Dell Inspiron 530s
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Dell's first desktops to carry the Inspiron name
look good, inside and out. With a huge range of available
components and two equally attractive cases, mainstream
consumers ought to be able to find a config that meets
their budget, tastes, and computing needs. If you
require Bluetooth or Blu-ray, however, you'll have
to put your purchase plans on hold.
Dell has dropped its venerable Dimension desktop
brand. Now, both its mainstream consumer desktops
and Desktops will carry the Inspiron name. Along with
the name change, Dell's new Inspiron 530 and 530s
PCs usher in Intel's latest G33 chipset (aka Bearlake),
which features a speedy 1,333MHz frontside bus. The
other two models in the lineup, the Inspiron 531 and
531s, feature AMD processors on Nvidia's MCP 61 chipset
The 530s and 531s units feature a slim chassis akin
to the Dimension C521's. Each of the four models boasts
a wide array of configuration options; prices start
at a rock-bottom $349 and can quickly top $1,500 when
you start adding upgrades. For a complete details,
read our full review of the Dell Dimension 531, which
won an Editors' Choice
The big range in price is due in large part to the
wide array of CPU options. The Intel-based models
offer both low-end Celeron and dual-core Core 2 Duo
processors, while the AMD-based models offer both
low-end Sempron and dual-core Athlon 64 X2 processors.
Memory ranges from 512MB to 4GB. All four major flavors
of Vista are offered as well; no word on whether XP
is an option for those less than enthralled with Microsoft's
latest OS effort.
Both the midtower and the slim chassis offer two
hard drive bays (which you can populate with two 500GB
drives for a 1TB of storage) and the option for a
PCI Express graphics card (the half-height variety
for the 530s and 531s units). Also available in all
models but particularly useful in the slim models,
which are likely candidates to be shoehorned into
home theater racks, is an optional 802.11b/g (but
sadly, not 802.11n) Wi-Fi card, which will save you
from having to run an Ethernet cable through your
living room. Integrated Bluetooth is another living-room-friendly
technology, and Dell is bringing it to these Inspiron
desktops shortly. Likewise, Dell will add Blu-ray
drives as on option soon.
Aesthetically, the new Inspiron line extends the
silver-and-white color scheme that you can find on
late-model Dimensions. The last generation of Dimensions
were sleek-looking, but the area around the optical
drives was black, which was in stark contrast to the
rest of the case. Now, the Inspiron cases feature
drive-bay covers, lending a more unified design to
the PCs.
The Inspiron line carries Dell's standard one-year
parts-and-labor warranty, but the company's DataSafe
backup has moved online. Dell offers you 3GB of online
storage and won't charge you for the first year.
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