Dell Dimension XPS D300

Dell Dimension XPS D300

With a sticker price of $1999, the Dell Dimension XPS D300 barely squeezed under our newly lowered budget price cutoff. However, this muscle-bound PII-300 midtower--which reigned over the Power Desktops chart in April--stands apart with a DVD-ROM drive, an internal Iomega Zip drive, and a whopping 10GB hard disk--the largest hard disk of any system on the Budget Desktops chart this month.

The sharp 17-inch screen provides a sufficient viewing area, although it lacks some of the more sophisticated controls found on higher-quality displays. Multimedia applications receive an additional boost from the nifty Altec Lansing ACS-290 speaker-subwoofer set. The XPS D300 comes with Microsoft Office 97 Small Business Edition, a welcome addition for those in any office environment.

Dell provides nice touches like color-coding and symbols on the back ports, but you'll want to read the included system documentation be-fore attempting to remove the case--it's not as intuitive a procedure as it may seem at first. Inside, the modem and the sound card take up both ISA slots, which leaves only two free PCI slots available. The two free DIMM sockets accommodate RAM upgrades, since DIMMs (unlike SIMMs) may be added one at a time. Dell supplies the Dimension XPS D300 with three free drive bays.

Dell's documentation is better than most. We liked the foldout setup guide, but we would have preferred greater technical depth nonetheless. Support policies include a three-year parts and one-year labor warranty, with 24-hour toll-free phone support. Tack on Dell's commendable record of customer service, and the D300 is a good buy for someone who needs a loaded PC and doesn't mind paying a bit more for it.

SUMMARY

PRO: Largest hard disk on budget chart, hardware includes DVD-ROM and Iomega Zip drives CON: Limited expandability, tricky case removal