Rated 
Great Desktop for a Reasonable Price.
Started Apr 29, 2006
Strengths: Upgradable, with two 5.25" and two 3.5" outward-facing bays. Space for two hard drives. PCI Express slot for high-performance graphics. Option for Intel Dual Core Processor.
Weaknesses: Be careful when opening and closing the case--the interlocking pieces of the bottom of the side face can easily scratch the case. No PS/2 ports.
This desktop actually goes by two names--Dimension 9150 (offered through Dell Small Business) and XPS 400 (offered through Dell Home). This in itself should tell you what a high-performance machine it is. The XPS 400 is marketed as one of Dell highest-end desktops (surpassed by only the XPS 600). The only real difference between the Dimension 9150 and the XPS 400 is an interchangeable piece of plastic with the system name on it.
Frankly, this desktop lives up to the billing. It features an Intel Dual Core Processor, which may just seem like more marketing rhetoric. When you use the desktop, however, it makes all the difference in the world. Have you ever been in the middle of an important task when suddenly your virus scanner decides it's time for a complete system scan? If you have, you know that the scan brings your system performance to a crawl. With a Dual Core Processor (which means the processor actually has two processing cores), there is virtually no performance loss--you still have complete access to one processing "core"--while the other core is being used by the virus scanner.
This desktop is built for high performance. It has an optional 13-in-1 Media Card Reader that fits in one of the 3.5" bays. It also features a PCI Express slot that allows for high-performance graphics as well as Serial ATA hard drives. It uses PC4200 533 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, again lending itself to high performance. It has two front USB ports conveniently located.
The only complaints I have are small. First, while the case opens quite easily, you have to be careful when opening and closing it. The interlocking teeth that "click" the side of the case into place have a tendency to scratch the rest of the case. The shiny black front-facing portions of the plastic case also have a tendency to scratch. Overall, you have to like this desktop. It combines a reasonable price point + performance + reliability. Hard to go wrong there.
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