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Rick Rizner, John Goddard
Gateway's 9310XL is a midsize tower well suited to home or business use. Though at $2319 it is inexpensive for a power system, its price matches its performance, which is adequate but not outstanding for its class.
Gateway makes no attempt to dress up the 9310XL with stylish panels and doors. Two optical drives (a double-layer DVD[plus/ minus]RW multiformat and DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive) along with a floppy drive, a USB 2.0 port, and an eight-in-one media card reader sit in plain sight on the upper front panel. Toward the bottom are two USB 2.0 and two FireWire ports, as well as audio ports--all within easy reach for plugging in external drives, headphones, digital cameras, and other peripherals.
Icons make it easy to identify the connectors on the back side of the case, where we also found the port to a Sound Blaster Audigy 2...