Dell Demension 4400

This is where quality and trust in a company plays in. Dell, being rated best computer manufacturer for years on end, shines in this category. The stock entry Dimension 4400 for $897 has the following specs:

Remember… these options are pretty much totally customizable to your own likings. Not too shabby for a price tag of $897. Of course these specs were not the least bit acceptable for a kaoman computer! Some changes in the system being tested are: 

• P4 1.8ghz

• 128MB + 512MB Mushkin PC2100 DDR

• 40GB Western Digital 7200RPM ATA100 – Dell

• 40GB Western Digital 7200RPM ATA100 – Best Buy

• 18in. Sony LCD (still on backorder… damnit)

• GeForce3 Ti200 64MB DDR

• Generic 48x CD-rom

• Philips 8x/4x/24x CD-RW

• Generic 10/100 NIC

• D-Link 10/100 NIC

• Avermedia TV98

• Intellimouse Optical

*note* parts in bold have been added separately, not purchased from Dell. You didn't think we would leave the PC STOCK from the factory did ya?? ;-)

Installation: Considering the fact that this is an OEM machine, installation should have been a piece of cake. Well installation was more than a piece of cake. It was like the whole cake being spoon-fed to you. (lame comparison… but ohwell). The computer itself comes out of a fairly large brown box branded Dell.

Opening it up revealed a big quick-start instruction sheet as well as a two boxes holding the keyboard, mouse, microphone, software/drivers, and 148 page long instructions manual. Beneath all that was the case itself secured by two pieces of Styrofoam. Acting like any average human would, I took everything out and started hooking up the system. Dell was nice enough to color code EVERYTHING… making it setting up the system very straightforward.  

Upon booting up I was greeted with the familiar “Welcome to Windows XP” screen, the one you get the first time you’ve booted into a newly installed Windows XP. From there you enter your name, hit next a few times, setup your email, etc. Hit finished, and *wham* your at your desktop, all setup and ready to start using your computer. Extremely fast, extremely easy, and very well-done. I am unfortunately unable to provide you with any screenshots of this process since… about 10 minutes into turning on the system I turned it off, installed some existing hardware I had, formatted, and loaded up XP Pro. XP Home does NOT cut it for me… but then that’s just me. I’m sure your mother or children wont notice =).