How Low Can They Go? Today's PCs offer all the basics for less than $1,000.

See the Buyer's Guide Table for product features andprices.

Do you need to upgrade your old 486 computer but have beentrying to save at least $2,000 before buying a basic MMX system?Wait no more. Last year, several stores offered entry-level,high-performance PCs (minus the printer) for just under that price.This year, it gets even better: For less than half that amount, youcan get a complete system that even includes a printer and colormonitor. With some of the best computer bargains available now forless than $1,000, and a few with street prices as low as $759, youcan equip your office with a powerful, high-performance, expandablePC that will take you into the next century.

These price breaks are good news if you're seeking a basicsystem that can expand along with your budget and company'sgrowth. Loaded with multimedia features, powerful hard drives,speedy modems for fast downloads, spacious memories, and a varietyof software, many of these low-cost, high-performance computerpackages also come with speakers and the choice of desktop orminitower configurations. Additional incentives from somemanufacturers mean that with your processor, you can get aninternal modem, a Zip drive, a keyboard and a mouse. Many packagesthrow in a color inkjet printer, and some offer a rebate ordiscount on a monitor or printer with the purchase of theprocessor.

To get the best price, you may be required to mail in rebatecoupons to the manufacturer after you've bought the package.Earlier this year, for example, one electronics superstoreadvertised a computer system that included a 3.2GB hard drive, 32MBRAM, a 24X CD-ROM drive, a 14-inch color monitor and a Lexmarkcolor inkjet printer for $1,139. To reduce that price to $999,buyers had to send in rebates to both the printer manufacturer andthe store.

"There are two factors driving the trend toward lowerprices," says Jack Yovanovich, director of product marketingin the consumer division of Packard Bell NEC in Sacramento,California. "First, there have been no new killer applications[released] lately, so a basic PC can still do the job. Second,there's been a huge drop in the prices of components, such ashard drives and chips."

Yovanovich, whose company leads world sales of personal PCs,predicts low prices are here to stay. "People are buying basedon affordability, as well as with a view to the future," hesays. "Expansion is the key. People can add on as their needsrequire and their budgets allow. Packard Bell NEC systems are allupgradeable with expansion slots and bays, so you can addhigher-end graphics, networking cards, Zip drives and tapebackups."

The expandability element is a bonus for buyers who may notinitially need intense 3-D graphics and videos or concert-hallsound. When business success demands greater capabilities, you canadd and upgrade the features you need, such as a higher-qualityCD-ROM drive, an amplified subwoofer speaker system, or more memoryand speed--instead of buying a brand-new computer in six months ora year.

If you think low prices mean low-end features, think again.Micro Express' multimedia MicroFLEX-233/AGP minitower packagehas a 4GB hard drive, a high-density 3.5-inch floppy disk drive, a32-bit wavetable sound card with 3-D effects, speakers, a 56Kfax/modem and a mouse. The system also includes a high-performanceaccelerated graphics port (AGP), a 3-D video card, pre-installedWindows 95, built-in diagnostics and a clock/calendar. Themotherboard has five bays, and the minitower has three accessible5.25-inch drives, two accessible 3.5-inch drives and one internal3.5-inch drive. The RAM is expandable to 768MB. Two high-speedserial ports are provided, as are an enhanced parallel port and twouniversal serial bus (USB) ports. A four-year warranty and a 30-daymoney-back guarantee complete the package. The price? $899.

At Packard Bell NEC, Windows 98 is pre-installed in itsunder-$1,000 computer systems that include at least three expansionslots and five device bays. Compaq, the leading worldwide supplierof PCs in 1997, has 13 Deskpro models priced below $1,000 that canbe fine-tuned at a later date. And to keep costs down,Hewlett-Packard's Brio models are powered by Intel's newcacheless, Pentium-based 266 MHz Celeron processor. (A cache is aninternal chip set where a computer can quickly and temporarilystore programs and data without accessing the computer's slowerhard drive or floppy disk drive.)

Acer's AcerPower Flex4000 is a convertible model that canswitch from a network PC to a desktop PC and vice versa as you addemployees and need additional low-cost computers. Acer'sconvertibility is achieved with an optional $249 PC bezel kit thatincludes a floppy and/or CD-ROM disk drive.

IBM has reduced the prices of several of its entry-levelcommercial desktops, including its Pentium MMX-based 200 MHz PC300GL that's now priced at $759. This model can serve as both anetwork management PC with remote built-in tools and a non-networkPC. One such system management tool is Wake On LAN, which turns onany computers that are on your network. Additional software allowsyou to manage network PCs remotely so you can post memos, charts orother information to all the PCs on the network.

Despite low prices, these PCs offer plenty of free softwareprograms for business applications; they come either pre-loaded orprovided on disks. Here's a rundown of the software programsincluded with the computers in our chart:

Acer: Windows 95, McAfee VirusScan, Intel LANDesk ClientManager 3.1, Lotus Organizer and Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Compaq: Microsoft Office 97 and Windows 95.

Gateway: Intel LANDesk Client Manager 3.1, Windows 95,Microsoft Office 97 SBE and Bookshelf 96.

Hewlett-Packard: Windows 95, McAfee VirusScan, pcANYWHEREand HP Brio Center.

IBM: Windows 95, Lotus SmartSuite license, IBM Home-PageCreator, Microsoft NetMeeting and IBM AntiVirus.

Micro Express: Windows 95.

Packard Bell NEC: CyberCoach Lessons, Windows 98,Microsoft Word 97, Intuit Quicken Basic 98+, Online FinancialCenter, SystemWizard Diagnostics and KiddoNet Child-Safe InternetAccess.

Jill Amadio is a writer in Newport Beach, California