The Hoc 100 - Buyers Guide

ATTENTION, VENDORS: GOT A GREAT PRODUCT FOR THE CORPORATE INFORMATION technology (IT) director? Keep it to yourselves. Just launched a fabulous Web site for family scrapbooks and birthday cards? We don't care. We're HOME OFFICE COMPUTING, and our third annual HOC 100 Awards salute the best products, sites, and services for home-based business operators and teleworkers we've seen this year--if it's not right for the home office, it's not here.
Scorekeepers will notice a few changes from last year--instead of honoring one Gold and a varying number of Silver winners in each category, we got specific with Gold (shown in the photos that follow), Silver, and Bronze medalists in each of 33 contests, plus the year's most impressive newcomer to make 100. Reflecting the boom in Web applications, many of last year's "software" categories now honor "solutions" with browser-based services competing alongside CD-ROM programs. Sidebars to the main list let us salute a few runners-up and tweak a few noses. But the HOC 100's mission is unchanged: to spotlight the best available tools for competing with and beating big businesses. Use them wisely.
When you see the iMac, you think Pokemon; when you see this, you think Porsche. The Power Mac G4 Cube is the Apple for adults, the coolest computer you can buy, and a breakthrough for the home office market--from a company whose product line previously embodied the split between family consumers and big-budget businesses that's long plagued the home-based workers in the middle. The Cube is not only tiny and classy, it's silent (no fan for background noise), fast, and crammed with technologies ranging from wireless network and Ethernet: (for cable or DSL modem) hookups to a dust-proof optical mouse: The iMac gave PC vendors candy colors to imitate, but the Cube gives them a brilliant design benchmark to target. It's snobbishly overpriced -- $1,779 with no monitor and a lean 64MB of RAM and 20GB hard disk (800-MY-APPLE, www.apple.com) -- and short on business software, but it's what computers are going to Cook like from now on.

... Desktop PC

Gold: Dell Dimension 4100

($1,978 with 800MHz P-III, 128MB, 20GB, DVD, CD-RW, Ethernet, modem, 19-inch monitor; 888-560-8324, www.dell.com)

Even when Dell isn't running one of its frequent free-printer or discount deals, the Dimension 4100 is a stellar value--hot-rod technology (everything from a 133MHz memory bus and available 75GB hard disk to a smorgasbord of networking options) at a minivan price.

Silver: Compaq iPaq Desktop

($974 with 733MHz P-III, 128MB, 10GB, no monitor; 800-888-9909, www.compaq.com/ipaq)

Compaq sells it as a corporate network client, but we love the idea of a tiny desktop with a notebook-style swappable CD-ROM/ CD-RW/DVD/second hard disk bay.

Bronze: Gateway Select 1000 SB

($2,238 with 128MB, 20GB, 17-inch monitor; 800-GATEWAY, www.gateway.com)

Get 1GHz Athlon thrills without movie or game-playing frills in this Ethernet- and Office-equipped bargain.

... Value Notebook

Gold: Acer TravelMate 350

($1,999 with 13.3-inch screen, 650MHz P-III, 64MB, 10GB; 800-SEE-ACER, www.acer.com)

Four-pound slimline PCs are nifty--until you want to install some software and learn that Sony and Toshiba charge extra for CD-ROM drives. Acer's external floppy/CD is standard--as are modem, Ethernet, USB, and FireWire ports, provision for a forthcoming Bluetooth module, and a bigger screen and faster CPU than the TravelMate 340 we admired at the same price last April.

Silver: Gateway Solo 5300

($1,999 with 14.1-inch screen, 650MHz P-III, 64MB, 6GB; 800-GATEWAY, www.gateway.com)

It seems like only yesterday that two grand would get you a nonexpandable, low-rent laptop. Now it can get you a speedy Pentium III portable system with a modular bay and 14.1-inch, active-matrix display; available DVD and Ethernet; and a pleasingly slim shape.

Bronze: Toshiba Satellite 2805

($2,199 with 14.1-inch screen, 650MHz P-III, 128MB, 10GB; 800-TOSHIBA, computers.toshiba.com)

Whether you choose a 13.3-, 14.1-, or 15-inch screen (we like the one in the middle), you can't go wrong: Ethernet, DVD, and solid value are standard.

... Deluxe Notebook

Gold: Dell Inspiron 8000

($3,775 with 15-inch screen, 850MHz P-III, 128MB, 32GB; 888-560-8324, www.dell.com)

How did Dell replace the definitive desktop replacement, the Inspiron 7500? With a slightly less leviathan but even more spectacular laptop, offering everything from both DVD and CD-RW drives onboard to Dolby Headphone audio--and coming soon, though not available at rollout, a jaw-dropping 1,600 by 1,200-pixel display.

Silver: Apple PowerBook G3

($2,499 with 14.1-inch screen, 400MHz G3, 64MB, 6GB; 800-MY-APPLE, www.apple.com)

We've knocked Macs for not being the best values, but making a DVD-ROM drive; FireWire, USB, and Ethernet ports; and an AirPort wireless antenna all standard makes this year's PowerBook a good deal.