Dell Inspiron One 2205 review

Just like desktop PCs, you can get All-in-Ones designed to suit a wide variety of purposes and prices. Dell’s Inspiron One is aimed at more budget-conscious users, but you still get a Full HD touchscreen display, dedicated graphics processor and a decent wireless mouse and keyboard. There’s even a TV tuner.

The processor isn’t very powerful – it’s only an Athlon II X2 250e, and produced an overall score of just 36 in our benchmark tests. This is partly due to its very limited multi-processing capabilities, which let it down in the multi-tasking and video encoding tests. However, if your main interests are browsing the web, watching movies, playing the odd casual game and writing documents, there’s nothing you’ll need a more powerful PC for.

The 2205 has 4GB of memory, and a 64-bit version of Windows 7 to go with it. Its hard disk is only a 500GB model, although that should be plenty for most people. If you want more, you’ll need external storage, so you’ll be pleased to find six USB ports – two at the front right of the display, and four in a fairly accessible location at the back of the PC.

You’ll have to use one of the ports to connect the adaptor for the supplied wireless mouse and keyboard. These are remarkably good – the keyboard sounds a little rattly, but has a supportive wrist rest, a spacious layout and lends itself to rapid typing. The ambidextrous mouse is similarly comfortable to use.

The right-hand side of the PC also has a memory card reader and a pair of 3.5mm audio ports – one for a mic, and another for either headphones or an external speaker. There’s another 3.5mm port at the back which can be configured to connect either a set of external stereo speakers or a dedicated subwoofer to work alongside the integrated stereo speakers build into the computer’s chassis. It’s a good idea, as the built-in speakers are almost entirely lacking in bass; however, they’re also rather underpowered, so could easily be overwhelmed by a separate bass speaker. A dedicated set of speakers is a better idea, as the integrated ones are fine for program sounds or watching the odd YouTube video, but we wouldn’t rely on them for much more than that.