The Dell GX240 system came with a 2.2GHz 'Northwood' P4 (the latest version of the P4 with 512KB of L2 cache), backed disappointingly by Intel's 845 chipset using PC133 SDRAM and not the 845D and DDR, which would have given it stunning performance.

The Dell GX240 comes housed in the now standard black and grey Optiplex desktop case, which has to be one of the best-designed, tool-free desktop cases around. Its clamshell design makes accessing any part of the system straightforward.

The tool-free theme carries on inside with the drive bays, expansion plates and power supply all removable without the aid of a screwdriver. As an added bonus, by using the supplied base it can be converted into a mini-tower. You also get a padlock ring and a chassis intrusion detector, so the GX240 can be made a secure system.

The compact nature of the GX240 means there are no spare drive bays, but there are three PCI slots free for card upgrades. For storage Dell uses a slow 5,400rpm 20GB Maxtor hard drive, not state of the art by any means but perfectly suited for the business market the GX240 is aimed at, as is the optical drive - a modest 24-speed CD-ROM - and the 16MB ATI Rage 128 Pro graphics card. This drives the Dell 1503FP 15-inch flat panel monitor that's bundled with the review system.

This is very much a business system, so the spec isn't as performance-oriented as some of the other machines tested here. But workers aren't supposed to be gamers, are they?

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