Home | Forums | Article Search | Subscribe & Shop | Contact Us | Log Out Dell Dimension 4500 Email This Print This View My Personal Library Heavy Gear October 2002 • Vol.2 Issue 10 Page(s) 28 in print issue Add To My Personal Library Dell Dimension 4500 The Dimension 4500 from Dell is definitely a system you should consider if you're in the market for a PC. The 4500 is part of a series of systems that lets you configure just the system you want, with several options for each system component. Here's a look at the configuration Dell put together for me to review. Specifications. The Dimension 4500 I looked at has a 2.26GHz Pentium 4 processor with a 533MHz bus speed. The memory totaled 256MB of DDR-SDRAM, but you can add up to 1GB of memory. The Western Digital Caviar (WD400BB-75CLB0) hard drive holds up to 40GB of data, which is a reasonable size yet isn't a huge capacity for the price, especially when you consider that the $699 (after a $75 rebate) eMachines T4170 comes with a 60GB hard drive. One of the exciting things about this Dimension 4500 configuration is the Samsung CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive. The CD-RW has write, rewrite, and read speeds of 32X/10X/32X respectively, and the DVD-ROM has a speed of 16X. You'll also be able to blaze through the Internet at high-speed with the CNET Pro 200 WL PCI Fast Ethernet card. If, however, you're unable to access broadband service, Dell also includes a 56K Lucent WinModem. And for the three essential pieces of hardware that are sometimes overlooked, this configuration came with a 17-inch Dell (M782) CRT monitor, a Dell Enhanced Performance USB multimedia keyboard, and Microsoft IntelliMouse. As for software, the system comes loaded with Windows XP Home and other software titles such as MS Office Works Suite 2002, MusicMatch Jukebox, PowerDVD, and Easy CD Creator. Design. The Dimension 4500 case is a mid-tower design with a unique twist. Instead of one side panel coming off so that you can get inside, there are push button release levers on the top and bottom. When you push these buttons, the case splits open with one side swinging out with everything still together. Think of a book and how the binding keeps the pages together, it's almost like the case has hinges, and when you open the case it opens like a book. One look and you'll see that it's easy to get to everything, but you'll need a lot of desk space to open the case up wide enough. As for slots, ports, and bays, the Dimension 4500 has four PCI slots (one available), one available AGP slot, one serial port, one parallel port, six USB ports, five 3.5-inch bays (three available), and two 5.25-inch bays (one available). Performance. The Dimension 4500 produced an overall SYSmark2002 rating of 212 with a 294 for Internet Content Creation and a 153 for Office Productivity. Translation: this machine is just what you need for multitasking between office work, game play, burning CDs, and watching DVDs. We also ran the 3DMark2001 benchmark, and the system scored 9,490. That's great considering that type of score is normally achieved by systems in the more than $2,000 range. The 64MB NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti4200 graphics card made playing Quake III a great way to spend the afternoon. By no means did I waste the afternoon playing games; I also put the speakers to the test. The three-piece Harmon Kardon (HK395) speaker system includes two satellites and a subwoofer that lets you control the treble and volume. The sound quality from the speakers and the Creative Labs sound card was very good. My last task was to watch my "Armageddon" DVD. I had to skip through most of the movie to get to my favorite part; I just love the end when most everyone gets back safe and people are running into each other's arms. Chapter skipping was smooth, and the sound was good. Final word. The Dimension 4500 configuration I looked at is priced at $1,379, and let me say, you're getting more than what you pay for. The only things I'd change if buying this system for myself are the size of the hard drive and the design of the case. Otherwise, I'd be hard-pressed to find a better setup for the price. by Dana Montey Dimension 4500 $1,379 Dell (888) 799-3355 (512) 338-4400 www.dell.com CPU Rating: 3.5 (out of possible 5)  User Reviews Be the first to write a review of this product Want more information about a topic you found of interest while reading this article? Type a word or phrase that identifies the topic and click "Search" to find relevant articles from within our editorial database. Enter A Subject (key words or a phrase): ALL Words (‘digital’ AND ‘photography’) ANY Words (‘digital’ OR ‘photography’) Exact Match ('digital photography'- all words MUST appear together) Home      Copyright & Legal Information      Privacy Policy      Site Map      Contact Us Copyright © 2010 Sandhills Publishing Company U.S.A. All rights reserved.