Dell Dimension 4550

There are two approaches you can take when buying a PC. There's the value-laden path, which the £899 Systemax Inspire 7322 (see p124) helps you walk. And there's the gold-plated, all-out quality path, where you find systems that not only feature0 the latest and greatest components, but also offer them in a superior, but expensive package. This is undoubtedly where you'll find the Dell Dimension 4550.

Using the same case as the Dimension 4500 featured in our £1,200 PC group test (see Labs, issue 97), the 4550 oozes build quality from the outset - in fact, it sports the styling we normally associate with the likes of Apple. Indeed, the system case opens up on hinges very much like a G4, although there are catches on the top and bottom, rather than a handle in the side, which means you have to lay the machine on its side to get in.

Doing so reveals Dell's CPU cooling system, which uses a heatsink covered by a cowling that directs heat to an extraction fan. This makes for a marvellously quiet PC - not quite silent, but not far off. This isn't bad considering the 4550 is running a Pentium 4 at 2.8GHz, along with 333MHz DDR RAM in one of the two DIMM sockets. Expansion is limited to two PCI slots, although you could find space for two additional hard disks and fill an external 5.25in bay.

The system's low background noise will be appreciated in any environment but it makes it ideal as an entertainment PC, and the sound card and speakers are also ideally suited for that purpose. The Turtle Beach Santa Cruz sound card may have been around for a while, but it's got a respectable feature list including six-channel output and EAX 2, although I'd have preferred to see a Sound Blaster Audigy, or even Audigy 2 (see p155) with EAX Advanced HD support.

The speakers, however, are very impressive, with silver and black two-tone styling to match the PC. Badged by both Dell and Altec Lansing, the ADA995 set also has the kudos of being THX rated. Capable of supplying an average of 200W of continuous power, they delivered clear and crisp output, even at trouser-flapping volume levels. The distinctive egg-shaped satellites are solidly built, while the subwoofer is huge - in fact, it's larger than the PC. If the noise gets too much, there's a headphone socket mounted under a flap on the front, sitting alongside a USB port.

The speakers don't have their own master volume control, but a dedicated volume knob and media player buttons are built into the top-right corner of the keyboard. Most keyboards are fairly nondescript, but this one deserves a special mention, not just for its styling and shortcut buttons, but also for its rock-solid feel and firmly responsive typing action. Meanwhile, the matching mouse is an excellent optical device from Logitech.

Even the Dell monitor is an equally first-rate 17in flat panel, perfect for the native resolution of 1,280 x 1,024. The picture is good when using a VGA cable, but superb when connected through DVI - bright and sharp in 2D, and responsive enough for fast moving 3D images. The graphics card is a dual-output ATi Radeon 9700. This is undisputedly the current 3D king, helping the Dimension 4550 on its way to a score of 13,915 - it's not the fastest we've ever seen, but it's still enough to make the Dell a superb gaming machine.

Storage is catered for by a cavernous 120GB Western Digital hard disk. Not only is it large, it's also fast with its hefty 8MB buffer. With a hard disk this size, a decent capacity backup solution is essential, hence the presence of a Philips DVD+RW drive offering 4.7GB of storage per disc, and bundled with Sonic MyDVD for DVD menu creation. Of the three rival DVD formats, DVD+RW is a safe choice as it offers almost universal compatibility with the exception of DVD-RAM. It's accompanied by a 48x CD-ROM, thus allowing fast, on-the-fly backup. Fast Ethernet is integrated into the motherboard, and a V.92 modem rounds off the hardware.