--Relevant as of May 26, 2008

This chart compares the iMac to a Dell XPS 210 tower desktop and comparable screen. We think its pretty self explanitory, but to summarize, for an extra $250 for the Dell, you get 3 more USB ports and 2 expansion slots. Expansion slots are used if you want to upgrade your machine. If you wanted to put a different graphics card, or a different sound card, you would use the expansion slots. However, we really don't think many consumers would take advantage of them. Most peripherals, accessories, for computers can be used via USB or FireWire ports now, so expansion slots are really becoming a thing of the past for consumer computers.

In addition to the expansion slots and the 3 extra USB ports, you also get a bulky tower which takes up desk space, gives you a fancy cable mess, and has a noisy system fan.



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