Monday, September 29, 2014

Dell Inspiron 20 3000 All-In-One (AIO) Review: A Consumer's First Look




I used to be such a PC geek. I loved tinkering under the hood, upgrading the parts, adding more hard disk space, RAM or swapping out a better graphics card to satisfy the demands of a new game (gosh, I loved losing myself in games). But the bulky desktop tower was truly an eyesore, and the cables were a clutter monster.

When I got my iMac in early 2009, I just loved how everything was neatly incorporated within the display. I missed the ability to upgrade stuff (and the variety of games, arrgggh), but god, the iMac is a thing of beauty. Then recently Dell lent me their latest Inspiron 20 3000 Series All-in-One desktops. It's also an elegant, space-saving design, as the All-In-One name suggests. The thing it has over the iMac - it's a touchscreen! Well, some models are.

The fairly large 19.5" HD+ display makes it easy to toggle between multiple windows, show off vacation photos or provide an impromptu showing of a favorite movie. Games, videos and photo editing all get a boost with up to 1GB integrated graphics. Multi-tasking is a cinch - doing some invoicing spreadsheet while keeping an eye on social media, listening to music and uploading a movie at the same time.

You can choose from these processor configurations, and touchscreen options:
* Intel® Celeron® Processor (Dual Core) at S$499
* Intel(R) Pentium(R) Quad Core Processor N3530 at S$699
* Intel(R) Pentium(R) Quad Core Processor N3530 (Touchscreen model) at S$799

You get Windows 8.1 installed, and you can upgrade the trial Microsoft Office to a full license if you need it. A 500GB hard drive comes standard, along with 4GB 1600MHz DDR3L Memory. Sound comes alive with the technical GRAMMY® Award-winning Waves MaxxAudio® technology. The device is also very portable and easy to set up.

You do need to plug in to a power source, so it isn't quite like a giant tablet or iPad despite the touchscreen convenience. Mouse and keyboard are included as secondary input devices (you can also go wireless for even fewer cables).

There are lots of ports for easy connections: Connect your phone, printer, scanner or other devices with two USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 ports, plus an HDMI Out port.

In general, it worked well straight out of the box. I can't pry it away from the kids, who absolutely love the touchscreen feature. But at least they are also happy to do their homework on it, which frees up my computer for my own work.


Last photo courtesy of Dell. Thanks to Dell Singapore for the Inspiron AIO experience.
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2 comments

  1. Stick to food. As a tech review, yours was next to useless.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha, thanks, Charles. If you're looking for a detailed techie review, this is clearly not the right place. Mine is more for consumer awareness.

      Delete

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