Nice Basic System, Runs Vista Well, Highly Recommend
Pros:
Vista runs well, 4 USB ports in front of case, runs quietly, great price/value
Cons:
2 sticks 512 RAM, must unscrew panel to get into case
The Bottom Line:
Runs Windows Vista well and operates very quietly. Performance of the Intel dual-core 1.8 GHz is great. Good value for the price.
|
|
Overall Rating:
|
 |
|
Author's Review
I recently upgraded from my Dell Dimension E521 to the Dell Inspiron 530 E2160 (purchased from the dell.com refurbished website). The specifications of my purchase are summarized below. I have been using this system for about three weeks now.
PERFORMANCE:
This system has performed above my expectations, especially considering all the complaints I have heard form friends who upgraded to Vista earlier this year. The Intel Pentium dual-core 1.8GHz processor seems to perform nicely and is a huge upgrade over my Athalon K7 X2800, which is odd because the Athalon had a slightly higher clock speed at 2.0 GHz. All MS Office applications run exceptionally well, and I have not suffered a crash yet. My only complaint here is that during boot up, the system will make a very loud noise, which is annoying, however when the PC is running, it is VERY quiet. Last, I did upgrade the memory to 4 GB right away, which does improve Vista performance (Microsoft recommends a minimum of 1 GB).
DESIGN:
The unit is a Dell mini-tower, which is slightly more than a foot tall. There are 4 USB ports on the front of the tower, which is very convenient (my Dimension had just two), and I don't think I will ever go back to owning a PC that had just two USB ports in the front. Surprisingly, the unit also features a floppy drive (do people still use these?), and a headset and mic jack in the front. The case is gray and features two small vents on the sides toward the bottom front of the case. Finally, my one concern is that there is no easy way to get into the case without getting a screwdriver and actually unscrewing the back plate of the case. My old Dimension had a click-in and sliding latch where I could remove the side of the case to install a PCI card, or upgrade the memory, however this case does not have such a feature.
ISSUES / CUSTOMER SUPPORT:
I have not had any problems with this unit yet. However, one complaint I have is that Dell specifications said that this unit comes with 1 GB SDRAM, what they don't tell you when you purchase the PC is that it is actually 2 512 MB of SDRAM sticks, which is annoying only if you intend to upgrade to more than 3 GB of memory, since the 2 sticks are taking up two of the four memory slots.
SUMMARY:
The system performs very well for basic use. I have been very pleased with how stable Vista has been on this system and would highly recommend the Inspiron 530 for those looking to upgrade to Vista.
Operating System: Windows® Home Premium Edition
Processor: Intel Pentium dual-core 1.80 GHz
Memory: 1GB Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (Upgraded to 4GB)
Hard Drive: 250GB Serial ATA II (7200RPM)
CD ROM/DVD ROM: 48X CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive
Video Card: 128 MB NVIDIA 8300 GS
Network Interface: Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options: 1Yr Ltd Warranty and At-Home Service
