The $1499 ABS Harmony 1000 minitower is a sleek, stylish machine with something not found on most PCs: The case sports a small LCD and a set of front-mounted buttons that let you control CD playback or the Harmony's built-in radio--without turning the system on. You can use the monochrome display to view music selections or to monitor system information, such as the Harmony's internal temperature. Hinged doors cover the floppy drive, both optical drives, and the flash media reader (which supports seven media formats). Unfortunately, the doors themselves are flimsy.
On the other hand, we liked the sound that flowed out of the simple Creative I-Trigue 3300 2.1 speaker system that comes bundled, and well as the wireless Microsoft keyboard, which had nice tactile response and useful shortcut keys along the top.
We were also impressed by this system's outstanding documentation and bundled software. The Harmony 1000 comes with the ABS Computer System Binder, a colorful binder that holds all of the system documentation and software--including a comprehensive, easy-to-follow user manual with troubleshooting guides, and emergency recovery disks. Also included are the disks that go along with the system's preinstalled drivers and application software, including Corel's WordPerfect Productivity Pack 11 and Quattro Pro 11, Intuit's Quicken, Ulead's PhotoImpact, and WorldBook Encyclopedia.
The Harmony 1000 we evaluated, equipped with a 2.8-GHz Pentium 4 CPU and a midrange ATI Radion 9600 XT graphics card, garnered a respectable score of 124 on our PC WorldBench 4 tests and solid frame rates in our gaming tests. That showing is not going to win it any speed awards, but it's more than sufficient for running all but the most power-hungry applications.
Though the exterior of this system is neatly designed, the interior is not. The components are difficult to get at, and the interior feels cramped and awkward. Modestly configured with two optical drives, an 80GB hard drive, and integrated sound, the system we received had no open bays or expansion board slots.
Good looks, a reasonable price, and a varied software bundle make this system suitable for both home offices and dens. If you think you'll want to add components later, however, we suggest looking elsewhere.
Victor R. Garza
