If you haven’t ordered a computer from Dell before, there are a few things you should probably know. Dell allows users to custom configure their own computer. However, Dell is constantly changing the pricing of their systems and their upgrades. Try configuring identical systems a few hours apart and it’s quite likely that they will come out at different prices. Because of this, it is often beneficial to monitor the website for a period of time, in order to get the best deal. It is also worth a shot to call in because prices are negotiable, and Dell will sometimes offer additional discounts over the phone.

I will attempt to review our particular Dimension 3000 series system, as well as offer insights on the current upgrades available on the Dell website, However as noted above, these systems constantly change, so a 3000 series computer you order now may contain many different components from the one reviewed here.

My Mother bought this computer for primarily for her personal use in November 2004. I configured the system for her. My Mom is a light user, spending only a few hours a week on the computer. For her, the 3000 series is ideal, however, I feel heavier users on a budget will also be happy with this computer. At the time, the 3000 series was the cheapest model offered by Dell, although they have since returned the Dimension 2400 to the lineup, slightly up-marketing the 3000 series.

Even though this is one of Dell’s entry-level systems, it can still be had with quite a bit of processing power. I ordered the system with a 3.0 GHz Pentium 4 processor with Hyper-Threading technology, and 512 MB Dual Channel DDR SDRAM. For those that aren’t technical minded, I think these are some pretty impressive specs for a “low-end” desktop. At only about twenty bucks for the upgrade from the default, older 2.8 GHz processor without Hyper-Threading support to the 3.0 GHz HT chip, and about forty bucks for the upgrade from 256 single-channel RAM to 512 dual-channel RAM, I felt these upgrades were well worth it. For these prices, I’d recommend these upgrades to moderate computer users, while light users should probably still stick with the default. My Mom could probably do without these upgrades, but I just couldn’t resist a good deal!

I used some benchmark testing software to test the Dimension 3000 series computer. The computer performed on par with a comparably equipped Gateway computer, and considerably better then my Dell Dimension 4550 with an older Pentium 4 2.53 GHz processor. In the real world, the 3000 had no problems surfing the web, streaming video and using basic Microsoft Office applications, all at once! I have used the computer for several extended periods. I am a pretty heavy multi-tasker on the computer; I usually run a couple programs such as Winamp, AIM and Microsoft outlook in the background, along with three or four web browser windows and a “work” application, in this case Microsoft Word. The 3000 handled a couple hours of this use with ease – no bogging down and need to kick up the cooling fans to high speed. On my own computer I often attempt to run another resource-heavy program, such as Microsoft Visual Studio .NET, Macromedia Dreamwaver or Mathsoft Mathcad on top of all that, but this is where my computer begins to struggle and I have to start closing programs. I don’t think my Mom would be happy if I installed these programs on her computer, so unfortunately, I was unable to test this on the 3000, but I think that it would perform considerably better.

I selected the smallest hard drive, a 40GB ATA/100 drive that spins at 7200 RPMs for our system, knowing that my Mom won’t be installing many programs on this computer. Heavy downloader’s may want to look at the available 80GB or 160GB upgrades. Although this hard drive only spins at the standard 7200RPMs, I noticed that I could browse through the computers hard drive in Windows considerably faster then on most other computers I have used. The performance test showed that our Dimension 3000 read and wrote data twice as fast as both my computer and the comparable Gateway! While I think that may be a fluke in the test program, our hard disk performance was good either way.

The cheapest 3000 series systems comes with just a single CD-ROM drive, however, Dell often offers free upgrades to a DVD-ROM or CD-RW drive; most customers will probably want both. A DVD-RW drive is also available. I chose separate 48X CD-RW and 16X DVD-ROM drives, as the DVD burner market price is still a little high. Although a single CD-RW/DVD drive is available, separate drives are necessary to directly copy one CD onto another, and this also offers an advantage if one of your drives goes south. The only disadvantage of separate drives with the 3000 series is that the case only has two 5” bays, so you will not have an extra bay to install – whatever else. My Mom also insisted on having this thing called a 3.5” floppy drive. Unfortunately, this thing is not free - Dell tacked on twenty bucks for it. Fortunately, all the drives have preformed flawlessly so far.

The Dimension 3000 series comes standard with integrated audio and video. A separate Sound Blaster card is available, but probably only necessary if you have some nice speakers. With our cheap 6-watt speakers, the integrated audio is good enough. Unfortunately, a separate video card is NOT available as an upgrade, and you cannot add your own video card because the 3000 series does not have an AGI slot. According to the performance test, the integrated Intel graphics are far behind the Radeon 9600, particularly for 3-D graphics, and cannot even match the older NVIDEA G-force card I have on my computer. Graphics are the definite weak point of the 3000; thus, serious gamers should not even consider this system. However, for everyone else, the 3000’s graphics are probably good enough. I did not notice any graphics related performance issues while using our 3000 series computer.

The computer also comes with the standard 56K Modem and 10/100 Ethernet. The Ethernet is integrated into the motherboard, while the modem is not, taking up one of the three PCI slots. We have been using the integrated Ethernet without a problem, but have not used the modem at all.

The 3000 series comes with only the most basic software standard, namely Windows XP home, Word Perfect Productivity Pack, MacAfee Security Center and a slew of rather useless trail software. I chose not to upgrade any software. Dell doesn’t offer any spectacular discounts for its software upgrades, and a lot of it – like Dell Jukebox and Jasc Paint Shop Pro aren’t exactly the most popular programs out there. I feel Windows XP home is ok for our home network, but not optimal for large networking (like on a university campus). You also might want to consider a Microsoft Office Pack, which most users prefer over the cheaper Word Perfect Pack. Otherwise, I would stay away from any software upgrades.

While my Dell 4550 series computer came with a cheap feeling plastic exterior case, the 3000 series features a much more solid feeling metal case with a plastic front face. One of the side panels can be easily removed without any tools for easy access to the guts of this computer. The whole unit is relatively light and compact. Unfortunately, this also limits expandability. As mentioned above, the 3000 only has two 5” drive bays and no AGI slot. It also only has 3 PCI slots. However, the 3000 does at least have two slots for memory, which should make it upgradeable to two gigs. It also has four USB ports in the back along with old school parallel and serial ports. On the front, two USB ports and a headphone jack are easy to access, unlike those on my 4550, which were placed at an angle under a cover.

We also got a Dell E153 15” flat panel monitor for 50 bucks and a free rebadged Lexmark printer with the system. The total price, including taxes, after all discounts was a tick under $600; a pretty fair deal in my books. The Dimension 3000 certainly packs a nice punch for its price, maintaining Dell’s good reputation in this spectrum. The only major manufacturer that can come close to Dell’s price is E-machines, which may be worth a look. My Mom and my sister have both been using the computer over the past two months, and neither has had any major problems or complaints with it. If you ask me, we are more then happy with the Dell Dimension 3000 Series computer.


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 600
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Processor speed: over 1000
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 31-40