The Athlon XP 2700+ represents a significant leap forward for the Athlon line – it solves a long-term problem by stepping up the default frontside bus (FSB) speed from 266MHz to 333MHz. This means that the Athlon XP can finally run in sync with 333MHz DDR RAM. While most currently available Athlon motherboards support 333MHz DDR, there is virtually no performance boost between this and 266MHz DDR when running an Athlon XP with a 266MHz FSB. The extra speed offered by the RAM quite simply goes to waste, because the CPU can't keep up with it.

Intel has promised that Hyper-Threading (HT) will deliver increased efficiency and decrease the amount of time taken to accomplish multiple processes. But is it really all that it’s cracked up to be?

The Athlon XP 2700+ represents a significant leap forward for the Athlon line – it solves a long-term problem by stepping up the default frontside bus (FSB) speed from 266MHz to 333MHz.

Hi-Grade's new high-end notebook offers unparalleled performance. Packing a 2.2GHz Pentium 4 and 512MB DDR, it's one tough cookie, and contains a whole herd of ponies under the hood.

Intel has promised that Hyper-Threading (HT) will deliver increased efficiency and decrease the amount of time taken to accomplish multiple processes. But is it really all that it's cracked up to be?

The core of SATOs SS51G is an incredibly tiny Shuttle XPC. These bare-bones boxes have been on the market for close to six months now, and have proven effective (if not over-whelming) performers and a very popular choice for building a lounge-room PC for playing music and DVD movies.

If the Efio 2617 looks familiar, it-s because it is almost identical to the Hi-Grade Notino R5400 (December 2002, page 49).

Every once in a while, we receive a PC for review thats an absolute pleasure to use, offering stunning quality and bucketloads of performance. XENONs Atomic 625 is all this and more.

Dell's new Inspiron 5100 delivers a truckload of performance thanks to a 2.8GHz P4 processor, which even managed to outscore the 3GHz Hi-Grade we tested this month.

Panasonic's LF-D521U has a lot in common with the LG drive in this issue – in fact, with the exception of two reading speeds, both drives have identical specifications.

From five feet away, you'd be forgiven for mistaking Hi-Grade's new Notino for an Apple PowerBook.

Dell is never one to be outdone when it comes to cutting edge tech

Hi-Grade's new performance-oriented notebook is equipped with a 3.06GHz desktop P4, 60GB HDD, and a gigabyte of RAM. The Ultinote 6600DH displays Hi-Grade's typically first-rate build quality, with solid casing and a good quality TFT screen.

While IBM ThinkPads might look a little bulky and coarse compared to some of their competitors, they've generally got it where it counts; delivering in function if not form.

This 8200 is almost identical to the model we reviewed in (September 2002, page 39), but it now packs ATI's new RADEON Mobility 9000, the first full-featured DirectX 8.1 compliant mobile video chip to market.

Viewmaster's 17in LCD is decidedly average in price, but it still manages to deliver quite an impact with good features and a quality Acer TFT screen.

The difference between 'plus' and 'minus' DVD writers comes down to features. Despite some headway being made by the companies pushing DVD-RW, DVD+RW is still a more flexible format for those interested in creating movies and storing data.

Primera's Bravo is designed to produce large numbers of professional quality CDs on short order: it combines a 40x IDE CD burner and a CD printer, and it also comes with a robotic arm to automate the production process.

Primera's Bravo is designed to produce large numbers of professional quality CDs on short order: it combines a 40x IDE CD burner and a CD printer, and it also comes with a robotic arm to automate the production process.