I have a 4100 w/ 866 and have a 4500 w/ 2.4 (similar to the 4550) and they are very much the same. The convenience of all the extra USB ports front and back is the the main difference. You won't notice much difference otherwise. A better upgrade would be the 8250, or wait until you need something that your 4100 doesn't have.

Thanks,Mary G

Best Wishes

Sheryla

Mary G:

I thought I would add that a friend just got a 4550 for less than $600.00 and the biggest difference by far from my 4100 was how quiet it runs(don't know how long this will last).

It is tempting to get one for this price for relief of my ears as my 4100 is noisy,is yours?

Thanks again.

Sheryla

there was a problem with the 4100 fans when they were new. Many people contacted Dell and received a new quieter fan.  I have a 4100 @ 1ghz, and never have had a problem, but mine was a later model.  So look into it... what warranty did you get?

sean

I did look into it and have the later model but it still sounds like a refrigerator compared to the 4550, which is so quiet you can barely hear it.

I like my 4100 but as I said,it is almost worth $600.00 for the 4550 to get away from the noise.

Thanks for your reply.

Sheryla

I have a 4100 1G, 512MB of RAM and it has been reasonably quiet. If you clean the fans regularly, you most likely have a cooling fan or powersupply fan that is defective. I just built a computer very similar to a 4550 with a 2.53 P4. In normal use is it is not that much more impressive than the 4100. Its faster but not that much faster. When I start using Photoshop with 132MB files there is not comparison. The new computer is so much faster, its like comparing apples and oranges. 

Message Edited by fredha on 12-23-2002 04:52 PM

Thanks,but I had everything checked out by Dell and they said the noise level was not above the normal level.

I really am impressed by the 4550 when it comes to being quiet, i have never heard a computer run so quiet and at under $600.00 it seems to be a good buy.

Thanks and best wishes.

Sheryla