PCs have been making their way into living rooms for some time now, but the Dell Inspiron One 2320 is one of the few designed to replace your TV —and it’s more than just a well-equipped all-in-one desktop. The included Intel Core i5 processor and Nvidia GPU provide potent horsepower and multimedia capabilities for any day-to-day task. And an impressive number of media-centric options, like a TV tuner, Blu-ray combo drive, inputs for HDMI, VGA, and composite video, and a good-old-fashioned remote control, will make this system a part of your entertainment setup for years to come.
The built-in speakers don’t have the THX sound of the older Dell Inspiron One 102305-4429MSL, but the SRS Premium sound they offer is clear (if light on bass) at all but the highest volumes; to get the most out of this as an entertainment system, you’ll definitely want to add a decent subwoofer.
The touchscreen lets you navigate through programs with a tap of the finger, and supports multitouch gestures for resizing and rotating as needed. The wireless keyboard and mouse share a single 2.4-GHz wireless USB adapter that lets you type and click from up to 33 feet away.
In addition to the built-in TV tuner, the Inspiron One offers 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, and Intel’s Wireless Display (WiDi) 2.0, a wireless HDMI replacement that also requires a $99 Netgear Push2TV HD adapter. The 2TB hard drive is spacious-double the 1TB drive found in the Editors’ Choice Sony VAIO VPC-L231FX/W-and spins at a respectable 7,200rpm.
Its 2.5-GHz dual-core Intel Core i5-2400S processor and 8GB of RAM proves a good combination for everyday computer work. In our CineBench R11.5 rendering test, which serves as our processor speed benchmark, the Inspiron scored 3.35, ahead of the Toshiba DX735-D3201, but behind the HP TouchSmart 610-1150y and iMac.
The Inspiron also performed well in multi-media tests, for video-encoding and work in Photoshop CS5. Thanks to its discrete Nvidia GeForce GT 525M video card, the Inspiron One 2320 delivers some of the best graphics and gaming performance available in an all-in-one.
The Dell Inspiron One 2320 wins us over with its combination of category-leading performance right now and entertainment features that will keep the all-in-one in use for years. A few omissions, like the lack of HDMI output and USB 3.0, might be a deal breaker for some, but most will be able to overlook it. Even with these flaws the Inspiron One 2320 is a fine system that should satisfy most computer shoppers, and it surpasses our previous Editors’ Choice, the Sony VAIO VPC-L231FX/W.
