(Please see my video above for a short overview).
First impressions of the Dell Inspiron 24 7000 are good. The design is fairly understated but stylish. Unlike most All-in-Ones, the components reside in the base of the computer rather than the screen itself. This makes it more practical in use, with all the ports easily accessible.
It comes in various configurations, but the model I’m looking at here has the following specification:
- 23.8″ Full HD touchscreen
- Intel Core i5 6300HQ Quad Core Processor (2.3Ghz, can boost to 3.2GHz)
- 12GB DDR4 2133MHz memory
- 1TB hybrid hard disk with 32GB SSD cache
- Nvidia 940M graphics card
- Windows 10 Home
It’s a very decent spec which should be able to handle most tasks, except playing any modern games.
Setup
Setup of the machine is straightforward with no assembly required. Just plug into the mains and switch on, although you do need to locate and insert the USB wireless dongle for the keyboard and mouse into one of the USB 2 ports around the back. The dongle is easy to miss, don’t assume like I did that the keyboard and mouse are Bluetooth!
There wasn’t too much junkware to clear off which was a nice surprise. I uninstalled McAfee and a Dropbox trial and disabled OneDrive and was good to go. Dell does later prompt you to download and install additional software, but I gracefully declined.
Computers still aren’t coming with the Windows 10 anniversary update at the time of writing this article (almost 6 months after its release), and this machine is no exception which is slightly inconvenient, since a significant update will decide to install itself just when you’re beginning to enjoy your new computer.
Features
The 23.8″ 1920 x 1080 resolution touchscreen looks good, with decent viewing angles, as you’d expect from Dell. But what makes this machine stand out is that this screen is fully articulated, so you can adjust it to lay completely flat like a giant tablet. It’s far more natural to use a touchscreen flat like this; poking at the screen when vertical has always felt awkward to me.
The adjustment of the screen is smooth if a little stiff, but feels sturdy.
The screen has a 3D Intel Realsense webcam built in, which is able to perceive depth. I didn’t have enough time with this computer to really understand if this had any practical uses, but I did try the pre-installed 3DMe program. This allows you to scan your face using the 3D camera and then place it onto a variety of models and even send it off to be printed.
It worked pretty well, as you can see in the video at the top of the article, and that was without particularly good lighting.
The speaker is built into the base and produced better sound than I’ve come to expect from All-in-Ones. The base also has some very good connectivity with 6 USB ports including 4 fast USB 3.0 ports, an SD card slot, a gigabit Ethernet port, and both HDMI in and out ports. There is also the DC-in port which connects via an external 130W laptop style charger.
Having both HDMI in and out ports makes the screen very versatile. You can add another display via the out port, or you could plug in your Sky box or a Roku streaming player for instance, via the in port and use the Dell as TV.
The wireless keyboard and mouse don’t feel as premium as the machine itself which is a shame, but it’s easy to upgrade if it bothers you.
Performance
The computer has a very decent spec, but the 5400RPM laptop hard drive does slow it down slightly. It is a Hybrid drive which means it’s a conventional 1TB spinning disc, but has a fast 32GB SSD cache. The drive should adapt to how you use the computer and ensure software used often is cached on the faster SSD. But I’d still much prefer an albeit smaller SSD, and then plug in a fast USB 3.0 external hard drive as required.
Running the basic benchmark from userbenchmark.com gave decent scores (Game 16%, Desk 46%, Work 30%), although it got pulled down on the hard drive (it incorrectly recognises it as an SSD) and for gaming (to be expected).
Still, the quad core Core i5 processor and very generous 12GB of memory make the machine very capable for home computing tasks and many business tasks, even some video editing if that’s your thing.
Conclusions
All-in-Ones are still popular, with the Apple iMac the one to beat. This computer comes in a fair bit cheaper than an equivalent iMac, and with additional features like the fully articulated touchscreen, 3D camera and the excellent array of ports it’s good value, at least compared the the iMac. It also wouldn’t look out of place in the front room, and could double up as a TV if needed.
Pros
- Stylish, sturdy build
- Generous selection of ports, easily accessible
- Good quality screen and decent sound
- Articulating screen that can lay completely flat
- HDMI in and out ports
- Limited amount of junkware pre-installed. (Although Dell does prompt you to download some later on!)
Cons
- Hard drive holds performance back slightly (versus an SSD or even a 7200RPM desktop drive)
- Wireless keyboard and mouse could be more premium, in line with the machine itself
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Any questions, please ask away in the comments section below.
Sounds quite impressive. What’s the price compared with the iMac?
In the UK it’s a around £800 (see link above). iMac’s start at £1049 but the more comparable quad core version is £1249 – albeit with a faster i5 processor, but still only 8GB of RAM.