Entered CNET Catalog: 09/05/2003
SKU: CNETD46RL
Manufacturer: Dell, Inc.
Manufacturer description
The Dimension 4600 powered by Intel Pentium 4 processors with Hyper-Threading Technology handle multiple productivity and multimedia applications simultaneously. Two front USB 2.0 ports and a headphone jack encourage plug and play, and an additional 6 USB 2.0, serial, and parallel ports in back welcome an assortment of peripherals.Product summary
The good: Strong midrange performance; excellent documentation; good support.
The bad: Limited expansion options; DVD-RW drive costs extra.
The bottom line: The Dell Dimension 4600 is a do-it-all desktop whose speed and features will suit most mainstream users.
CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 09/11/2003
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 The front-mounted USB ports are no longer angled towards the floor as they were in past Dimension cases, making it easier to connect your camera or an MP3 player. |
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| You'll find two open PCI slots below the powerful Radeon 9800 Pro graphics card. |
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| With dual optical drives, a floppy drive, and a hard drive, the 4600 leaves you only one internal 3.5-inch bay to expand. |
The Dimension 4600's connectivity is more mainstream than progressive. The front panel gives you the standard pair of USB 2.0 ports plus a speaker output, but the ports are easier to access now than they were with previous Dimension models because they are no longer angled down toward the floor. The rear port is packed with legacies, such as a PS/2 keyboard and mouse, plus serial and parallel ports. You also get a generous six USB 2.0 ports, a 10/100 Ethernet port, and another set of audio connections. Our evaluation unit's graphics card offers both VGA and DVI ports for analog or digital displays. There are no FireWire ports, but you could add a FireWire card to an available PCI slot. Nor is there an integrated video port, but a PCI modem card provides a dial-up connection.
Internal expansion is more of a challenge. The hard drive occupies one internal drive bay, leaving only one other free. There are no other external drive bays. Two PCI slots are free. A couple of 256MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM modules occupy two of the four available DIMM slots, but cabling obstructs the remaining slots. The Dimension 4600's motherboard uses the Intel 865PE chipset, supporting Pentium 4 processors with an 800MHz frontside bus. Our evaluation system included 512MB of PC3200 (400MHz) DDR SDRAM, which is adequate for most computing needs. Because the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro includes 128MB of onboard RAM, the main system memory is free to focus on overall system performance. The 9800 Pro is a leading 3D graphics card for computer gaming. If you don't expect to be gaming much, you can save more than $100 by selecting either the older GeForce4 MX or the new budget GeForce FX 5200 graphics card.
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| Our test system included DVD-ROM and CD-RW drives. We'd prefer to save a little by choosing a lesser graphics card and using the money to upgrade to a DVD burner. |
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| This Dell-branded 15-inch LCD is sharp, but a bit more cash will net you a roomy 17-inch screen. |
Clearly intended as a jack-of-all-trades, our Dimension 4600 test system includes an NEC 48X/24X/48X CD-RW drive for backups, audio CD burning, and other common activities. It also has a Lite-On 16X DVD-ROM with a Dell-branded version of the CyberLink PowerDVD player for playing DVDs. We were disappointed that a system of this price did not have a DVD-RW drive; adding one costs an additional $170, but it's a worthwhile upgrade if you have a DV camcorder.
The 80GB Western Digital hard drive offers lots of room for games, MP3s, photos, and so on. Videophiles may want to upgrade to one of the larger-capacity hard drives that Dell offers, or you can add a hard drive later in the remaining free internal drive bay. The 1.44MB floppy drive is simply added for worst-case file backup and for sharing with other users. Unfortunately, you can't upgrade the floppy drive to a media-card reader, although you can choose a 16MB USB keychain drive in its place.
The included 15-inch Dell UltraSharp 1504FP flat-panel display was true to its name and offered a sharp image, but we've seen larger LCDs included with a midrange system, such as the HP Pavilion a250e, which costs $100 less than our Dimension 4600 and also includes a DVD-recordable drive. A 2.1-speaker set is standard fare for a midrange PC; our Dimension 4600 test system includes the Harman Kardon HK395 set, which sounded clear. Rounding out the peripherals are a Dell-branded PS/2 multimedia keyboard and a Dell-branded Logitech USB wheel mouse. For software, Dell bundles WordPerfect Productivity Pack, Roxio EasyCD Creator 5.0, and a bevy of Dell-branded multimedia apps, including Picture Studio, Image Expert Standard, and Jukebox (powered by MusicMatch). Application performance
The system's 2.8GHz Pentium 4 processor and its 865PE chipset, along with 512MB of DDR memory and an 80GB hard drive, fall slightly short of making it a high-end gaming box; nevertheless, the Dimension 4600 outpaced every 2.8GHz Pentium 4-based system we've seen. Its SysMark2002 score of 285 was about 4 percent higher than the ABS Awesome 4500's score. Overall, the Dimension 4600 provides a surprisingly powerful computing package for the price.
Application performance (Longer bars indicate better performance)
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To measure application performance, CNET Labs uses BAPCo's SysMark2002, 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).
3D graphics and gaming performance
The Dimension 4600's graphics scores--driven by ATI's leading Radeon 9800 Pro card--were outstanding for a midrange PC. The 9800 Pro is more than capable of playing any of today's games and those of tomorrow, with advanced settings such as antialiasing and anisotropic filtering turned on.
3D graphics performance (Longer bars indicate better performance)
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To measure 3D graphics performance, CNET Labs uses Futuremark's 3DMark2001 Pro Second Edition, Build 330. We use 3DMark to measure a desktop's performance with the DirectX 8 (DX8) interface at both 16- and 32-bit color settings at a resolution of 1,024x768. A system that does not have DX8 hardware support will typically generate a lower score than one that has DX8 hardware support.
3D gaming performance (in fps) (Longer bars indicate better performance)
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To measure 3D gaming performance, CNET Labs uses Quake III Arena. Although Quake III is an older game, it is still widely used as an industry-standard tool. Quake III does not require DX8 hardware support--as 3DMark2001 does--and is therefore an excellent means of comparing the performance of low- to high-end graphics subsystems. Quake III performance is reported in frames per second (fps).
Find out more about how we test desktop systems.
System configurations:
ABS Awesome 4500
Windows XP Home; 2.6GHz Intel P4; Intel 865PE chipset; 512MB DDR SDRAM 400MHz; Nvidia GeForce FX 5600 128MB; WDC WD1200JB-00CRA1 1200GB 7,200rpm
Dell Dimension 4600
Windows XP Home; 2.8GHz Intel P4; Intel 865PE chipset; 512MB DDR SDRAM 400MHz; ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB; WDC WD800BB-75CAA0, 80GB, ATA/100, 7,200rpm
Gateway 500XL
Windows XP Home; 2.6GHz Intel P4; Intel 865G chipset; 512MB DDR SDRAM 400MHz; ATI Radeon 9600 128MB; Maxtor 6Y080L0 80GB 7,200rpm
HP Pavilion a250e
Windows XP Home; 2.17GHz AMD Athlon XP 3000+; Nvidia Nforce-2; 512MB DDR SDRAM 333MHz; Nvidia GeForce FX 5600 128MB; Seagate ST380011A 80GB 7,200rpm
Polywell Poly 880NF3-3200
Windows XP Professional, 2.2GHz AMD Athlon XP 3200+; Nvidia Nforce-2 chipset; 1,024MB DDR SDRAM 400MHz; Nvidia GeForce FX 5800 Ultra 128MB; two Western Digital WDC WD360GD-00FNA0, 36GB 10,000rpm; Highpoint RocketRAID 1520 SATA RAID controller
Sony VAIO PCV-RS320
Windows XP Home; 2.6GHz Intel P4; Intel 865G chipset; 512MB DDR SDRAM 333MHz; integrated Intel 865G 64MB (shared memory); Seagate ST3120022A 120GB 7,200rpm Dell backs the Dimension 4600 with a standard one-year warranty, which includes onsite service provided by a third-party contractor that can usually get to your home or office the next business day. The warranty can be extended for two years ($99), three years ($169), or four years ($229).
Unlike so many other PCs in the market, the Dimension 4600 includes a professionally printed and bound, 148-page manual that covers setup, use, and troubleshooting topics. Add the large color setup poster, and even the greenest PC user should be unpacked and ready to go in minutes. Dell also throws in three recovery CDs (OS, applications, and drivers/utilities). Dell's site offers help in the form of a knowledge base, FAQs, downloads, and electronic documentation. You can chat online with a customer-care representative for nontechnical questions or e-mail your questions to technical support. Lifetime technical support is also available 24/7 through a toll-free telephone number.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 User Rating: 
1/10
Poor build quality. Cheaply made parts.
Pros: Nohting good at all.
Cons: Bad power supply. Faulty internal fan.
User Rating: 
10/10
Best Dell I Ever Owned. 4 Gigs Ram.
Pros: 4 Gigs Of Ram Compatible
Fast 2.8Ghz Processor
Cons: None Right Now.
User Rating: 
7/10
Great over all!
Pros: Does everything I need.
Cons: Not much, the DVD drive quit on me after overuse.
User Rating: 10/10
AWESOME SYSTEM!
Pros: Everything!
Cons: Nothing at all!
User Rating: 
5/10
Around 6 years of use and its still chuggin'
Pros: Pretty fast Pentium 4, small hard drive (I don't store data), can play video OK, not too noisy, built-in TV tuner.
Cons: Starting to slow down after reinstalling XP for over 10 times, very small RAM, power hog, slow iTunes decoding, boring exterior, audio ports on the back (so I can't listen privately), slow hard drive scans, Vista crashes (DO NOT INSTALL VISTA!)
User Rating: 10/10
Awesome Computer
Pros: Awesome Speed an i love the DVD Burner. It has a huge max RAM of 4GB.
Cons: I don't Think there is really any cons other than the DVD Burner doesn't support DVD - R
User Rating: 
9/10
Great Bang for the Buck
Pros: Good expandability; good power for price on base model
Cons: known powersupply issues in early models; Dell's crappy outsourced support network
The only problem I have is the boot time; that's more a windows problem than Dell, because I have a lot of peripherals and software installed that slow up the boot effort. I'm hoping additional memory might help this problem, as when I have a big project in progress, I can tell we're using harddrive paging for swapping stuff.
Anyhow, I am a power user who was on a severe budget at the time I bought the Dell 4600. It has never let me down, which is more than I can say for a lot of other computers I've had that I didn't build myself.
You may find it wise to order a base model and install your own extra optical drives if you're budget concious.
User Rating: 9/10
Stable, fast PC that's good for about everything.
Pros: Speed, optical drives, system boot-up
Cons: USB ports on front tend to damage USB devices if not placed in carefully
User Rating: 7/10
good computer bad company
Pros: no problems with any hardware
Cons: it is a dell and customer service is a pain
I did downgrade or upgrade as needed when I purchased it online in 2003. I downgraded the processor to a 2.6 GHz, downgraded the Hard drive to 40GB, downgraded the flatscreen to a CRT, upgraded to XP Pro, and upgraded from the on-board graphics to a Nvidia GeForce 5200 256mb AGP video card, funny thing is I did end up paying more then advertised mostly for the graphics card though.
Also I added a stick of Conair 512 MB of Ram, a Samsung 21" WS monitor, and a DVD RW drive later on my own a year after purchase, with no problems.
I probably won't buy from Dell again though. I would rather spend the time and build one myself. I hated talking to Akbar from India who calls himself Bob. Dell has started selling their products at WalMart. Dell Bios sucks. The version of XP pro, I bought, will only work on a dell. They raped me on interest charges, and they over charged me for their product.
User Rating: 
4/10
Had lots of trouble with this comp
Pros: good when workikg ok
Cons: bad motherboard, bad,dvd rom , bad power supply
To bad we can't get people in the USA to respond to calls.
User Rating: 9/10
dell dimension 4600 owner
Pros: fast , good looking , practical computer
Cons: unable to tweek bios
i would recommend this computer to anyone.
User Rating: 9/10
excellent reliable
Pros: reliable can fit up to 4gb RAM
Cons: fan gets maybe noisy after many years
User Rating: 4/10
Buyer beware
Pros: Good overall system when it works
Cons: Subject to crippling and annoying hardware failures
User Rating: 7/10
great for music, home work, and surfing the web.
Pros: good price
Cons: stock graphics card is not that great
the graphics card (i got the GF 4 mx 440 agp) is not that great for gaming (i can play quake 3 and warcraft 3 in ok graphics) but if you want, it can be upgraded with an agp card.
great for everything from music to home work.
i have never had a problem with the 4600, exept for the speakers, the left speaker isnt as loud as the right. (mabey i had my music too loud???)
User Rating: 
8/10
Great computer for digital needs
Pros: fast, great for multimedia needs,
Cons: very bad customer service, OS not installed on the hard drive
. User Rating: 8/10
Good system
Pros: Nice dependable computer
Cons: Noisy CPU fan
I feel it is an excellent computer but support and service has gone downhill since it went offshore.
User Rating: 
6/10
Good Computer bad customer service
Pros: fairly stable does the job
Cons: hard to upgrade ( but it can be done)
first thing that went is my power supply after 3 months, then the fan at the back made a lot of noise, so i bought a new case with a power supply and changed it over had to do some modifing next i bought a after market fan its makes hardly any noise but you get an fan error at start up, however that goes away after a minute over all the system runs well.
User Rating: 4/10
Didn't last
Pros: Good performance and price
Cons: Not reliable
User Rating: 4/10
Cheap, Ok if you do not know how to build one.
Pros: It is easy to upgrade
Cons: Bad DVD drive,
User Rating: 9/10
Good computer
Pros: Great value, no real problems
Cons: after more than a year, a little noisey
User Rating: 4/10
Great value, but be wary of unfixable problems
Pros: Low price, very fast specs, Dell quality
Cons: Faulty fan, cheap cooling setup, Dell quality
User Rating: 9/10
For increase performace, the Intel 865 chipset provides for good expansion: PCI, AGP, RAM, CD, HD
Pros: Fast and reliable. The computer never quits and rarely freezes (only twice in a year.)
Cons: The fan is noisy, so that's why a 9. But, you can always buy another 7 dollar fan if it bothers you, or a ruber silencer.
2.8 GHz
1 GB RAM
160 GB HD
2 Internal DVD/CD ROM
1 External USB 16x DVD/CD writer
Intel 865G graphics card (seeking to upgrade)
17" LCD monitor
DVI-D connected via AGP
This is just to give an idea on possible expansion. The 4600 can be a workhorse for regular Internet browsing or the gaming machine you are looking for.
User Rating: 7/10
Great product and service
Pros: This is my second Dell, the first is still running and its 7 years old. The service and delivery was 5 star and the pc itself is one of the best i've used. Well done Dell
Cons: None
User Rating: 7/10
Solid System.
Pros: Solid, fast, capable system. Stable, easy to use, quick delivery... great price (i think they gave me a free 17" flat panel by mistake). I'm in Spain and wanted the OS and keyboard in english, and that was no problem.
Cons: The @ and " keys are reversed....plus the DVD burner is only DVD+R/+RW when multistandard would be better.
User Rating: 1/10
Don't buy Dell!
Pros: Inexpensive
Cons: You get what you pay for. Do yourself a favor and purchase another computer. Dell customer service is awful requiring you to wait for hours on hold and be transferred to numerous departments and personel. I have been waiting 10 months to receive a refund
User Rating: 
3/10
It's Dell...
Pros: Standard configuration is cheap
Cons: Terrible Dell support Modifications are more expensive than at small local shops.
User Rating: 3/10
Not sure
Pros: It looks like a good comuter, the flast screen is nice
Cons: Well I just got mine yesterday and there is no CD rom in it, only a DVD drive when I put another program in the computer it says it can't read it, when I turn on my computer it doesn't go into XP it goes in a screen that says press either F1 or F2 what is
User Rating: 8/10
all good! no complaints.
Pros: bought two 4600 systems three weeks apart. both are 2.8 p4 533fsb 512ram 80gig hd units. graphics are from basic invidia 5200fx cards. free two day shipping, 6 months free internet, and 1 year on site service were included on both. they arrived on time
Cons: none thus far. from sales(phone) to support(yes,in india. so what?) to the 4600 itself, this has been a great experiance. especially for a first time computer user like me. sorry for those who have had less fortunate experiances. but i would recommend del
User Rating: 4/10
Dell quality? and support?
Pros: When it works, it's pretty good (as with most things!).
Cons: Two video cards and a power source in one year being replaced is to much, but that's not the worst part of my "Dell" experience. Customer Service and Tech support at Dell is a mind altering experience which hopefully only make you stronger, if it doesn't
User Rating: 8/10
Great for all uses.
Pros: Very speedy, plays many games on high settings, great speakers.
Cons: Once I installed XP SP2, it felt almost half as fast.
User Rating: 8/10
Beats the 2400 for just a little bit more
Pros: This pc offers a good value over the 2400 series and performs very fast and well
Cons: It's early yet but so far so good
User Rating: 7/10
great all around performance
Pros: with the HT technology you don't lose speed when doing two major tasks at one time,easy to configure upgrade when ordering.
Cons: need to buy printer ink only onlinethru dell
User Rating: 9/10
awsome!!!
Pros: my specs: 2.8 ghz 800 fsb, 512 ram, 80 gb HD, nvidia 5200 128 mb video card. this is a great computer, its fast, programs run up quickly, easy to instal (all color coded), installing windows is a snap, playing games.. its awsome!! fast, no lag, graphics i
Cons: i should of gotten 1 gig of ram for only 150 more, the coputer ran pretty loud for the first few days, its its very quiet now, for some reason theres no "D" drive maybe because i didnt buy one.
User Rating: 9/10
YOU CAN'T BEAT FOR THE MONEY
Pros: VALUE AND EASE OF USE
Cons: BETTER/MORE SOFTWARE SHOULD BE INCLUDED.THESE GUYS ARE GETTING AS BAD AS THE PHARMACUTICALS!
User Rating: 8/10
Nothing wrong with Dell quality.
Pros: Runs fine.
Cons: None really. I can't say anything about customer service, because I never needed any, however I do need to call tech support for a factory restore on my laptop (which is not related to performance, but to adware and spyware)...
User Rating: 10/10
What a great computer....
Pros: Set up was a snap, easy to work with, fun system to use!!!
Cons: None I can find!!!
User Rating: 8/10
Super PC
Pros: I have the new Windows XP Media Center and it is the best PC I have every seen. It does everything and has alot of features and is very powerful with the Ati All-in-Wonder Radeon 9000 Pro
Cons: Some times if the Cable signal is not perfectly clear its kinda fuzzy on my 17" Dell Ultra Sharp Flat panel.
User Rating: 1/10
Don't buy dell
Pros: It was great while it lasted. Bought 9/2003 broke 7/2004.
Cons: Worst tech support ever. Out sourced to India and they don't know anything. I spent 2 hours on the phone pulling the cards out of the case and reinstalling them one by one. After all that the tech just put me back on hold and no one ever picked back up. T
User Rating: 9/10
Best PC for right at $1000
Pros: Great price, great bundle. Everything I wanted for the best price with free shipping and monitor included. Shipped extremely fast with all that I wanted. 2nd Dell so far other is a laptop I have had for 7 months running 24/7 and have had zero issues.
Cons: None so far!
User Rating: 10/10
Recommend them to my friends, haven?t lost a friend yet
Pros: Big bang for buck. I have used thier computers for over 5 years and have really enjoyed thier product.
Cons: Customer service has been weak but I understand they have taken steps to improve it. I usually just figure out my own problems rather then face their customer support. Fortunately they make such a reliable machine that most would not need the extra help
User Rating: 9/10
One of the best PC's today
Pros: it has the best specs like the SATA controller which is onboard.with windows xp factory installed,it seems to be one of the best PC to hit the market.
Cons:
User Rating: 8/10
Sweet Comp.
Pros: It's a really good all around computer, if you guys want to save a little extra dough as well buy this comp or any others from there dell outlet store.
Cons:
User Rating: 8/10
Solid Multi-Use Home Computer
Pros: Good platfrom for home use. Decent with games great with general applications. Dell makes it easy to add or subtract options when ordering.
Cons: Somewhat crowded interior for upgrades.
User Rating: 7/10
Good PC for the buck
Pros: good system for the price, good support
Cons: I thought that it would come with MS Office,didn't, but I did get allot of programs that you need to buy the upgraded version to get it to do what ou thought it would when you bought it. Make sure you know what your getting. Otherwise, it's a good deal.
User Rating: 5/10
not the greatest pc
Pros: cheap price,good features,free shipping
Cons: System allways freezes up,Sonic MyDVD included died after being used two time,CONSTANTLY freezes up
User Rating: 9/10
It's doing a great job.
Pros: I have a Dell 4600 with 1g ram, a dvd rewritable and dvd player. This machine copied a DVD in 1hr 10 min. So far it works great for editing with Adobe products.
Cons:
User Rating: 8/10
4600 is best performace offer!
Pros: You can beat what you get for the price! I got the following for around $2300... Intel P4 @ 2.6Ghz w/ HT and 800Mhz fbs. 512 Dual Channel RAM ATI Readeon 128MB DDR 9800 PRO 120HD SPACE 4.1 surround sound Altec Lansing AIO printer w/ scanner 17" Flat pane
Cons: The system has only an adequate cooling system. The fan likes to kick into high gear a lot when its warm inside which can lead to performace problems. This only happens afer many hours of gameplay. Also the floppy drive it comes w/ seems to be slower than
User Rating: 5/10
Tech support is nightmare
Pros: Looks great. Runs almost quiet and at 512MB RAM does most normal tasks without slowdowns. Delivery is very fast.
Cons: Tech Support is your most horrible nighmare. Nobody speaks English and there is no North American or Eropean support center. I specifically asked for somebody speaking English without superheavy Indian accent and was told that nobody was available. If som
User Rating: 8/10
Better then all the Compaq's and HP's I've owned.
Pros: Better then beige color, cheap good quality monitor, lots of recovery cd's!
Cons: Floppy drive should not cost extra, pre loaded AOL.
User Rating: 7/10
Pray it Keeps Operating
Pros: Mostly a great machine. Quality performance on most measures.
Cons: Nothing is worse than Dell tech support. Nothing. Don't bother with e mail, don't waste your money on the specials. It is simply the worse consumer support experience I have ever had.
User Rating: 8/10
Tops for mid-range PC
Pros: Hit Dell at the perfect time. Got a 2.8ghz HT, 120g HD,512mb RAM, 16x DVD, 48x CD-RW,128mb Video Card, 2 speakers w/subwoofer, and 17" Monitor (non-flat/LCD)for $790.00!Power and accessories can not be beat at that price.
Cons: Available DVD/RW drive is single format (+R) only and $151.00. Several dual format DVD burners are available for less.
User Rating: 8/10
worth the price premium
Pros: Dell does a decent job of tuning their systems before they ship them. My system is a P4 3.0 800Mhz with 1GB of DDR 400Mhz and the GeForce FX5200, right out of the box it worked beautifully. Dells support is fantastic.. HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE ON-SITE SUPPORT
Cons: More expensive than HP/Compaq and other mainstream retail brands, but you do get what you pay for. Dell has a tendency to load up on third-party apps, which can decrease hard drive space, though hard drives are so cheap why anyone would have anything less
User Rating: 8/10
Great Price, Great Computer
Pros: Great price..shipped really fast. Computer works great and looks good. Excellent software and runs really fast. Free high speed internet for 3 months a real bonus!
Cons: Fans are really quite loud.
User Rating: 5/10
gOOD THINGS DON'T COME IN 'DEll PACKAGES"
Pros: The cost for the product was definitly affordable and the computer is certainly managable (when it is working).
Cons: I recently purchased a Dell and not even a month later, I tried to install a software program and it was telling me i did not have enough memory???? so I did the next best thing and called tech. support.... Three hours later after speaking with someone
User Rating: 10/10
the best computer i have owned yet !
Pros: the set up directions are the easiest i have ever seen. the disks for everything (installed on the computer)are great just in case something does go wrong. all the free upgrades and being able to customize to suit my own needs was great.
Cons: i was using the accessibility option wizard that came with windows it has a magor flaw, but of course this is a windows problem. use with caution it turned everything on my computer literally upside down, lol, but thank God i had the install disk for xp,
User Rating: 7/10
After 7 seven years, Dell is still the best
Pros: Excellent system specs at an affordable price (Pentium IV 2.6 GHz w/ HT, 512 MB DDR SDRAM PC3200, NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200, SB Live!, DVD-ROM, CD-RW, FDD, 80 GB HD 7200 RPM - $750). This is a refurb model but you can't tell the difference. The system (esp.
Cons: Only 1 PCI slot free, too many USB slots in the back (6), too few in the front (2). The CD-RW and DVD drives can get loud. BIOS configurations are very limited. After reformatting and installing MS Windows XP Professional, there is a PCI device that myste
User Rating: 9/10
Recommend the Dell 4600!
Pros: Paid $650 for 2.4Ghz, Nvidia 5200 video, 256MB memory & free shipping. Upgraded to 3.2Ghz, MSI Nvidia 5900 video, added 256MB more memory and now got a super machine! Runs cool & silent. Dell tech support (in India) was very helpful. First Dell I
Cons: Wish it had one more PCI slot. Came with WinXP Home Edition, got rid of it and installed Windows 98SE. Took some real effort to do it, but was worth it!
User Rating: 9/10
Its a great computer
Pros: The computer is a great computer runs great and plays games very well i highly recommend it
Cons: The computer could use a little more RAM mine came with 256MB but it could use atleast 512 depends on how many programs your going to run at once so i highly recommend upgrading the ram
User Rating: 6/10
Not bad, if you don't upgrade
Pros: Compact, fits anywhere. No problems with stuff it came with. Relatively inexpensive
Cons: Almost non-upgradable. Only 1 pci slot filled with a modem and one video slot. I suggest getting the optional firewire ports, so you don't have to use the single pci slot. Only integrated sound offered(which turned out ok)
User Rating: 8/10
Dell Offers a great PC for the Money
Pros: Upgrades are fantastic!The 4200 Series is a nicely equiped PC for the cash! I walked with a 19' Ultra, 512 Dual Channel PC2700 RAM, DVD, CDRW, 10-1 Media, Seagate 80 Gig, Gig Rj45, 5.1 sound, A940 All in One, 128 DDR/ DVI Video, Speakers with Sub, Windows
Cons: You MUST really take your time on their site to get to the deals! Ok, so the tech support is bad, I'll admit it. But, it's usually OE, NOT the machine. Their documentation is one of the best around. If people would simply READ, and think before they call,
User Rating: 10/10
Great for digital photography
Pros: USB 2.0, fast processor, 80GB hard drive, XP professional very stable
Cons: none at this price
User Rating: 
2/10
Genuine Lemon
Pros: Haven't had the system up long enough to find any pros.
Cons: Had the system one day (11/18/03) and the Hard Drive crashed. Dell sent a new one. On 12/24/03 the Hard Drive crashed again. Also, the fans are so noisy I hear them in the next room. Dell is sending a replacement, but they will not send a new system, w
User Rating: 4/10
Technical Support is terrible
Pros: The computer is a good value for the price, until one looks below the surface. The quality of the parts is not superior.
Cons: The main problem with Dell is their technical support. I made the mistake of paying extra for their support. I have made 10 calls to their technical support about the same problem. I have spoken to someone whose 1st language is not English on each occasio
User Rating: 8/10
It's fast but...
Pros: very quiet, i didn't even know it was on at first. the sound system was nice, if sub is up it sort of messes up.
Cons: i thought the video card would have a s-video on it but it doesn't, also you have to defragment the drive or it will go slow as hell. also you have to sign for it when it comes which was a bad thing, almost didn't get my cpu.
User Rating: 7/10
Great machine but hidden extra costs.
Pros: Fast East to use. Great keyboard
Cons: Hidden extra costs. Too many of the included programs are only good for 30 to 90 days then you have to pay $30 or so to keep using them.
User Rating: 4/10
Dont Go DELL
Pros: Nice hardware, design and box are great.
Cons: Customer support is not what is used to be. I have had the worst solutions advise to me. And thats when I can understand them. If you need support for software or add ons products go elsewhere. Dell is the same customer friendly company it built it's nam
User Rating: 2/10
Mine is junk, Customer service/tech is worst
Pros: Price would appear to be good
Cons: Dell quality is terrible, they have total contempt for their customers. My system has bad video output, customer service is totally incompetent - they sent me a refurbished, non working replacement video card and flat out refused to give me a new, non re
User Rating: 7/10
Excellent features...good value
Pros: I finally decided to get a Dell after many years of messing with inferior systems(Compact, Micron...Nightmare city!!!) I love the speed of my 2.8g processor and the 512MB Ram and the 80 GB harddrive. I have had no problems. I also like MS XP much better
Cons: There are occasional "windows" problems...but very minimal compared to lesser systems running earlier software...things seem pretty stable for me now in the PC world.
User Rating: 8/10
a good midrange desktop at a good affordable price
Pros: beautiful case; fast start-up; speedy internet by earthline; so easy to install; plenty of great features; Musicmatch Plus rips CD is much faster than I could have thought.
Cons: pre-installed Musicmatch is outdated; no Acrobet Reader included;
User Rating: 8/10
best bang for the
Pros: I just bought this system and it's performed perfectly. excellent speed, price was right would recomend for anyone on a budget
Cons:
User Rating: 10/10
Excellent Budget PC for Performance
Pros: Purchased 3.06 P4 with 80gig HD and 512mb. 80gig was a free upgrade at that time along with a cd burner. Look out for free upgrades and so forth on dell.com. I upgraded from a old computer so I had fairly good nvidia 128vram card with additional 40gig
Cons: It is well known that dell's customer service is not what it once was. However it is enough to get your computer problems solved. No compaints here other than the fact that those programs preinstalled. I just did a fresh install of the OS.
User Rating: 10/10
Dell truely is the BEST!
Pros: CUSTOMER SERVICE! From buying to solving problems, Dell is the greatest. LOVE this machine, FAST, EASY, QUIET! I'll always buy Dell!
Cons: Can't find any cons!
User Rating: 10/10
great first computer
Pros: confige it to your needs and budget,great performance with the 800mhz FSB processors. mine is P4 3.0,512mb ddr 400,radeon 9000 pro AIW,120GB hdd,sound blaster live.
Cons: dell moved the tech support to other countries like india.
User Rating: 8/10
Fast and full featured
Pros: I bought this system through Dell Canada over the thanksgiving weekend. For a mere $2000cdn, I picked up a 18" CRT P4-2.4ht, ATI 9800, 512meg, 80gig, and the wireless keyboard goodies. The system is great!! Games and apps run much better than they did
Cons: Not really a complaint, but the fans are louder than most, and I wish the speakers had a bit more bass.
User Rating: 10/10
I am very pleased with mine
Pros: able to switch out the LCD for a 19 inch perfect flat monitor. The difference is night and day between old and new computer.
Cons: None really, just be sure you get the 4600 and not the 4600C The 4600C is a compact model, you will be diapointed with it. It doesn't upgrade very well from what I have heard.
User Rating: 10/10
it's got the power!
Pros: i think this system is the best it is fast and cool, it plays all the games i want!
Cons: i dont have any!
User Rating: 8/10
I have the 2.6, 512 RAM, and 40 GB.
Pros: Fast, reliable, quiet - basically handles all a regular college student does on a computer. I can multi -task with ease.
Cons: None so far. Except it is now $100 cheaper with 40 extra gb of space.
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