Doug -
I finally got a link to the PC Mag comparison you discussed.
The Presario 5070 is a $489 machine while the The Presario 2266 is not even available any more, even refurbished (which is where they got theirs if they got it from CompaqWorks). It was going for around $400 at the beginning of the summer, refurbished - I don't know when it was last sold new. The 5184 is $489.
The 5340 is a little more worthy - but it's still a $599 machine. And it is within about 10% of the HP Pavillion that was rated #1, or the Gateway Essential, and faster than an IBM Aptiva. All of those machines cost nearly twice as much as the Presario at around $999 - probably over with the tested configuration.
So if the point is that if you buy an HP Pavillion 4000 series for about twice as much money as the Presario 5340, you can get a 10% improvement in performance. On the other hand, for another $25 you can get a Presario 5660 that will suck the doors off of any of these machines.
I guess I don't understand. This comparison was just a broad range of low cost machines, some not even offered any more. The CPQ machines are the low end of their line. The Gateway, IBM and HP boxes are the low end of their line too - but that is equivilent to the midrange Presarios like the 5660.
Dollar for dollar the CPQ machines have about twice the performance of the Gateway, IBM and HP machines in this sample. I think I understand why they sell more than the next 4 guys combined. |
