Dell Dimension XPS R450

Dell Dimension XPS R450

SUMMARY

PRO: Extensive features including high-quality 4.8X DVD-ROM drive and MPEG-2 playback CON: None significant

If you're venturing away from the corporate fold, Dell's latest Win 98 midtower is a fine choice. After a $210 price cut, this PII-450 now costs $2319. Good performance, impressive multimedia features, and strong reliability and support ratings combine to make the XPS R450 one of our top picks for power-hungry small or home businesses.

Although the Dimension's PC WorldBench 98 score of 212 is among the lowest on the power chart, this PC is plenty fast for most users, loading Microsoft Word and Internet Explorer on the screen almost instantly. File junkies and pack rats will like the big 10GB hard drive.

Multimedia capability is one of this system's strengths. Its DVD video output is supersmooth, thanks to effective MPEG-2 playback, 128MB of RAM, and a 17-inch Trinitron monitor. Even with half a dozen apps churning away in the background, playback remained flawless. Our test PC came with an STB Velocity 128zx graphics card with 8MB of video RAM, but Dell now ships this Dimension with an STB NVidia TNT 3D that packs 16MB of video RAM.

The included Turtle Beach Montego sound card and Altec Lansing ACS295 speaker-subwoofer combination produce powerful, crystal-clear sound. Just make sure you have enough space for the subwoofer, which is the size of a small microwave oven. Dell backs the well-built, well-documented XPS R450 with phone support around the clock, and our readers rate Dell's system reliability as good.