Dell Dimension 2400 Review

Overall Rating

Very Cheap, Stylish, Quick

No DVD or CDRW

Having had a few different Dell's in the past, I was not too pleased when the boss told me he had just ordered 4 Dell Dimension 2400 systems.

When they arrived, after a respectable few days, it was my task to set them all up and check them out.

The system comes in two seperate boxes, one with the Base Unit, Keyboard, Mouse, Cables and CD's. The second box has the Monitor.

Both boxes are quite large, and it helps to have a second person with you to get the monitor out of the box.

The system configuration we have is an Intel Celeron 2.4Ghz, with 128Mb Ram (expandable to 1024MB) and a 40Gb Hard Disk (with options available up to 120GB). The Graphics come on board the motherboard (Integrated Intel Extreme Graphics) and do the job, though a separate Graphics card would help speed up the performance.

Be aware though that the memory comes as a single DDR RAM module running at 333MHz, but runs at only 266MHz speeds on the Celeron Processors and P4 systems up to 2.2 Ghz speeds. To get the full 333MHz, you have to go for one of the Intel P4 versions of over 2.4Ghz.

There is also built in 10/100 Network and 6 USB 2.0 ports, four on the back and 2 on the front. The system also comes with built in sound, so everything you could need to start with is available from the start.

Our machines only came with a CD-ROM drive and no Floppy Drive, but that isn't a problem because CDRW and DVD Recorder prices are coming down alL the time, so it's quite cheap to upgrade in the future.

There is also a 56K Modem, and the system is finished off with a 17" Monitor.

If you do need the extra's though, I'm sure Dell can provide these, but for a price.

Setting them up was very straight forward, with the sockets being colour coded and a good Setup Guide provided for those who are a bit scared of these sort of things.

On initial boot up, you have to go through several Setup Screens to configure the machine with things like Country and the names of the users etc. This procedure is very straight forward, as long as the inexperienced user reads everything on screen.

Once these steps are completed, the computer then boots up to the Pre-Installed copy of Windows XP Home.

Being a Celeron 2.4Ghz, the system is more than up to the job for virtually all normal office users, and all but the most ardent home gamers, though there is a noticable (but admittedly only small) difference when doing things like Graphics work in Adobe Photoshop, when compared to a P4 2.5Ghz machine with separate Graphics. This is all to be expected though, as the P4 is a better processor and doesn't have to do much working out of graphics (which is done on the seperate graphics card on the P4 system).

If you wish to upgrade in the future, DELL have done their usual trick of making the case very easy to open, with just a push down lever at the back to release the side to get access to the inside.

To change the CD-ROM drive, you have to remove the front cover, which is easily achieved by separating the lugs at the bottom, allowing the front to come away relatively easily.

The CD-ROM drive itself is held in by only a single screw, with two larger supporting screws guiding the unit forward. All in all, quite a painless operation, compared to some other cases where you have to try to get to the other side of the drive and remove 4 screws, some of which are nearly always hard to reach.

The Motherboard has 3 PCI slots, all being free, due to most of the things being built on to the motherboard (Graphics/Sound/Lan/USB)

Things get a bit more complicated when you want to add extra Hard Disks, as there is only one spare 5 1/4 inch drive bay free, so, if you have a CD-ROM and DVD-ROM both fitted, you will have to try to think of some way to bodge the second hard disk in somewhere.

We also had a problem adding a second drive on to the Master Channel (as a Slave to the original Disk) as the cable did not seem to like registering them both together. We didn't have any problems fitting it on to the secondary channel (with the CD-ROM drive), but that's not ideal as devices work to the slowest speed (the CD-ROM) in this case.

I believe this problem could be resolved with a different IDE cable, but, if you haven't got one, it's not much help, but they are cheap from any computer shop.

The Keyboard has a very nice feel to it, giving quite a spongy feel to the keys, which I personally prefer over the 'clicky' type.

The mouse is a Scroll Wheel type, and is responsive and fits into the hand comfortably.

The monitor supplied gives a good sharp picture and has a big sticker splattered across the screen when you take it out of the box saying 1024X768, but I have mine set 1280X1024 without a problem. The colours are vivid, and there is no flicker (when the refresh rate is set high enough (75Hz ).

As the machine is a DELL, you know you are getting good support if something goes wrong, but I have found it can take quite a time to get through on the phone for technical support, but they do have a good website at www.dell.co.uk if you need any help.

As you can see from the picture, the system comes in a very stylish Grey and 'off Black' design, which would not look out of place in either an office or in someones living room.

The software that comes with the machine includes Microsoft Works, which is a cut down version of Microsoft Office. Although it is "cut down", it still includes virtually everything you would want for a home environment, with a full version of Microsoft Word, a spreadsheet which is fully Excel compatable and more.

There is also a 3 month trial version of Norton Antivirus 2004, which is one of the best Anti Virus programs available (though I must admit I prefer the AVG one, which is free).

You get several other things, such as Dell drawing packages etc.

To sum up, this is a very good machine for the money (ours costing around £300), giving all the functionality you should expect, in a stylish overall package which I would recommend for any normal user. Any "Power Users" could always go for one of the upgrade options available, with the Intel P4 versions being a better buy.

For the money though, these systems are a bargain.

Members' Comments onBorisHotch's Review

• barbarella on 15th May 2005

  i was offered the option of a floppy drive, so perhaps your boss was too. fantastic value for money. some people forget how cheap they are- you cannot expect all the extras on a basic model at a cheap price. i agree with you.