Dell Dimension 2400 Targets Home and small business

The home/small business targeted Dell Dimension 2400 PC system.

One of the cheapest full systems (including monitor and operating system) offered right now, What kind of value and performance Dell presents its customers for the Dimension 2400's minimal price. Dell currently offers the Dimension 2400 for $499 CDN and up. Our package starts at around $600 CDN with a 19-inch monitor. We inspected this budget system's interiors and exteriors, and ran it through a full range of benchmarks and one-sided tests before we were satisfied.

The Dimension 2400 is dispatched with Intel's i845GV chipset, or a Celeron 2.4Ghz processor (in the model we tested) or a Pentium 4 up to 2.8 GHz. Depending on the processor, the system make use of either 266MHz or 333MHz DDR memory, up to 1GB worth. Graphics and sound are given by Intel's 'Extreme' integrated graphics chipset and Soundmax integrated audio correspondingly. Nothing to write about home here, but sufficient for the PC's planned as an office machine. A 40GB hard disk gives storage, and a 48X CD-ROM drive is introduced for software and music. No floppy drive was added in the system we reviewed, though a slot for one is built into the custom Dell case. The system and peripherals come with a one-year warranty, including next-day on site service, and the Intel Celeron processor holds an independent three-year warranty. Besides the PC itself, the Dimension 2400 bundle contains a 19-inch Dell branded monitor, optical mouse (the excellent Logitech MX500 model) a plain black keyboard, two Altec Lansing satellite speakers and a minor microphone.

All the necessary cables and cords were included, as was a rather nice mouse pad. For the operating system, the PC comes with Windows XP Home installed, and on a set of recovery CD-ROMs. Obviously, Windows XP Pro's additional security features would be a preference for office environments, and it is available from Dell for a few hundred dollars more. WordPerfect Office Suite 11, which includes the Word Processor as well as Quattro Pro and a few other productivity apps, provides basic office functionality to get you started. The software is not pre-installed, which is convenient if you would prefer to use Microsoft Office 2003. A copy of Microsoft's Money 2004 is also included with the system. The list of pre-installed software on the Dimension 2400's is sparse, as you might expect, and includes MacAfee Virushield and a trial version of Jasc's Paintshop Pro 8, which provides Photoshop-like functionality. Musicmatch Jukebox provides MP3 playback and recording. QuickTime and Real Media's RealOne player are also installed for video playback.