WRT what makes a Dell a Dell, I don’t believe they use off-the-shelf motherboards. And while I haven’t heard anything bad about them performance-wise, it could conceivably lead to complications down the line if you try to upgrade (esp. if you want to upgrade your CPU - anybody know what BIOS Dells use?).
“anybody know what BIOS Dells use”
Their own :-)… They are so up to date on their bios, using the latest possible memory that Im sure they must write their own bios. Their machines are so cheap these days, it’s not worth it to change the board later (but its easy to put in another dvd drive or hd if you want). I bought a 4550 with a 2.4ghz processor & a 15" LCD dvi monitor from them for $690 with free shipping. To update I can jut buy another one of their computers for $400 or so when I need it. Seems to me processor speeds aren’t going faster lately.
BTW, on sunday Office Depot is going to have a HP all in one printer for $98 with a $20 gift card on top of that. Great addition.
>What part of the computer does Dell make other than the case?
Their cases are nice. I got a Dell 2350 2 weeks ago, and it is wonderfully uncluttered and sturdy looking inside. One side of the case slides right off if you push the latch with one hand while you press on a little step with the other. I’ve been frustrated with awkwardly made and ill-fitting cases on other machines, where the card unseats from its slot if you tighten its screw, or where the drive cables are stretched tight and the connectors still aren’t all the way on their pins, or where parts interfere with each other and chafe at insulation. And some cases are pretty hard to open without damaging them, especially when they get older. I am very pleased and think this computer is worth 20% or $200 more to me because it is well constructed and easy to work with in this particular sense.
Also I hear Dell has better tech support availability than many smaller manufacturers, though I haven’t tested it.