers. Only sluggish hard drives mar what comes close to perfect performance. The GCN Lab examined two of these top-end desktop PCs: a 200-MHz Pentium MMX minitower and a 266-MHz Pentium II in a low-profile chassis. Both gave strong benchmark performance everywhere except in hard-drive file access.

By Michael Cheek
October 13, 1997

Fed market will see faster Epson ink-jet printers

SUWA CITY, Japan--Government buyers can expect a range of high-end printing products previously unavailable to federal customers, Seiko Epson Corp. officials said at presentations at their headquarters. For example, Epson's two latest ink-jet printers, the Color Stylus 1520 and 3000, can print on paper as large as 13 inches by 19 inches.

By Michael Cheek
September 29, 1997

Here's the skinny on flat-panel monitors -

The first thing people say when they see a flat-panel monitor on your desk is "Cool!" The second is, "I want one." I speak from experience. Over the last four months, four active-matrix liquid crystal displays on my desk have drawn just those remarks. My Reviewer's Choice designation goes to Compaq Computer Corp.'s TFT500 monitor. Compaq is not known as a monitor maker, and the company's TFT500 is not a perfect monitor. My early production

By Michael Cheek
September 15, 1997

Don't sacrifice performance on the road

Just substitute one system for two. You can pack all your files when you travel and save $1,000 to $2,000 overall, depending on the notebook docking combo you choose. While your notebook is docked at the office, you'll have all the trimmings, including 166-MHz Pentium MMX performance that rivals full desktop systems.

By Michael Cheek
September 8, 1997

Coming soon: 233-MHz MMX notebook PCs

Leading vendors such as Compaq Computer Corp., Dell Computer Corp., Gateway 2000 Inc., IBM Corp. and Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. plan to upgrade their notebook computers for government buyers as early as October. Formerly code-named Tillamook, the chips had 20 percent to 30 percent faster performance on Intel benchmarks than the 166-MHz Pentium MMX did. The 166-MHz chip was until now the fastest processor for mobile computers.

By Michael Cheek
September 8, 1997

Imperial notebook's weight reduces its portability

The CPU is a Pentium MMX, which substantially drains the lithium-ion battery. Intel Corp. does not yet make a power-conserving 233-MHz processor for the mobile market. On the GCN Lab's maximum power drain test, the Imperial's battery lasted barely an hour. In normal use, it probably would run about two hours.

By Michael Cheek
August 25, 1997

NWS turns a cold shoulder on AccuWeather copyright

A National Weather Service complaint has compelled AccuWeather Inc. to stop copyrighting NWS meteorologists' forecasts that the company uploaded to its World Wide Web site. Personal AccuWeather subscriptions, available on the Web at http://personal.accuweather.com, distribute weather forecasts based on NWS data. Until Aug. 6, the site's Nowcast had verbatim short-term forecasts from local NWS offices along with the words "Copyright 1997 AccuWeather Inc., Redistribution Prohibited."

By Michael Cheek
August 11, 1997

Security gaps mar Exchange Web access

Microsoft Exchange Server 5.0, in conjunction with Microsoft Internet Information Server 3.0, lets users log into e-mail accounts from any current World Wide Web browser. That's mighty convenient for Webbed users on the road. They need only Web access from a local number to read and reply to e-mail without paying long-distance charges or carrying specially configured notebook computers.

By Michael Cheek
August 11, 1997

HP, Lexmark and IBM earn top ratings

Printer driver and installation glitches plagued the nine high-end network laser printers the GCN Lab reviewed for this issue. But several behaved themselves as good network citizens, and three delivered top-notch results. IBM Printing Systems Co.'s Network Printer 24 and Hewlett-Packard Co.'s LaserJet 5si Mopier were essentially twins, and so were their outputs. Both won Reviewer's Choice designations.

By Michael Cheek
July 28, 1997

For workgroups, HP and IBM deliver

In this issue and the next, you'll learn how the GCN Lab brought life-and eventually clients-to monochrome laser printers on a network running Microsoft Windows NT 4.0. As we tried to get the first six printers running for this review of workgroup models, we sometimes thought NT must stand for "not today." We encountered rogue or missing software drivers, erroneous installation instructions, client conflicts and hardware failures. But in the end, most of the printers performed

By Michael Cheek
July 21, 1997

Compaq's 133-MHz Armada shines in video

Compaq Computer Corp.'s Armada 1550DMT bears little resemblance to earlier portables with 133-MHz Pentium processors. Just for clarification, I'm talking about regular Pentiums-not MMX chips. The Armada's GCNdex32TM benchmark scores showed a bipolar split unlike anything we've seen before in the GCN Lab. Some scores were very high, others very low.

By Michael Cheek
July 14, 1997

Latest Intel chip coming soon to federal PC users

Intel has shipped more than 100,000 chips in 233- and 266-MHz clock speeds, and a 300-MHz version should be ready within 60 days. The chips are PC processors, although some vendors plan to deliver workgroup servers this summer. Intel's next chip, code-named Deschutes and server-optimized, won't arrive until 1998. The Pentium II has been described as a Pentium Pro with MMX multimedia instructions. speedier handling of 16- and 32-bit applications, and Intel's Dual Independent Bus (DIB)

By Michael Cheek
May 12, 1997

Entry-level HP scanner drops resolution and price by half

The small, flatbed color unit scans at half the resolution, 300 dots per inch, but it's also about half the price and easier to install and run. Although the software lacks precise control, I'm happy to see an easier interface. The scanner comes with its own UltraSCSI adapter that fits an EISA slot. The primary TWAIN_32 application is HP's PictureScan Task Manager.

By Michael Cheek
May 12, 1997

Survive the pitfalls of e-mail installation

All I wanted to do was change a password. But changing the administrator's password under Windows NT Server 4.0 in the GCN Lab triggered a nightmare in Exchange Server 4.0. None of Exchange's services would start, and e-mail was down. In today's office, that's a crisis. It all started last year, when the GCN Lab installed Exchange Server to connect to the Internet and establish e-mail internally and in the cyberspace

By Michael Cheek
February 24, 1997

Pay less than $2,000 for a high-performing Toshiba notebook

Power users might yawn at the 100-MHz Pentium chip and sluggish 772M hard drive in the Satellite 200CDS notebook computer from Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. But they'll smile at the bottom line: less than $2,000. For a bargain-basement model, the 200CDS performed better in GCN Lab testing than similar notebooks costing twice as much. It earned a strong second place among seven 100-MHz Pentium notebooks we tested last year, well ahead of

By Michael Cheek
February 24, 1997

Phaser 350 is the newly crowned king of transparencies

Last year, I lauded the Phaser 340 as the best color printer for transparencies. It performed better than most color laser printers and cost much less. Now the Phaser 350, which combines ink-jet and color laser processes, costs a little less and gives even higher resolution. It's the heir-apparent to the 340 and just as brilliant at output, but color laser printing is finally catching up. Still, the Phaser 350 has an edge color lasers can't

By Michael Cheek
January 27, 1997

Tecra 730CDT performs on par with 720, for less

I've written that the CPU on any computer-desktop or notebook-is not the component that most affects performance. The Toshiba Tecra 730CDT is an example of that. When all the GCNdex32TM benchmarks were done, neither I nor the evaluation database could tell much difference between the 730CDT and its older sibling, the Tecra 720CDT, a Reviewer's Choice [GCN, Aug. 5, 1996, Page 35]. But the 730CDT has a 150-MHz Pentium instead of a 133-MHz and a 2G

By Michael Cheek
January 13, 1997

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