Entered CNET Catalog: 10/27/2004
SKU: DIM30RM
Manufacturer: Dell, Inc.
Manufacturer description
The Dell Dimension 3000 is an affordable computer designed to handle essential multimedia demands for the home user. The Dimension 3000 comes with the latest processor and memory technology, and won't break your budget. It is perfect for home offices looking for essential performance at an affordable price in an expandable, scalable system. The Dimension 3000 offers the performance for your basic computing needs today and in the future.Product summary
The good: Highly configurable; excellent warranty and support coverage; great keyboard with well-designed audio controls.
The bad: No AGP slot; does not deliver competitive feature set for the money; weak performance; not easily upgraded.
The bottom line: It's a configurable and well-supported budget PC, but the Dell Dimension 3000 trails eMachines in terms of performance and features.
CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 04/11/2005
The Dell Dimension 3000 is based on Intel's 865G chipset, which offers plenty of benefits, such as support for dual-channel, 400MHz DDR memory and Intel's Extreme Graphics 2 technology. But we were miffed to see that the motherboard does not provide an AGP slot for graphics card upgrades. (Although Extreme Graphics 2 is an improvement over Intel's previous integrated graphics chips, it still has limitations.) The same is true with the floppy-drive slot: unless you have Dell install one at the time of purchase, the slot comes blocked and is therefore useless to you. And there's no option for adding a handy media-card reader--a choice that all of eMachines' current models offer.
As we expected, the overall performance of our test system was unimpressive, but it also fell surprisingly short of the showing by the AMD Athlon-based eMachines T3256. And don't try to run any serious games on the Dimension 3000: its 13.5 frames-per-second (fps) frame rate on our Unreal test demonstrated a major liability in this department, while the eMachines scored closer to 30fps on the same test. Neither system is a good bet for playing the latest game titles, but the T3256's score indicates that it has a superior graphics subsystem in the Nvidia GeForce4 MX to that of the Dimension 3000's Intel Extreme Graphics 2.
The Dimension 3000's main attraction is the fact that it's highly configurable via Dell's Web site, while retail systems such as the eMachines T3256 ship as is. Our Dimension 3000 test system came with a 2.66GHz Celeron processor, 512MB of RAM, and DVD-ROM and CD-RW drives. You can, of course, configure it with a faster processor, including Pentium 4 chips, more memory, and higher-end optical drives. You'd do well to upgrade the tiny 40GB hard drive found on our test system, which provides a quarter of the capacity of the T3256's drive. For businesses looking for an inexpensive, no-frills PC, Dell's OptiPlex SX280 offers many of the same options in a much more compact case.
The Dimension 3000's design is tried-and-true, even if it's not particularly attractive--the trademark matte-black box with battleship-gray accents doesn't quite match the black-and-silver peripherals that come with it. A tool-free side panel slides open easily to reveal a roomy interior with two free PCI slots. Rear ports include four USB 2.0 connectors, while another USB 2.0 port and a headphone port adorn the front. The included Internet keyboard features the hardware volume wheel and audio buttons we've lauded in the past. Dual A215 stereo speakers provide basic sound, but Dell offers a number of options here, all the way up to a 5.1 surround-sound system for use with the optional SoundBlaster Live audio card (our test system relied on integrated sound, which provides 5.1 sound).
Dell offers a wide assortment of warranties. We suggest spending the $17 to upgrade from the weak, 90-day standard coverage to a one-year onsite warranty. (The $636 price of our test system included this upgrade.) Although competitor eMachines now offers two simple warranty upgrades, it just can't compete with Dell's many options, strong online support, and 24/7 toll-free phone support. And while our Windows XP Home system came with Dell JukeBox and Picture Studio (for playing music and fixing photos, respectively), along with the WordPerfect Office 12.0 suite, you can opt for several different flavors of more robust Microsoft productivity software.
In the end, the Dimension 3000's configuration options aren't enough to top the eMachines T3256' offerings. At roughly $600, the eMachines provides a better optical drive tandem, a larger hard drive, a graphics-upgrade path, and better performance--even if you do have to spend a little extra for a monitor. You simply get more for less with eMachines.
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BAPCo SysMark 2004 rating | |
SysMark 2004 Internet-content-creation rating | |
SysMark 2004 office-productivity rating |
To measure application performance, CNET Labs uses BAPCo's SysMark 2004, an industry-standard benchmark. Using off-the-shelf applications, SysMark measures a desktop's performance using office-productivity applications (such as Microsoft Office and McAfee VirusScan) and Internet-content-creation applications (such as Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Dreamweaver).
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Unreal Tournament 2003 Flyby-Antalus 1,024x768 |
To measure 3D gaming performance, CNET Labs uses Epic Games' Unreal Tournament 2003, widely used as an industry-standard benchmark. We use Unreal to measure a desktop's performance with the DirectX 8.0 (DX8) interface at a 32-bit color depth and at a resolution of 1,024x768 and 1,600x1,200. Antialiasing and anisotropic filtering are disabled during our 1,024x768 tests and are set to 4X and 8X respectively during our 1,600x1,200 tests. At this color depth and these resolutions, Unreal provides an excellent means of comparing the performance of low-end to high-end graphics subsystems. We report the results of Unreal's Flyby-Antalus test in frames per second (fps).
System configurations:
Dell Dimension 3000
Windows XP Home SP2; 2.66GHz Intel Celeron D 330; Intel 865G chipset; 512MB DDR SDRAM 400MHz; 96MB (shared memory) integrated Intel 865G; Seagate ST340014A 40GB 7,200rpm
Dell Dimension 4700
Windows XP Home SP2; 3.0GHz Intel P4 530; Intel 915G chipset; 512MB DDR2 SDRAM 400MHz; 128MB (shared memory) integrated Intel 915G ; Seagate ST3160023AS 160GB 7,200rpm Serial ATA
eMachines T3092
Windows XP Home; 2.17GHz AMD Athlon XP 3000+; Nvidia Nforce-2 chipset; 512MB DDR SDRAM 333MHz; 64MB (shared memory) integrated GeForce4 MX; Hitachi HDS722516VLAT20 160GB 7,200rpm
eMachines T3256
Windows XP Home; 2.2GHz AMD Athlon XP 3200+; Nvidia Nforce-2 chipset; 512MB DDR SDRAM 333MHz; 64MB (shared memory) integrated GeForce4 MX; WDC WD1600BB-22GUA0 160GB 7,200rpm
Systemax Ascent 64-A30
Windows XP Home; 2.0GHz AMD Athlon 64 3000+; Via K8T800 chipset; 256MB DDR SDRAM 333MHz; 64MB ATI Radeon 7000; Samsung SP1203N 120GB 7,200rpm
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 User Rating: 
8/10
A Good Solid Choice for Business Applications
Pros: Best for a small business running work programs
Cons: NOT a game machine, NO AGP slot for video
User Rating: 
9/10
This system rocks!!! Great mid line computer.
Pros: Speed VS Cost +++, Free LCD Monitor ++, All the software and custom to MY needs.
Cons: 8 day wait while Dell configured the system.
User Rating: 8/10
Great Value - Fast Machine
Pros: Complete system at value price. Many free upgraded options when purchased: 512 MB RAM (upgrade from 256) 17" Flat Panel Monitor Free Shipping - Received in 3 Days 2 Year Premium Service with onsite support. Cost - $580.00 after $150 mail in rebate.
Cons: None so far. Note about support: Some of the reviews complain about Dell support. Regardless of the PC you purchase the level of support is almost always poor. If you are worried about support/service I would recommend purchasing the onsite service at a
User Rating: 8/10
Perfect for it's use in my office.
Pros: Easy set-up, user friendly, great functionality, etc.
Cons: There was a lot of bulk software with it that I uninstalled.
User Rating: 9/10
Dell is Great
Pros: Easily customized and fixed. Easy install and removal of parts. I have this computer...it was built shipped and arrived with-in a week (thats with the flat screen on back-order). Well about a month ago, (didnt opt for any of the warrentys, waste of money)
Cons: Excess software...unintalled.
User Rating: 
7/10
great machine for $$$
Pros: set up and working from box in 30 minutes. 17"fp, 80 gb hd, free printer, IEEE port, DVD-RW (dual), 512mb, 3yr prem serv warr, pent 4 w/ 3.0 ghz 800 fsb and mcafee sec pkg for about $1100
Cons: none. only had 1 month though...
User Rating: 8/10
Works GREAT, right outa the Box
Pros: Ordered directly from the WEB. Carefully choose what I wanted with NO regrets. Exactly meets my reqmts. Works great!
Cons: No mounting cage to install another Hard Drive. I made one! Even that works Great!
User Rating: 
5/10
Dell Has Support?
Pros: One of the lowest prices on a complete system.
Cons: Support is in India and very difficult to contact. Prices change daily (you must spend a good amount of time waiting for the right deal to be available). Front USB ports are difficult to access (especially if unit is on the floor). Not much room to exp
User Rating: 
3/10
Dell is a bad company
Pros: Economical computing power- confused technical support. Very poor customer support- bordering on illegal.
Cons: poor service- Dell fianance gives out your account number to hackers and third party billing. I recieved a $140 bill from them for services I never requested!! Identity theft? Perhaps.... I fought with Dell for over 2 hours on the phone to correct this pr
