Dell Inspiron 580 Review

I really do like the design of the 580. It's quite chic, and the honeycomb type design on the front looks good. However, the front is very glossy and attracts fingerprints. The sides of the case is matte however, so problem there. To open the DVD drive, you push a small button, and it just pops out from behind a black panel. Also, as seen below, the front ports can be hidden behind another panel. There is also room for an extra drive.

Here are the specs of the model I bought:

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-550 Processor (3.20GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 4MB Cache)
Memory: 6GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM (3x2GB)
HDD: 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive with Native Command Queuing
Graphics card: ATI Radeon HD 5450 1GB DDR3

The general usage performance of the 580 is decent. I've already got a decent number of programs and files on mine, and it only takes about 2 minutes to completely boot up. Opening things such as browsers and word processes are snappy and responsive. I've never had a program freeze from lack of memory thus far. Even my iTunes only takes 4 or 5 seconds to open. Insanely faster than my old laptop. The 5450 runs everything well, and HD video looks good.

Gaming on my new desktop is amazing compared to my old laptop. Most newer games will run on it, but detail settings depends on the game. So far games I've tested out include Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (runs on maxed out detail settings), Crysis Demo (low-mid settings), Team Fortress 2 (maxed out settings), Assassins Creed 2 (high-max settings), and Portal 2 (high-max settings). The memory is good, as well as the processor, but to run all games on maxed out settings I would need a much better graphics card, as the 5450 is a pretty weak.

The 580 includes 2 USB ports, headphone jack, microphone jack, and a 19-in-one memory card reader in the front, and 4 more USB ports, 5 audio jacks, VGA, DVI, HDMI, and an Ethernet port in the back. The front ports can be hidden by a small flap that folds down.

I got the ST2320L 23"W Full HD monitor with my desktop package, and I've been extremely happy with it. Lots of space to move around in, and the full HD looks great. Colors on the screen are far better than I expected, being very vibrant and sharp. I also really like the touch design of the buttons, although in the dark, this can make it hard to use as they have no illumination.

My main problem that I've encountered so far, is a blue-screen error. I got this consistently after 3 or so weeks of buying it. However, I believe it was a dodgy program that caused the problem, so I re-installed the OS and it's fine again now. The only other complaint is that the pc seems to have a weird buzz sometimes, but gently pushing the case seems to make it go away. Also, in terms of performance, I've been a little disappointed with the graphic card, as it's fairly weak. I'd like to upgrade it sometime to improve gaming performance. Having said that, it's decent for the price, and if your not looking to do hardcore gaming, then it's probably an excellent choice.

I'm very happy I bought this desktop, as it's served me well thus far, and I can now really play some decent games. The monitor is also a great investment as now I can do things such as Squidoo and homework with much more ease. I would definitely recommend this product.