Dell Inspiron i3646-1000BLK Desktop

With powerful processors and high-capacity hard drives, you can count on full-size desktop performance in a slim, space-saving design.

• Intel Celeron J1800 Processor


• 4GB DDR3


• 500 GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive


• Windows 8.1

Dell Inspiron i3647-2309BK Desktop (Intel Core i3 Processor, 4GB RAM)

CUSTOMER REVIEW



*Caveat* - I bought this from a local computer store that price matched Amazon, so I will not show as a verified purchase.



The Inspiron 3000s or "Smallspiron" is an excellent small-foot-print home/office PC.



The heart of the machine is the staggeringly powerful Core i3-4150 Haswell Dual Core processor, which is quite frankly more powerful than any home-pc could ever need (shy of gaming/rendering/auto-cad etc).



I am using this to run a small business, and it has taken every ounce of work I've thrown at it and then some.



I would *not* recommend this PC for anyone who intends to play any game more complex than Farmville.



I *would* recommend this PC for anyone who intends to do office tasks, browse the internet, do emails/netflix/youtube etc.

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Upgrading the RAM to 8 GB in this machine is truly easy, but requires removing a rather awkward fan-cover to get access to the RAM slots. 4GB (which is what it comes with standard) will be fine, but 8 makes this unit sing!



If you have a friend with a picture of a penguin with a wizard hat on their desk or car, ask them to help you - offer pizza or beer.



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Normally I recommend reformatting the drive and installing a clean OEM Operating System right off the bat with any pre-built system, but Dell's image isn't terrible, and removing the junk-ware was fairly quick and painless.

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All in all, I think this is an EXCELLENT micro-tower, and easily the best value-for-money available on the market for Home-Office use. You would be hard-pressed to achieve similar performance in a self-built system, and to include an OS.



HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Apple Mac Mini MGEN2LL/A Desktop (NEWEST VERSION)

Apple iMac

• 2.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5


• 1TB (5400-rpm) hard drive


• 8GB of 1600MHz LPDDR3 memory


• Intel Iris Graphics


• Mac OS X Yosemite

Apple iMac ME086LL/A 21.5-Inch Desktop (NEWEST VERSION)

CUSTOMER REVIEW



I doubt that I'll ever go back to Windows again (other than the machine that I use at work). This is something that I've wanted to do for a while but I didn't want to take the time to learn it. I finaly bit the bullet and did it. I ordered it on a Saturday and it arrived on the following Wednesday (free shipping).



Within a few days, I'd figured out most of what I care about. I bought a book but found it only marginally helpful. In the several days bewteen ordering it and the arrival, I watched tons of YouTube videos on the iMac and that's where I learned most of what I know so far. Note: FINDER is to the iMac what Windows Explorer is to a PC.



I keep all personal files on an exernal drive, the only thing on the internal drive is the OS, applications, etc. That's a holdover from my Windows days.



Music is loaded although I don't like iTunes so I downloaded WinAmp. Pictures are loaded including some old photos that I've scanned, retouched and then saved back to disc (not just in iPhoto). It has a fairly decent photo editor;basic but good for someone like me who doesn't have the patience for spending 2 hours fixing a picure. Disc formatting and partitioning is quick and easy. I downloaded SuperDuper (free) and created an image in one of the partitions of an external drive. I'm used to using things like Ghost and Acronis on Windows platforms so this SuperDuper image is comforting.



It goes to sleep and remembers how to wake up. I don't think I ever owned a Windows machine that could handle that through several sleep/wake cycles, they always seem to get confused and need a forced shutdown. I attached a watt meter to it and it uses about 40 watts when awake and about 2-3 watts when asleep. The battery in the keyboard is still at 100% but the batterry in the mouse is at about 90% after 10 days. That's understandable considering how much more the mouse is used. A wired mouse would fix that but I like not seeing wires anyplace.



It's incredibly quiet and I'm very sensitive to PC noise.



I bought MS office because it's so much easier (for me) than using what the iMac came with or things like OpenOffice. The interface is not identical to the Windows version; it's close but not identical - don't know why Miscrosoft couldn't have done a better job of that.



It comes with some parameteers set in 10.9 Mavericks that didn't make sense and I thought I was stuck with them until I figured out that they could be changed. The 2 that come to mind are (1) the vertcal scroll bar is not always visible on a web page and (2) a right click on the mouse is not active. I changed both of those things.



I was able to play with the 27 inch version at a local library and found the sceeen too big. Maybe I would have gotten used to it but the 21.5 inch version that I got seems just right.

ASUS EB1007P-B0040 EeeBox Desktop

CUSTOMER REVIEW



We have several running 24x7 and run them hard, they boot fast, make no sound, they take up no room, have adequate outlets for connectivity and capability for data processing. They are not for you if you are a gamer wanting to watch videos. Using Linux Mint and Windows 7 OS installed on them without issues. I replaced HDs with Kingston SSD without a problem and increased RAM to 4GB. Also share the monitors and keyboards I use one for a webserver and another connected to the big screen TV.

HP 110-326 Desktop (Pentium, 4GB RAM, 500 GB HDD)

CUSTOMER REVIEW



This desktop PC is nothing special, and priced too high for its specs and features. Mediocre performance in a PC released in August of 2014 is not what I'm looking for at any price, and thus this PC doesn't do it for me.



However, I can't really give it a lower star review as what it does have, works as expected. The 3 star (it's OK) relates to its performance and lack of a HDMI or USB 3.0 port.



I did not purchase this PC, but a friend did, and I advised him to return it after hearing how much he'd paid. He did find another desktop with HDMI and USB 3.0 for less than he paid for this one to suit his needs.



Please note that I have not added the specs in this review, however there is a link at the bottom of this writing to the HP site where you can see them.



WHO WOULD LIKE THIS PC?



If you are looking to email, surf the Internet, play around on Facebook, watch a movie or similar, this PC will work for you. It's not ultra-fast, but it's not slow either. It could work for students who want to do homework online using Google Docs or web-based software.



Unfortunately there are a lot of PCs that fall into this home/student category, and many of them have better specs for about the same price or less. I do like that this PC's memory can be upgraded to 16 GB, which for me is a great perk, but only if this PC was in the sub-300 price range.



WHAT I LIKE ABOUT IT



As I mentioned, this PC can be upgraded to 16 GB of memory which is fabulous, but an added expense. You've got (2) slots, thus you'd need to get (2) 8GB dimms to max out the memory.



There's Beats Audio support and 5.1 audio (surround sound) support installed. The audio is integrated, but enhanced.



The installed 500 GB hard drive is 7200 RPMs versus the slower 5400 RPM that's generally standard in the lower end desktop and laptop PCs.



The 7-in-1 media card reader and DVD (burner) drive, which allows for use with CDs and DVDs - read and write, work well.



WHAT I DON'T LIKE



No HDMI? Are you kidding me?!



No PC produced in 2014 should be without an HDMI port and this one does not have HDMI. VGA and DVI-D connectivity are there, so most monitors will work, but you can't easily connect this PC to an HDMI port on your HDTV, which is a bummer.



NO USB 3.0 ports?! Again, what's the deal HP?



USB 3.0 is the latest standard for faster data transfers. No current PC (laptop or desktop) should be shipping without at least one port dedicated to USB 3.0. This PC has (6) USB 2.0 ports; (4) on the back and (2) on the front.



Integrated audio and video are OK, but certainly not entertainment ready. Even with the 5.1 and Beats Audio support.



CONCLUSION



There's simply nothing about this HP offering to set it apart. The processor is good and the ability to upgrade the memory is awesome, but the lack of HDMI and USB 3.0 connectivity, along with the smaller 500 GB hard drive size make the asking price too high.



Despite being released only a few months ago, there's no real room to grow with this one - other than the memory upgrade. The PC has too few positives for me to want to recommend it to others.



I recommend if you are looking for a desktop PC, keep in mind that four hundred should get you a solid processor, a good amount of memory and a tower with at least (1) USB 3.0 port and HDMI. Anything less, you're paying too much.



Check out HP's Pavillion series to find it. Something like: HP Pavilion 500-336 Desktop Computer on sale is a much better deal! Even this one: HP 110-430 Desktop (Intel Celeron J1800, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD) has USB 3.0 and it's cheap.



You may also like the HP Chromebox CB1-014 Desktop (White), which can connect to a HDTV or even a dual monitor setup for about one-fifty. You do have to supply a keyboard and mouse for the Chromebox, but you can connect via DisplayPort or HDMI, or both for the dual monitor thing to work. Check out my review of it on that product - it's a video one.



NOTE: If you want to know the specs on this PC, go to the HP site and do a search for 'HP 110-326 desktop' or check out http://ift.tt/1ydzROF .

HP Stream 200-010 Mini Desktop

CUSTOMER REVIEW



I just got one of these Stream Mini PCs late last week. I'm giving it 5 stars because it does an extremely competent job for a $200 computer (and it comes with a keyboard and mouse!).

At this price point there are some "cons" of course. It ships with only 2GB of RAM, which does the job until you start doing any serious multi-tasking, and the SSD is only 32GB, part of which is taken up by the Windows 8.1 operating system. For about $30 I picked up another 2GB stick of RAM, and a 32GB SD card for additional storage. The RAM is easy to install (flip the Mini upside down, carefully pull up the rubber pad on the bottom, remove three screws, lift off the case, and remove four screws to get access to the RAM slot. Slide in new RAM stick and click into place, then close it up --- easy-peasy).

After playing with it for a while I tucked it below my TV to use as a media center for streaming Netflix, movies, etc. The reason I didn't get a bigger SD card is because I have the Mini networked to my primary desktop computer's media storage drive, so there was no need for more local storage. The onboard graphics card does a very good job of streaming video with no jitters or lag and the Mini never gets hot, and there are no cooling fans so it's silent. The Mini boots in seconds and I've got it set up to boot without a password just to make life easier. Rather than using the supplied keyboard and mouse while it's under the TV I'm using a Windows Media Center compatible remote I picked up from Amazon a few years ago, and the Modern UI in Windows 8.1 lends itself well to media center use (I have just a few icons pinned to it to keep it simple).

All in all this is a fun little computer. I don't see how you can go wrong with it as long as your expectations are realistic going in (and you don't mind blue --- there aren't any other color options).

Acer Aspire AXC-603-UR15 Desktop (Black)

CUSTOMER REVIEW



I'm very pleased with this purchase. The setup was easy and relatively quick, the unit runs almost silently, and getting used to Windows 8 was almost immediate, just a few small changes to notice. Coming from a bit of an older computer with 2gb of RAM, everything seems instant on this machine. I'm no computer expert, and I know this certainly isn't a high-end one, but for $200, this seems like just about the best ready-to-go desktop you can get currently. All I need it for is internet browsing, word processing, and movie watching, and this does all three more than well enough. I will update with any hardware issues.

Dell Inspiron 20 i3043-1252BLK Touchscreen Signature Edition All-in-One Desktop 4GB Memory 500GB Hard Drive Waves MaxxAudio Miracast Windows 8.1

CUSTOMER REVIEW



We are using these in our assisted livings for our caregivers to chart and track the services they provide to our residents. So far so good. Our CNAs love the size of the screen and it seems to be pretty snappy. The VESA mount works really well with a flush mount. The wireless keyboard and mouse feel a little cheap, but for the price you'd expect that. The only concern I have is if it will stand the test of time. We've been using them daily for three weeks without a hiccup. For this price I would highly recommend this item.

Dell Inspiron 3847 i3847-2770BK Desktop (Windows 7 Home Premium)

CUSTOMER REVIEW



Vine Customer Review of Free Product (What's this?) OK... A little background: I am the kind of guy who builds his own PCs. Sure, over the past three-and-a-half decades I've owned several pre-builts, including several from Apple, ASUS, IBM (old school!), Acer, Compaq, HP, Lenovo, Gateway and other companies, but those usually ended up being cannibalized for parts because I never really liked how limited the designs were in those systems. They lacked expansion slots, or the memory couldn't be upgraded, or they weren't flexible enough to allow me to add more hard drives (you can never have enough hard drives). So I frequently just built Frankenputers from pieces and parts, and tailored them to my needs, all the while working in various computer stores (years ago) selling pre-built units-- including Dells-- to customers (until all the computer stores went out of business thanks to Best Bigbox killing them). I have to add that my experience with Dell at that time left me less than enthused.



Enter the Dell Inspiron i3847. They advertised it as "That expandable" and I was intrigued. "Truly? A pre-built desktop that doesn't make expansion a chore? This I've got to see!"



When the Dell arrived, I fired it up and was, indeed pleased by the fast setup and the lack of bloatware-- indeed, the only extra software on it seemed to be the 30-day trial of McAfee, but as I have my own subscription with Kaspersky, I didn't even need this and it was easily deleted, leaving me the majority of the 1TB hard drive for future software installations.



The speed was also quite nice. I was coming from an AMD Phenom X4 955 3.2 GHz, and the boost in speed when going to the Intel Core i5 (also 3.2 GHz) is quite welcome. That's not to say the AMD was slow, but that the Intel is just more optimized. It's simply faster in day-to-day functions, and plays nicer with my various applications.



The 8GB of RAM was also pretty helpful, I must say. It's nice to get a PC loaded with enough RAM to do any job. Too many pre-built PCs cheap-out in this regard, giving the buyer 4GB to deal with. In this era of 64-bit Windows, there's simply no reason not to slap the other 4GB in there and make the end-user experience that much more pleasant.



The on-board graphics? Well, they're Intel on-board graphics. Fast enough for web browsing, basic games, basic video, and business applications, but I'm a bit of a gamer and video editor, and so I was exceptionally pleased to see the free slot and ample space in the Dell Inspiron to allow me to install my Radeon HD 7850. Yes, yes... I know I'd be better served on an Intel with a GeForce card, but right now I'm happy with my existing Radeon pulled from an AMD system, and you can bet I was happy to see that it fit in the Dell.



Of course, there was one problem: Power. The Dell Inspiron i3847-5078BK comes with a very basic 300-watt power supply, and no, it does not have PCI-E connections. That meant swapping over my Corsair RM550 so that I could provide power to my Radeon card... And then, as long as I was in there, I mounted a second and third hard drive. I had to provide an extra SATA connector, and to be clear, there is no third HDD bay, but I happened to have a 5.25 caddy around, and so my third hard drive fit nicely in the second optical drive bay (which I wouldn't have needed, anyway... I really don't see the point to two optical drives unless you do a lot of disc-to-disc copying). While I was making changes, I decided to pull the stock DVD-RW drive (not a bad drive, mind you) and replace it with my own BD-RW drive.



It took some work getting the cables from my modular power supply managed, but once done, everything worked perfectly. The power supply mounted with no problems, the new hard drives all work, and the system is still so remarkably quiet I'm amazed it's got such a beefy CPU.



I didn't stop there, though. This system came with Windows 7 64-bit. That's nice and all, but after a couple years of using Windows 8 and 8.1, I was too used to the new OS and all the advancement in it (and before you gripe about how terrible Windows 8.1 is, let me point out that the under-the-hood improvements are enough of a performance boost for any gamer to think twice about being pedantic about the UI changing slightly.) With Windows 8.1 in place on this Core i5 system, with an improved video card and 8 GB of RAM, the system boots up super-fast and everything blazes.



Even before I put Windows 8.1 on this PC, though, it was pretty darn fast. The hardware is solid. The Core i5 CPU is absolutely lovely, and I have no complaints about it. The added RAM was probably the real boost to the system, though. If you absolutely hate Windows 8.1 then you will still see plenty of speed on this system as-is, with Windows 7 on it.



Despite this being an excellent computer that has changed my mind about pre-built systems, I am knocking off a point from my review for a combination of things:



First, the stock power supply was woefully inadequate for any expansion of the system. It was enough to run the hardware included, but if the average user wants to add a hard drive or video card, they're going to find out soon enough that they needed to upgrade the power supply. What's more, the included PSU has exceptionally short wires going to the CPU and motherboard, making it useful only for this particular PC & motherboard's layout. This is a minor complaint, but when they advertise that it's "That Expandable", they really should see fit to stick a beefier, more well-equipped power supply in the case.



Second, I just don't see the point to having two 5.25 bays and only two 3.25 bays when there are four SATA connections. Most people simply aren't going to need an extra optical drive, and would want that extra hard drive some day. Maybe it's just me, but I think a third 3.25 rack would have been preferable in a case like this, or, barring that, at least include a caddy to transform that 5.25 bay into a 3.25 bay. I had one lying around, but most people won't, and again they're selling this series as "Expandable" so I'd think this hardware would be part of the case design.



Finally, there are no front fans whatsoever. No hard drive cooling, no intake. I may correct this myself if I can figure out how to make it work with the nearly-sealed front panel, but I found it strange that a system that is supposed to be expandable wouldn't take into account the possibility that future upgrades might increase the interior heat and require some additional cooling.



These are, of course, all nitpick from a PC builder's point of view. For the average consumer looking for a powerful system this is a great choice. You have the ability to add that GeForce (or AMD) video card, as long as you make sure to swap out the power supply, too. You have the ability to add an extra hard drive easily (the SATA and power connectors are right there, held in place on the empty drive bay). You have 8GB of RAM and almost the entire 1 TB hard drive to work with thanks to Dell not packing in a bunch of unnecessary bloatware. You have excellent speed, and best of all, quiet cooling and power that makes this system purr.



This is an excellent choice in pre-built PCs. I can safely say that the next time I am looking to help a layperson find a pre-built desktop computer that I won't have to help them fix all the time, it will likely be a Dell. My assessment of Dell's hardware (and software) has *vastly* improved after my experience with this system. They've made consumer-friendly systems that still cater to the desires and needs of tinkerers and people in-the-know, like me.



Final Verdict: FOUR STARS for me, but it could be FIVE STARS for the average consumer who never intends to do any upgrading themselves. Let's call it FOUR AND A HALF STARS, if Amazon would let me do that.