Dell Inspiron 530 Desktop Computer (Intel Pentium Dual Core E2200, 320GB HDD, 2GB)
Since Dell has stopped selling its AMD-based Inspirons, that leaves the Intel-powered Inspiron 530 and 530s leading its budget desktop chargeThe Inspiron 530 is a modest $539 configuration that offers some surprising features for the priceHewlett-Packard competes very well in this price range too, but Dell's one differentiator is that it has Bluetooth built into its media card readerThe Bluetooth module makes this Inspiron 530 an excellent anchor for your other devices, as well as a reasonable affordable budget desktopIf you need such a system, we recommend it
The $500 desktop is becoming a bit of a luxury these days, with plenty of $300 and $400 PCs out there providing perfectly serviceable computingThe starting point for the configurable Inspiron 530 is about $379, which includes a Celeron processor, Windows Vista Basic, and a configuration that, in general, looks a lot like the recently reviewed HP Pavilion a6400zBumped up to this $539 configuration, the Inspiron 530 provides a little bit more performance, as well as a few more featuresThe lesson is that if all you need is a spare Windows PC, a lower-end configuration will get the job done, but if you spend a little bit more, you can turn on Vista's snappy visual effects, get some wireless connectivity, and enjoy better performance overall
| Dell Inspiron 530 | HP Pavilion a6400z | |
| Price | $539 | $340 |
| CPU | 1.8GHz Intel Pentium E2160 | 1.8GHz AMD Sempron 2100 |
| Memory | 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM | 2GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM |
| Graphics | 128MB Nvidia GeForce 8300 GS | 128MB (shared) Nvidia GeForce 6150SE |
| Hard drive | 320GB, 7,200 rpm | 250GB, 7,200 rpm |
| Optical drives | 16x dual-layer DVD burner | 16x dual-layer DVD burner |
| Operating system | Windows Vista Home Premium | Windows Vista Basic |
Compare the Inspiron 530 with the Pavilion a6400z and we can see the basic differences between budget and budgetThe extra money spent on this Dell configuration gets you a more capable dual-core CPU, a larger hard drive, as well as a full-fledged graphics cardMake no mistake, as configured this Inspiron 530 is no gaming PCThe chief benefit of its low-end GeForce 8300 GS card is that it has its own memory, unlike a built-in graphics chip such as the one in the HPWith its own memory, the GeForce card won't siphon off the main system RAM for video purposesBetween the better CPU and the discrete graphics card, the Dell most definitely will get you faster performance than the less-expensive HP configuration