Review: Dell Inspiron One 20, A Decent Budget AiO

AIO PCs are fast replacing the traditional, bulky, and space-hogging desktop PCs. They're more stylish and yet don't cost a fortune to own. We reviewed one such unit, the Dell Inspiron One 20, an entry-level AIO meant for users looking for a compact desktop replacement.

Features

The AiO comes with a 20-inch full HD multi-purpose display that serves as connectivity port hub for mouse, keyboard (both wireless), USB ports for external devices and optical drive as well. Running on Windows 8 operating system, the AiO is available with touch or non-touch based display. Plus, like most AiOs, this one also doesn't have any batteries. We often see consumers looking for battery backup in their AiOs, which currently doesn't exist. Maybe AiO vendors should use this as an opportunity to enhance their products.

Backed up by an Intel 3rd generation Core i3 processor, the AiO is capable of supporting 2 GB/4 GB DDR3 RAM which is not high in terms of performance output but for a budget AiO, the functionality is served. With a high capacity 1 TB hard drive and Integrated Intel HD2500, Nvidia GeForce 610M 1G DDR3 graphics card, the Inspiron One 20 AiO is able to render quality graphics output but slightly under par at real-time performance. It comes with a host of connectivity options; USB, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and audio jack among others. For audio, the AiO has in-built Waves MaxxAudio3 speakers.

Performance

The AiO is well built, sturdy and weighs around 8 kg (with stand). The display has bigger bezel than we are usually accustomed to with AiOs but the overall screen space is big and good for viewing. The display offers crisp and detailed content be it video, text or pictures. We tried out playing few videos, movies, audio and the overall results were quite satisfactory. But when it comes to gaming, the Inspiron One 20 did not impress us much and was merely average (with regards to graphics/frame output) and can be used for regular PC operations and not worry about system slowdown. Those observations were vindicated by PCMark (7) and 3DMark (11) scores which read at 2768 and P393 respectively and if we compare these scores to that of Lenovo IdeaCentre C320 AiO 7144 and 4509 on PCMark and 3DMark respectively, there is a stark contrast between these two budget AiOs.

This clearly emphasizes the AiO being not-so-graphic-friendly option. 1 TB storage is an advantage with the system and lets you store large amount of assorted data without worrying about running down space. The Windows 8 platform is a mixed bag when it comes to performance and effectiveness and eats up a lot of hardware. The keyboard and mouse (both wireless) are bundled with the AiO and work seamlessly. The option of CD drive enables the desktop-complaint users to make a seamless transition from their bulky boxes to more compact and well-designed AiOs.