April 1994 / BYTE Lab Product Report

57 PCs That Set The Pace	We test 20 Pentiums and 37 66-MHz 486DX2 systems to find the best performers for Windows, Unix, and DOS - by Helen E. Holzbaur and Stephen M. Platt
The Best Pentiums For Windows Rankings for This Category Considered Want the fastest for Windows? Need speed and room to grow? For Pentium power and economy...	The overall 30 percent Windows speed advantage of Pentiums over 486s isn't the whole story: The fastest Pentiums also provide a 40 percent increase over 486s in applications such as Windows spreadsheets, which rely on strong floating-point performance.
Pentium vs. 486: Power or Price?	PC buyers have long faced the question of whether to buy economical systems with the current standard CPU or pay premium prices for the fastest technology.
How We Tested	We tested each Pentium and 486 system under Windows 3.1, DOS 6.0, and SCO Unix ODT (Open Desktop) 3.0.
Pentiums For Unix Rankings for This Category Considered For the Unix speed leader... Need a tower of power? When price matters...	Results from the BYTE Unix benchmarks (which were run under SCO Unix ODT 3.0) further illustrate the Pentium's overall speed advantages compared to the 486's.
ISA 486s For Windows Rankings for This Category Considered Want the fastest Windows 486? Need speed and space? Cost-conscious?	For fast performance and economy in high-end systems, ISA-based 486DX2s continue to set the standard for Windows applications.
EISA 486s For Windows Rank ings for This Category Considered For the best in speed and usability... Need growth potential? When you need speed and economy...	Out of the 37 486s we tested, 11 came with an EIS A-bus architecture.
486s For Unix Rankings for This Category Considered Want the best all-around performer? Want fast Unix and room to grow? A speed leader for under $3000...	For Unix-based scientific and engineering applications, the Pentium systems we tested provided the fastest processing (see "Pentiums for Unix" on page 211).
486s For DOS Rankings for This Category Considered If you need the fastest DOS machine... For growth without compromise... When price matters...	When we tested EISA and ISA 486s for DOS, we found that the best machines for Windows weren't necessarily the best 486s for the more venerable operating system.
The IBM ValuePoint 6387-W90 and the IBM ValuePoint P60/D	The IBM ValuePoint 6387-W90 and the IBM ValuePoint P60/D offer an innovative idea in keyboard design: The integrated Trackpoint pointing device allows you to navigate graphical applications without taking your hands off the keyboard to use a mouse.
If you have a CD-ROM drive	If you have a CD-ROM drive that loads CDs directly without a caddy, the drive must lie horizontally, unless your system uses Toshiba's XM-4101B CD-ROM drive, as do the Pentiums and 486s we received from DEC.
International Instrumentation's Business Partner	International Instrumentation's Business Partner is one of the fastest machines we tested; unfortunately, the company needs to be more careful during the assembly process.
To upgrade the RAM on the Ambra Computer DP60 PCI	To upgrade the RAM on the Ambra Computer DP60 PCI, you must dismantle the entire floppy drive bay.
The Acma 486 Tower includes	The Acma 486 Tower includes both a 3 1/2-inch and 5 1/4-inch floppy drive.
The EasternTech ET P60-PCI, Mega Computer Systems Impact 486 DX2/66DT, and Xinetron X/LAN 586	The EasternTech ET P60-PCI, Mega Computer Systems Impact 486 DX2/66DT, and Xinetron X/LAN 586 each have the same basic design flaw: The shelf behind the expansion slots is too close to the chassis to connect a portable network adapter directly into the parallel port.
Roll Call Of Systems Tested

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