The new version of the Dimension 4700 that we tested was modestly configured and designed for everyday home or home-office use. It is very much the same machine as the one reviewed for the October 2004 issue.
Our evaluation unit of the new 4700 came with a 3.2-GHz Pentium 4 540 and notched a WorldBench score of 82, on a par with similarly configured machines. (Surprisingly, the older 4700 with a 3-GHz Pentium 4 530 processor scored a marginally faster 83.) Performance in our game tests was disappointing: At 1280-by-1024 resolution in Return to Castle Wolfenstein, the PC managed a meager 42 frames per second; in Unreal Tournament 2003, it achieved 48 fps. This would certainly hinder any attempt to try power-hungry video games such as Doom.
The design of the familiar dark gray minitower is simple. DVD-ROM and CD-RW drives sit at the top of the front panel; two USB ports sit at the bottom. Annoyingly, the front USB and audio-out ports are inset under a flap, so they are hard to reach, especially if the computer is on the floor. Even with our review unit sitting on a test bench, we had to hunch over, trying to plug in a USB cable.
The back has six USB ports, but no FireWire port (unless you configure the system with either a FireWire card or a SoundBlaster Audigy 2 sound card, which has one FireWire port).
To open the case, you just push an L-shaped lever on the back to pull the side cover off. The interior is fairly clean, with wires bunched together and out of the way of the main components. Our test system contained one empty drive bay. Only one PCI slot and one PCI Express x16 slot were open. The 4700 requires tools to add or remove parts, in contrast with the tool-less design of Dell's Dimension 8400.
The accompanying 17-inch Dell E173FP flat-panel Color LCD rendered small text and graphics with good detail. Dell's A425 2.1-channel speaker set, which matches the design of the PC, delivers reasonable volume levels and clear sound.
We liked the keyboard with its shortcut buttons and a unique radio-style knob that you turn to adjust volume. Our test system, however, lacked any useful documentation.
A good value, the Dell Dimension 4700 has all the basic options at an economical price.
Andre Kvitka
