Feature Comparison
Now that you had a good look at the configuration of the four competitors it's time to compare the features of the low-end and the high-end systems side by side.
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Dell Dimension 8100Limited EditionPentium 4 1.3 GHz$1588 | Gateway Select 1000CustomizedAthlon 1 GHz$1594 |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Pentium 4 1.3 GHz | AMD Athlon 1 GHz(200 MHz FSB) |
| Memory | 128 MB PC600 RDRAM | 128 MB PC133 SDRAM |
| Hard Drive | 20 GB | 20 GB |
| CDROM/DVD | 48x CDROM | 48x CDROM |
| Graphics Card | NVIDIA GeForce2 MX 32 MB | NVIDIA GeForce2 Pro 32 MB |
| Sound Card | Soundblaster 64V PCI | Soundblaster AudioPCI128D |
| Modem | V90/56K Telephony | 56K / Home Networking Combo Card |
| Network Card | n/a | 56K / Home Networking Combo Card |
| Monitor | 19" Dell OEM | 19" Gateway OEM |
| Speakers | Harman-Kardon | Boston Acoustics BA265 |
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows ME | Microsoft Windows ME |
| Software | Microsoft Works 2001Microsoft Money 2001 StandardNorton Antivirus 2001 | Microsoft Works 2001Microsoft Word 2000Microsoft EncartaQuicken 2001Norton Antivirus |
Dell's 'little' 'Limited Edition' Pentium 4 is not equipped that much worse than Gateway's Athlon system. There are a few remarkable things however.
First of all, Dell is realizing the 'low price' by equipping the Pentium 4 1.3 GHz with PC600 RDRAM. This memory type is no less than 25% slower than PC800 RDRAM, having a very bad impact on the memory bandwidth-sensitive Pentium 4. A Pentium 4 1.5 GHz with PC600 RDRAM is 5-8% slower than with PC800 RDRAM. If you should ever decide to go for a Pentium 4 system, please take my advice and invest in PC800.
The other and most important difference between the Dell and the Gateway system is clearly the 3D-card, which I marked in red. NVIDIA's GeForce2 Pro is of course way faster than the GeForce2 MX. This graphics card alone will assure that the Gateway system will kill Dell's Pentium 4 box in any 3D-benchmark. The good 3D-performance of Pentium 4 has simply been cancelled out.
Last but not least the Gateway system comes with a home networking card and a bit more software for the same price. The other components seem pretty much on par.
