Editorial

Best Computer Under $2,000 -- Apple PowerMac G3 233 DT

Speed, elegant simplicity and quality were the principal Mac parameters during 1997. The G3 233DT is the pinnacle of the affordable (less than $2,000) computers that meet these criteria. The G3 233DT beats the excellent 6500's originally offered in the sub-$2,000 bracket and the 4400 hands down in these principal parameters.

Honorable Mention #1: PowerComputing PowerCenter Pro--While several hundred dollars above Macs Only!'s limit when introduced, this model was the first Mac or clone to put incredible speed in less than the most expensive Macs.
Honorable Mention #2: UMAX C500LT and Mactell XB jointly--UMAX and Mactell marketed Mac clones built specifically for the under $1,000 market.

Best Computer Accelerator -- PowerLogix PowerForce G3 250/250

During the year that brought fantastic CPU speeds to the Mac, the PowerForce is head and shoulders above the increasing pack of CPU upgrades. It is the fastest, most adjustable and most compatible of the CPU accelerator cards. Pricey? Well, it turned my bottom-end PowerComputing PowerBase 180 into a faster computer than any Mac or clone available on the retail market during 1997 at any price.

Honorable Mention #1: PowerLogix PowerBoost Pro Series--The PowerBoost Pro's are the fastest, most stable and most adjustable of the very affordable 604e CPU upgrade cards.
Honorable Mention #2: Sonnet Crescendo--I'm going out on a limb with this recognition since the Crescendo shipped the third week of December with some bugs to work out. However, the market for significantly souping up NuBus Performas and PowerMacs with 604 and G3 CPU's is huge. Sonnet is the first to bring a 120/132 MHz 604 CPU to Performa 6115 and PowerMac 6100 owners stuck with a slow 60/66 MHz 601 CPU.

Best New Mac Niche Web Site -- Accelerate Your Mac

This recognition category had the toughest decision because there were so many excellent new Mac sites established or ones that became prominent in 1997. Speed was where it was at for the Mac in 1997 and Mike Breeden's site devoted to speeding up Macs, particularly higher-end Macs, is the most comprehensive, covering CPU's, graphics, drives and more.

Honorable Mention #1 deal-mac--Cost conciousness was also in for the Mac. Dan de Grandpre's site is the very best one with which to begin a search for the best deal on Macs, peripherals and software and to keep up to date on consumer issues.
Honorable Mention #2 Low End Mac--Dan Knight's site, technically a channel of MacTimes and technically founded 12/29/96, is still worth recognition for 1997. It is devoted to providing information and support for legacy Macs, a huge community.
Honorable Mention #3 MacUpdate.com--Joel Mueller's site not only provides links to software updates but offers reviews and commentary as well and includes games.

Best New Mac Software -- Mac OS 8

Version 8 is the best Mac operating system since v6.08. Stability was regained along with the introduction of a long list of enhancements.

Honorable Mention #1 Virtual PC--Connectix took advantage of the speed infused into new Macs and clones and produced software that runs Windows 95 applications on the Mac at an acceptable speed at an incredibly low price.
Honorable Mention #2 ClarisWorks 5.0--Claris produced the best Mac office productivity application suite at the best price by far.
Honorable Mention #3 FileMaker Pro 4.0--Claris also produced the best Mac database management application in features and ease of use. It effortlessly ties databases to the web and is cross-platform as well.

The Best of the Best: Macs Only! recognizes the following sites for Web Excellence in their respective categories:

General News: Stan Flack's MacCentral

Headline News: Phil Pearson's MacSurfer's Headline News

Inside Info: Ric Ford's MacInTouch

Software Updates: Kurt Christensen's Version Tracker

Troubleshooting: Ted Landau's MacFixIt

Congratulations and many thanks from Macs Only!

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Copyright © 1998 by Bill Fox.
All rights reserved--no commercial use permitted without attribution.

Of course . . . . . . and I am proud to be an Evangelista! . . .