The Cutting Edge: COMPUTING / TECHNOLOGY / INNOVATION : Offerings of Longtime PC Leaders Show Just How Much Value a Buyer Can Get Today

Competition in the home PC business is growing fiercer by the day, with everyone from Sony Corp. to Hewlett-Packard Co. to a horde of no-name manufacturers suddenly deciding that there is money to be made in selling personal computers to consumers.

But even as new entrants crowd the field--and the big Comdex computer show this week in Las Vegas was a veritable hotbed of new home personal computers--the two longtime leaders in the field, Compaq Computer Corp. and Packard Bell Electronics Inc., are battling it out in venues ranging from the courtroom to the computer store.

A comparison of their offerings gives a good sense of just how much value one can get in a PC today--and what kinds of features and services one should demand when buying from any vendor.

Packard Bell has long been the price leader in consumer PCs, and it seems intent on keeping that mantle with low-cost, feature-rich machines. Compaq, which apparently couldn’t build its own computers cheaply enough to match Packard Bell’s prices, has hired Taiwan-based Mitac International Corp. to build some models.

The Mitac-built Compaq Presario 7170 typically costs around $1,699, plus another $299 for a 14-inch monitor. The model I tested had a 90-megahertz Pentium processor, 8 megabytes of RAM memory, an 840-megabyte hard drive, a quad-speed CD-ROM drive, stereo sound, a pair of speakers, a microphone, a 14.4-kilobit-per-second data/fax modem, complete telephone-answering machine-fax software, lots of other pre-loaded software aimed at both parents and kids, an easy method of running the computer and an album of six CD-ROM programs. Packard Bell’s Force 484CD, one of its unique “corner” units, sells for $1,899 with a slightly slower 75 MHz Pentium, but has a larger 1.2 gigabyte hard drive. My test unit also came with a 15-inch color monitor, typically priced at $399. It had a pair of stereo speakers, a quad-speed CD-ROM drive, and a microphone on a stand that could be moved wherever you wished (compared to the one-position stick-on microphone included in the Compaq).

The Packard Bell also came with 8 megabytes of RAM operating memory, a 14.4 kbps data/fax modem, software that converted the computer into a telephone/answering machine/fax machine, a similar mix of pre-loaded software for parents and children and a box full of 11 CD-ROM programs. In addition, the Packard Bell included a television card, an FM radio card and an infrared remote control, turning the computer into a complete entertainment center.

Both machines allow you to play a CD audio disc while you work, and the the Packard Bell also let me watch television in a small portion of the screen while writing about doing so at the same time. Make sure the computer you choose has Windows 95 installed, not just included for you to install. Yes, you do want Windows 95. To buy a new computer without it hampers your ability to keep up with all the new software, especially multimedia software, that can take advantage of Windows 95.

The Compaq and Packard Bell were essentially equivalent in productivity software, but Packard Bell has the best entertainment and informational software package in this comparison. That includes its impressive Navigator program that opens the computer and makes it easy to pick the program to run or activity to do. The Navigator uses a graphical metaphor depicting rooms in a house, and anyone should be able to use it easily and intuitively. Its graphics are superb, right down to a clock on the wall of each room that keeps accurate time.

Compaq’s Presario Plaza appears at first glance to do a similar thing, using a shopping mall as the metaphor. But not only is the Plaza less graphically rich, it controls very little of the computer.

In fact, this sort of half-complete way of doing things plagues the Compaq Presario in other ways, leading you to believe you can fully accomplish a task when in fact you need to do it a different way to get access to all of the options. The Compaq Operator, for example, a rumpled male cartoon character that pops up every time the telephone rings, offers only limited access to some critical tasks. Externally, the Compaq and Packard Bell units are quite different--and neither would be my choice. The Packard Bell corner design essentially takes a box-shaped computer, rounds off one corner, and puts the floppy drive on one side and the CD-ROM drive on an adjacent side.And it’s six inches tall, which means the monitor is too high for optimum comfort if you put it on top of the computer where it is designed to go. Compaq’s slim-line design gives you a little more flexibility in placement and is low enough to allow the monitor to sit on top. Inside, both computers have four EISA slots, but they are all full on the Packard Bell, where the TV card and FM card each claim one slot. The Compaq has two open slots, and it also has easier access to the memory board sockets in case you want to add more memory yourself.

There is one unusual design feature on the Packard Bell that I don’t like: The modem is combined with its sound card, which makes it more costly if you want to upgrade.

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Richard O’Reilly can be reached via e-mail at oreilly@latimes.com