Dell Dimension 2350

WHAT'S HOT: Dell's Dimension 2350 has a sturdy, no-nonsense design, and it also comes with an impressive bundle of business software--both Microsoft Office XP Small Business Edition and Corel WordPerfect Office Suite 2002. The addition of Office XP is especially nice, and this is the only system we looked at in the under-$900 category to offer both titles.

WHAT'S NOT: Because of the PC's relatively short stature, it lacks upgrade options found in larger towers. With two optical drives installed, there are no open bays for additional hard drives. (Consider ordering the system with a DVD/CD-RW combination drive.) It does, however, include one free socket for additional memory and two PCI slots for adapter cards. Though it has Intel's 845G integrated graphics, there's no AGP slot; you'll have to purchase a PCI-based graphics board if you want more-powerful 3D graphics down the road.

WHAT ELSE: Equipped with a 2A-GHz Pentium 4 CPU, 256MB of DDR266 SDRAM, and integrated Intel 845G graphics, our test unit delivered a score of 104 on PC WorldBench 4 tests, putting it in line with other, similarly configured systems we've tested.

The 2350's look matches that of other machines in the Dell family--it has a black case accented with a midnight-gray face panel--but it lacks the design niceties of the 4550 and 8250 models' easy-open chassis, such as tool-less access to drive bay cages and PCI slots (both of which are standard in the Dimension 4550 and 8250 cases). At upgrade or repair time, you'll need a screwdriver to access components. To gain access to the unit's interior, you'll have to undo a large thumbscrew and lift up a small L-shaped lever located on the back so you can pop off the side panel.