Dell Inspiron 2310 review

We’ve seen a slew of innovative all-in-one systems arrive in the Labs recently, with the HP TouchSmart 610’s tilting chassis, the Sony VAIO L21’s gesture control and the Asus ET2400XVT’s 3D technology all drawing admiring glances, but Dell’s latest system is more interested in impressing with quality throughout rather than gimmicks.

It’s obviously not the most extravagant system we’ve seen, then, but its matte grey finish and black screen bezel look classier than most, and subtle touches such as the metallic feet and black speaker grille ensure that it won’t look out of place the most stylish of living rooms. We’re pleased to report that build quality is strong throughout, too.

The 23in screen also excels. Its colours look slightly oversaturated compared to the cool Sony, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially compared to the Asus, which is even more oversaturated. Bright whites and rich colours throughout ensure pictures are vivid without looking unpleasant.

The touchscreen is accurate and responsive, and Dell’s software offering is useful. Instead of a screen-swallowing front end like the ones offered by Sony or HP, there’s a range of media apps in a dock at the bottom of the screen. This works well, with preview windows and the ability to add your own shortcuts.

The specification ticks all the right boxes, too, although it doesn’t excel in any one area. The 2.4GHz Intel Core i5-450M in the model we reviewed scored 0.57 in our benchmarks, but Dell is replacing this with an i5-460M, so you can expect slightly improved performance. It’s unlikely to beat the Sony, though, which used a mobile Sandy Bridge part to score 0.74.

The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 graphics lack the power to challenge the best all-in-ones, scoring 43fps in our Low quality Crysis test, but the Dell handles HD video and content streaming without problems. It’s a shame it’s not matched with good speakers – they’re marred by weak bass and a muddy mid-range, with the Sony once again proving more accomplished.

The rest of the Dell is better, with 6GB of RAM, a Blu-ray reader and 1TB hard disk that uses the faster SATA 6Gbit/sec standard, plus a TV tuner, card reader and good selection of ports. That’s on a par with the hardware offered by Sony and inside HP’s TouchSmart 610.

Aside from the poor speakers, the Dell does little wrong, almost matching the Sony for screen quality and providing enough punch elsewhere. The VAIO and TouchSmart are still our favourites but, if those are too expensive, this is a solid alternative.