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The Inspiron 27 coasted to an easy victory in PCMark 10, although pitting its premium Core i7 against the Lenovo's unthreaded, entry-level AMD Ryzen 3 isn't exactly a fair fight. Still, the results show the gains you get going from a 10th or 11th Generation Intel chip to a 12th Gen, though all the Windows systems cleared the 4,000 points in PCMark 10 that indicate excellent productivity for Microsoft Office and Google Workspace.
Complete with a wireless mouse and keyboard, a crisp 5-megapixel webcam, and surprisingly effective stereo speakers, the Chromebase 22 is a splendid home PC if you can do your computing in the cloud and don't need high-end apps, like Adobe Photoshop. It's especially suited for students who use school-supplied Chromebooks during the day, and so they'll already be used to the interface.The Dell didn't enjoy as much of an advantage in our CPU and multimedia tests, though it routinely topped the Aspire and IdeaCentre. The Dell OptiPlex 5490 led the way largely because of its eight-core, 16-thread Core i7 desktop processor, while the 24-inch M1 iMac took top honors in the cross-platform HandBrake, Cinebench, and Geekbench tests. Graphics Tests I can’t say the same about the keyboard. It uses a rubber dome membrane that creates a squishy, vague key feel. This makes the keyboard uncomfortable to use for long periods, as it’s hard to know how far a key should be pressed to be activated. Of course, buying a highly integrated system like this is more exacting than your average desktop. Why? You're buying a computer and a monitor in one, and the inherent limits on what you'll be able to upgrade down the line make smart buying upfront crucial. Indeed, landing the right AIO is more like shopping for a laptop than a desktop. Dell’s Inspiron 27 All-in-One is an excellent choice if you want a simple, attractive, versatile desktop for basic tasks. It will look great in both a home office or living room, isn’t overly large, and runs quietly. There’s plenty of connectivity for both wired and wireless peripherals and even HDMI-in for an external video source, such as a game console.
Our Windows-only 3DMark and Unigine Superposition gaming simulations show what a difference a high-powered graphics processor makes when it comes to rendering sequences of highly detailed, gaming-style 3D graphics that emphasize particles and lighting. Adding an extra terabyte or so is also easy with an external drive. SSDs cost more per gigabyte than regular spinning hard drives, but SSDs boot up and wake from sleep so much faster than regular drives that we highly recommend them as boot drives. Unfortunately, some AIO PCs are hard or impossible to upgrade yourself, so make sure you get what you need at the start. That's the good news as far as the display goes. The bad news is that 1080p resolution isn't quite enough to produce a sufficiently sharp picture across the 27-inch panel—when you're seated in front of the screen, the edges of application windows and text characters appear blurry. The resolution is adequate if you're buying the Inspiron 27 as an entertainment system—1080p videos look crisp—but I wouldn't want to spend a full day doing productivity work in front of the display. It's a shame that Dell doesn't offer a display upgrade in the form of a 1440p or other higher-resolution panel; the old iMac's 5K pixel array isn't necessary, but something between full HD and 4K would be a good fit for this screen size. Accidental Damage-Additional Information: Accidental Damage Service excludes theft, loss, and damage due to fire, flood or other acts of nature, or intentional damage. Customer may be required to return damaged unit to Dell. Limit of 1 qualified incident per contract year. For more information, consumers visit Accidental Damage Service Contract (Consumer) or commercial customers visit Accidental Damage Service Contract (Commercial). It’s hard to see how Dell could improve on this design, especially at this price. Every touch point is inviting, every panel durable, and every seam is slim or kept out of sight. Dell’s only serious competition is HP, which uses a similar design for its Pavilion All-in-One. The most obvious difference is the stand; Dell opts for wide, TV-style legs, while HP uses a traditional square monitor base. The bundled soundbar is loud and enjoyable
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Shades of the 1990s gumdrop iMac can still be seen in today's 24-inch iMac. Apple's current iMac comes in seven lively colors from yellow to purple (with a matching mouse and keyboard in each box), so one is sure to fit the decor of any room in your abode. But it's not just a pretty face: After skipping the M2 generation entirely, the latest iMac boasts Apple's M3 chip for very speedy performance, while the 4.5K Retina display and webcam are first-class. For icing on the cake, macOS's integration with your iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch is unparalleled. Who It's For
Also handy is an HDMI input port, which gives you the flexibility to use the AIO as a discrete display for a separate PC, a game console, or another video source. It also gives an AIO with a sharp display some potential utility years down the road as a stand-alone monitor, when the PC portion inside becomes obsolete. This is to be expected since both the 27-inch and 21.5-inch iMac use far more capable desktop CPUs. It's not a mark against the Inspiron 27 7000 that it can't keep pace with a prosumer-class machine. On the positive side, the Inspiron actually performed quite well in our Adobe Photoshop benchmark, which puts a stopwatch on systems as they apply a series of filters and effects to a JPEG test image. In addition to the quad-core, 1.6GHz (4.2GHz turbo) Core i5-10210U CPU in the version I tested, the Inspiron 27 7000 can be configured with a Core i7-10510U chip. Both are laptop-class parts from Intel's latest 10th Generation "Comet Lake" processor family. My tester also featured Nvidia GeForce MX110 graphics with 2GB of dedicated video memory, an upgrade from the base model's Intel UHD Graphics 620 integrated solution. So, you just started shopping for an AIO. The first thing to look at (no pun intended) is the display—the centerpiece of any AIO. While some less-expensive AIO PCs will come with panels smaller than 23 inches, those are better suited to exceedingly cramped spaces such as classroom labs or dorm rooms. (Go much smaller than that, and you might as well just buy a big-screen laptop.) What you really want is a display at least 23 inches on the diagonal—and larger is better if you can do it. The biggest all-in-ones we've seen to date have curved 34-inch screens. Above the display, you'll find a retractable webcam. When it's not in use, you can push it down into the chassis, thwarting online snoops and preventing physical damage. The version I tested featured IR sensors for logging into Windows Hello using face recognition, which necessitates leaving the camera exposed most of the time.Because an all-in-one is, at its heart, a computer, it should have all the ports you expect to need during your day-to-day activities, particularly USB ports (in easy-to-access places, if at all possible). You may also want a dedicated Ethernet port, though all-in-ones today come with Wi-Fi support built-in, so you can easily hook up the system to the wireless network you already have in your home or office. Some competitors, like the HP Pavilion 27 and Lenovo IdeaCentre 5i offer similar wired connectivity. Still, the range of ports on the Inspiron 27 is excellent for the price.
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