I'm an admirer of truth. You obviously are not. And though I like your handle, ON IGNORE. BTW... Not Egyptian... Greek.
If anyone is still running one of the Dells affected by the capacitor issue and doesn't want to throw it (best) a possible solution is replacement capacitor kits available from http://www.thecapking.com Note that in addition to having to solder them in, these are apparently double layer PCB's (in GX270) so it would be easy to cause a new problem. Right now secondhand computer shops in Thailand are awash with these 2003-5 Dells - now I know why......note that capacitor make alone is actually NOT maybe the issue - the one I had did NOT have Nichicon capacitors but developed the problem - before any bulging or leaking was evident.
Though I am a Dell convert up to a point, I have to give them a knock on this one. Dell promotes the Optiplex line as a "business class" machine.. but they apparently put the same, ubiquitous, el-cheapo $40 mobo in them as is found in 80-90% of the world's desktops. (For those of you who don't know... if the CPU is the heart of the computer, the mobo is surely the "central nervous system". If you want a good computer, don't buy one with an el-cheapo mobo.) I bought one of Dell's el-cheapos once... but only because it was REALLY cheap with the rebate. I've since sold it and will not be buying others. Dell formerly had 3 grades of "lines"... "el-cheapo", "mid-grade", and "high-end". They phased out the mid-grade when they discontinued the Dimension line. Now they just have "el-cheapo" and "high-end". The el-cheapos are exactly that... just like 80-90% of the world's OEM makers. Dell's "high-end", however, is quite good... support is excellent also. (I have 5 Precisions in my home network.. including an M4300 notebook... a real honey.)
I still have a Dimension 4550 running on XP. I don't know the exact date but I think it was around 2000 or 2001 when I bought it. Never had a problem. Often a company will sell the same product as multiple different products changing only warranty and level of service in the event of a problem. Dell Business is going to give better customer service and warranty then Dell Home. Car batteries are a good example of this at Autozone - same battery with three different stickers and three different prices. The $49 battery is 24 months warranty, $79 is $36 months and $119 is a 72 month battery - but all three are the same battery. They just give you a longer warranty for more money. I'm not saying there's no difference between different Dell lines but don't be surprised when many of the parts are the same even though you pay more and they call it something better.
dell has no reason to intentionally make their computers fail. computers become obsolete after a few years because of software and new technologies (eg, wireless networking). planned obsolescence is more relevant for products that would otherwise be useful for decades. examples would be a beard shaver and a lawnmower.
or another way to think of it is, a battery costs $49 with a 24 month warranty. you can buy an optional 12 month warranty extension for $30 or 48 month extension for $70. their marketing department probably tested both and determined the first way was better.
Dell has done something like that... with the old Inspiron desktop, Optiplex, and the lower numbers of the Dimension line... all had a similar, low-end mobo. The middle and higher numbered Dimensions plus the Precision lines all had higher quality mobos, without "onboard video chip", longer warranties. Your Dimension 4550 is one of these. The Dimension line has been discontinued while Precision is their current business line. The Optiplex line is still sold, but I don't know if Dell has upgraded the quality of that line's mobo.
More accurately... 1. Dell ranks about average in reliability, but some models do well on price. 2. 80-90% of the world's desktop computers are very similar.... nearly identical, "onboard video", el-cheapo $40 mobo... regardless of brand. 3. Dell's higher end Dimensions and current Precision lines have been very good... my own experience has been nearly problem-free for 10 years on perhaps 20 machines.
I recently bought a "dell optiplex gx270" from craiglist for $30 and just replaced 2 capacitors by myself. Defective capacitors were visually identifiable and it was very easy to fix them. The box is now my 24x7 server, where I run my EoD market scan & perform other calculations. Thanks dell for screwing up.