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Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 4 out of 5
Good ol' Dell Dimension B110, March 14, 2009
By rikguenther

"I acquired this computer used a few years ago (this is written in 2009) and at the time the specs were as follows:

2.5ghz Celeron D
80gb 5400rpm IDE Hard Drive
Cdrw Drive
512 DDR 333 RAM
Microsoft Windows Home Edition
Intel Extreme Graphics 2
and other insignificant features.

At the time, all i really needed it for was writing papers and browsing the internet. Suited that task perfectly.

However, as time went on my needs have matured and I decided it was time for an upgrade. Rather than buy a new computer, I just got a couple things to bring this one more up to speed with my new needs.

2.4ghz Pentium 4
120gb 7200rpm IDE Hard Drive
DVD-RW Combo Drive
768mb DDR 333 RAM
Microsoft Windows Professional Edition
ATI Radeon 256mb X1300 PCI

These basic and subtle upgrades have vastly improved my user experience with this machine. I now use this machine as the primary workhorse computer in the house, even over that of my brand new high powered laptop. I use this computer mostly for software development and testing purposes and also as a benchmark for older legacy systems. I run virtual machines with no issues. Also, I use this computer as a backup storage device for the entire network of my home.

I have never had any issues with this system. It's one of the most reliable machines I've ever used. It's even outlived that laptop I spoke of earlier. So far on the laptop I've had the hard drive die and the display stop functioning and the laptop is less than a year old.

However, I do have some gripes about the B110.

First of all, the lack of any kind of modern graphics capabilities (AGP or PCIe) really holds this machine back in terms of a gaming device. Not that a system with standard DDR memory and a low powered Pentium 4 is all that well suited to gaming, but it would've been a nice option to even have AGP 4x at least, if only for the extra PCI slot.

Also, a floppy drive would've been nice. However, I can't blame this on the system because it does have the capabilities to use a Floppy drive and since I got it used I really had no choice.

Lastly, I would've really liked more options in the BIOS for adjusting things like CPU voltage and speed, memory timings, and other things of that nature. I suppose you can't really expect this not only from an OEM like Dell, but also on such an inexpensive device.

Overall, however, I love my Dell B110. As stated, it is one of the most reliable computers I have ever used and I believe it will last me even further into the future. And heck, once it finally does die, I'll probably just reuse the case because I'm so attached to this computer. Plus, how cool would it be to have my modest looking dell really be a water-cooled, quad-core, DDR3, GeForce 9800GTX toting monster in disguise?"

20 of 20 people found this review helpful.