Dell Dimension 4400 Review

DDR Hits the Sweet Spot

What if you wanted to build a high-performance PC without going hog wild -- a system faster and more powerful than the low-rent desktops on retail shelves, but not loaded with the latest, costliest components, either?

You'd choose a good-sized but not huge hard disk (40GB should do) and speedy DVD-ROM and CD-RW drives. You'd split the difference between old, slow GeForce2 MX and pricey, game-freaks-only GeForce3 Ti 500 graphics with Nvidia's nifty new GeForce3 Ti 200. And you'd choose a CPU just below the top of the line -- say, Intel's 1.8GHz Pentium 4 instead of the cost-no-object 2.0GHz chip. But you don't want to pay top dollar for RDRAM, nor handicap the P4 with sluggish SDRAM memory, so you'd choose DDR memory that's almost as fast as the former but almost as cheap as the latter.

In short, you'd have not quite the state of the art, but the state of the sweet spot. You'd have the Dell Dimension 4400, based on Intel's new 845D Pentium 4/DDR chipset and priced at $1,298 (with no monitor).

Dell doesn't claim the 4400 is its fastest PC -- the Dimension 8200 with Intel's i850 and RDRAM is still the flagship, and indeed when we configured a 4400 on Dell's Web site we were only offered a choice of 1.7GHz or 1.8GHz Pentium 4s, with the two fastest versions reserved for its big brother. But the new machine is way ahead of the Dimension 4300, Dell's i845 SDRAM solution -- and the 4300 we spec'd out with the same components cost only $1 less. That gives "bang for the buck" a whole new meaning.

To be specific, the Dimension 4400 -- equipped with Windows XP Home Edition and 256MB of DDR SDRAM -- posted an overall score of 168 on BAPco's SysMark 2001 benchmark, with a sizzling 191 in the Internet Content Creation test (known to show the Pentium 4's SSE extensions at their best) and no-slouch 148 in Office Productivity.

That's maybe 4 percent slower than 1.8GHz P4 RDRAM systems we've tested, which in turn are pretty much tied with (and for office tasks narrowly beaten by) AMD Athlon XP 1800+ DDR machines. And of course it's no match for 2.0GHz P4 or XP 1900+ hot rods.

But we're talking about speed differences that are undetectable in daily use, at a price tag 9 percent under an identically equipped Dimension 8200 ($1,427). So the 4400's price advantage is double its performance disadvantage. And it's thoroughly competitive with comparable Athlon XP 1800+ minitowers like Compaq's Presario 8000Z ($1,261).

Add Dell's exemplary build quality and good support -- and remarkably quiet operation; our 4400's cooling fans were nearly silent compared to some current desktops' -- and you've got an exceptionally tempting PC. In fact, you've got one of the best all-around deals we've ever seen.