Dell Dimension 8200

However, with a 7,200rpm 100Gb Western Digital hard disk already in place, it's unlikely you'll need any more drives in the machine's lifetime. With this in mind, it might have been wiser for Dell to provide a spare 5.25in bay for a DVD-RW drive in the future.

Otherwise, the Dell Dimension 8200 is a well-designed machine with everything you need. The performance is amazing in every respect and you get all the features you need, including Windows 2000 Professional and Microsoft Office XP Small Business Edition. However, while the £1,799 asking price includes a one-year collect-and-return warranty, it's still uncompetitive when compared to a machine like the Evesham Athlon 1400 DVI (see p150), which offers similar performance, a superb TFT monitor and full speaker set for £1,199. If you can afford it though, the Dell is easily the best Pentium 4 machine you can buy.

Author: Ben Hardwidge