Dell Inspiron 620 MT Review

Many enthusiast users reading Kitguru will build their own system, using a carefully sourced list of parts and components within their price range. Building a customised, home brew system like this can give satisfaction and long term pleasure, especially when used as a high resolution gaming rig.

However, with the main system out of the way there can often be a demand for a secondary system, perhaps for the whole family to use, or to fulfill office and design criteria within a different environment.

The Dell Inspiron 620 MT is targeted as a ‘jack of all trades' computer, with a relatively balanced list of internal components, including a Core i3 processor, 4GB of DDR3 memory, DVD burner, Nvidia discrete graphics and a large 1TB hard drive running the 64 bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium.

The chassis design is pleasant enough, with Dell keen to offer some personalised customisation options. For an extra £10 you can ditch the plain black appearance and add a coloured fascia to the front of the case. It seems somewhat superfluous and a slightly superficial decision, but in reality it does add a little zest to the overall appearance.

The Core i3 2100 is a capable processor design, and it powers through all the tasks that an end user targeting this market would reasonably require. It goes without saying that if your demands are less ‘office' and more ‘3D rendering' then budgeting for a Core i7 system would be a wise decision. Just be prepared to dig deeper into your wallet.

Graphically, with the low cost Nvidia GT 420 installed, this system will never set the performance world alight, but it is capable of hardware acceleration with high definition media playback, alleviating CPU load.

Internally, we are slightly disappointed with some of Dells build decisions. They are using Hynix memory without heatspreaders, and a low cost ‘AVC' CPU cooler. While working to such a strict budget will always force compromises, we find it unacceptable in 2011 to be using memory without headspreaders. Long term it makes for a more stable system and will add virtually nothing to the system build cost. In fairness, the CPU cooler performed fairly well, aided by the cool running Core i3 processor design.

The Dell Inspiron 620 MT is a competitively priced workhorse system, ideal for office use, high definition multimedia playback and very light, lower resolution gaming duties.

You can specify your own system, over here.

Pros:

• Price point is very good
• Core i3 processor is very capable
• external appearance is attractive
• connectivity is strong
• Runs fairly quiet
• physical footprint is small

Cons:

• not much graphics grunt
• some compromises made internally

Kitguru says: A decent all round system which is ideal when used as a machine for the family, or within an office environment.

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