The All-In-One Desktop

Today we have their flagship all-in-one desktop called the Inspiron One 2310. If the naming scheme is anything like their notebooks then this PC should be a lot more affordable than all the Studio series.In this article it is mainly about the Inspirion series desktop that can support all the function in one monitor.

Dell has taken a sensible approach and has upgraded with the unnecessary touch screen. Instead, get a standard desktop with a larger screen for the same or lesser price. Two models are available, the Inspiron One 2205, which has a 21.5" screen and an AMD Athlon II X2, while the 2310 has a Core i5 CPU and a 23" screen. Other than that, they are pretty much similar.

The unit came with a Core i5 460M which runs at 2.5GHz and Turbos upto 2.8GHz. It's a multithreaded dual core CPU based on the Arrandale core, which means the CPU is built on the 32nm fabrication process, but the integrated HD Graphics is still using 45nm tech and is on a separate die.

The other components include 4GB DDR3 dual channel memory, 3.5-inch 500GB hard drive (WD500AAKS) and finally an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 which is useless for gaming but is sufficient for HD movies. Let's take a little tour of the PC and see what other features it has to offer.

·       Driver and OS restore disks

·       Installation manuals

·       Wireless keyboard and mouse

·       IR blaster with remote for Media Center

·       Power adapter

Inspiron One 2310 enables you to experience video, games and photos with the powerful, compact all-in-one PC. It has the following features:

·       Operating System

Genuine Windows(R) 7 Home Premium 64bit (English)

·       Memory

4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (2X2GB)

·       Hard Drive

500GB SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive with Native Command Queuing

·       Monitor

Inspiron One 23 WLED 23" Non-Touch Screen

·       Video Card

Intel HD Graphics (integrated)

·       Optical Drive

Tray Load 8X DVD +/-RW with Dual Layer Write

·       Security Software

McAfee® SecurityCenter™ 11 (Multi Language) - 15 months

·       Dell Services: Hardware Maintenance

1 Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis

The Inspiron One 2310 is designed well with rounded edges and a neat little grill for the speakers at the bottom. The entire desktop has a matt finish with a funky chrome plated stand. We prefer the simplistic design over something flashy and over the top.

On the right we have the power button, HDD activity light, microphone and headphone jack, two USB 2.0 ports, card reader and volume control buttons. The left plays host to the DVD burner, brightness toggle buttons and a buttons to switch between sources.

Here we have four more USB 2.0 ports, line-out, Gigabit Ethernet, power port, TV Tuner, IR blaster, SPDIF out, Composite, VGA and HDMI. This is one of the first all-in-one PCs we've come across that actually features additional video ports that allows you to use the screen for other devices as well. This is a major pro for the Inspiron One as it set's itself apart from the hordes of other PCs in the market.

The keyboard and mouse is the same one used in the Studio One that we tested. Both require two AA batteries to operate.

The Core i5 is clearly superior to the older Core2Duo on the Lenovo. It's powerful enough for single threaded applications like audio/video encoding thanks to TurboBoost. Multithreaded apps should also fare better here because even though it has only two cores, it is multithreaded.  On the graphics front, don't expect to play the current games at the native resolutions, since it's simply not possible. Older games will fare better through.

The WLED backlit screen makes surfing the net or watching movies really enjoyable. The full HD resolution ensures desktop icons and pictures look sharp and vivid. The brightness level is good even for a room with lots of ambient light. Once again, Dell hasn't provided a button to turn the display off in case you want to leave the PC on for downloading or simply listen to music.

There’s never a proper menu system for the monitor to adjust the settings in all-in-one PC’s. The Inspiron One runs super quite without any sound and doesn't heat up much as well. The 2310 also comes with this neat little Media Center remote control which can be used for controlling Windows Media Center or even the volume, playback functions of Windows Media Player. The keyboard also has a bunch of multimedia shortcuts including a big volume dial.

Dell Inspiron One 2310 is a good buy considering the features you get and the form factor.