Dell Inspiron 620 Mainstream Desktop PC

Aug 11 2011 - Dell's Inspiron 620 will appeal to those that will probably want to use the system for digital media. The large hard drive and included Blu-ray drive make it much better suited for high definition video. The downside is that the system compromises the ability to easily upgrade the system for either better 3D graphics or through high speed external peripherals. So, if gaming is something you are considering, you might want to look at systems with more powerful graphics.

Aug 11 2011 - Dell's Inspiron 620 is primarily an update to their consumer focused desktop lineup by updating it to use the new second generation Core i processors from Intel. The majority of the models use the Core i3 but some higher end models such as the one reviewed use the Core i5-2310 quad core processor. This is one the lowest of the Core i5 series but it provides a solid amount of performance for the vast majority of tasks that consumer will use their computers for. It is even capable of desktop video tasks albeit slower than the more powerful Core i5 and i7 processors. It also comes with 6GB of DDR3memory which works fairly well at preventing slowdowns but it would have been nice to see it comes with 8GB like much of the competition in this $800 price range.

Dell is one of the companies that is looking to increase the base storage capacity on their desktop systems. With this version of the Inspiron 620, Dell uses a one and a half terabyte sized drive that provides it with roughly fifty percent more space for applications, data and media files than comparable priced desktops. The drive also uses the traditional 7200rpm spin rate compared to the green drives that many companies have been migrating to. This gives it a higher level of performance for faster access to data from the drive. In addition to this, Dell also packs in a Blu-ray compatible drive which is actually very uncommon even though the drives are much more affordable now that the standard has established itself. It can also record and playback CD or DVD media as well.

While the Inspiron 620 does come with a fair number of USB ports on the system for peripherals, it lacks and of the new high speed peripheral ports. This means that consumers can't use either the USB 3.0 or eSATA high speed external drives to easily expand or backup their desktop system.

Graphics for the Inspiron 620 uses an AMD Radeon HD 6450 graphics card. This is a fairly low end budget graphics card. It will allow the system to perform better at 3D graphics compared to the Intel HD Graphics 3000 that comes on the Core i5 processor but it will be very limited in performance. Expect to use it more for casual PC gaming at lower resolution and detail levels.

One major difference between the Inspiron lineup and the XPS lineup of systems has to do with their ability to be upgraded. Since the Inspiron systems like the 620 are designed as more general purpose PCs, it comes with a relatively low 300 watt power supply. The primary downside to such a low wattage power supply is that the graphics card can't be upgrade beyond the base budget graphics cards. The result is that consumer looking to use this for some high end gaming definitely would want to look at the XPS models from Dell instead.

Another item that many people may not think about is the warranty. Dell seems to be trying to improve their overall support by offering a longer two year warranty compared to the average system which comes with just a single year. In addition, the warranty offers in-home service rather than requiring users send it to an authorized service center.