October 5, 2009

Dell’s Reliable All-in-One PC For The Office
By Luis Anthony G. Oliveros

Dell Vostro 320 AiO
P34,950
www.dell.com

Despite the mainstream consumer demographic all-in-one PCs (AiO) have been generally known to target, Dell has relegated the Vostro 320 AiO under its Vostro banner of machines geared for the business segment. This is an apt route for the compact desktop since it does carry a good set of features to match the range of all-purpose business needs and a space-saving form factor to boot.

At 386.39×477.39×103.98mm, it has a particularly small footprint which allows it to be perched on any table top while still leaving enough room for its mouse, keyboard and other office table accouterments. And since it comes sheathed under black hard plastic exteriors, it practically looks at home in most business environments with a significant aesthetic bump provided by its glossy finish and softly contoured corners. 

Tucked neatly around its slick chassis is an array of connectivity ports neatly laid out for easy access. The right side panel houses three USB ports and the audio in/out jacks accompanied by the power button and the onscreen display adjustments, while the slim-tray DVD-ROM is sitting by its lonesome on the left side panel. At the back is a VGA output for connecting to an auxiliary display panel, three additional USB ports, an auxiliary audio jack, the RJ45 outlet and interestingly enough, two PS/2 ports for accomodating legacy mice and keyboards.

The review unit we tested came with a 19-inch WSXGA+ LCD screen which yielded clear images with good black-white contrasts and brightly rendered hues. It also has a matte finish to reduce screen glaring and reflections. This, along with its built-in 1.3megapixel Web cam, mic and speakers, also easily makes this desktop a good VoIP communication tool. Additionally, variants with 17- and 18.5-inch screens are also available.

Its integrated Intel GMA4500 HD graphics chip isn’t exactly the best in the market but it proved to be more than adequate for basic productivity functions like word processing and Web surfing. While it also did a decent performance rendering mainstream casual games and playing videos (both streaming online and via its slim-tray DVD-ROM), the Vostro 320 AiO is no gaming powerhouse so don’t expect it to flawlessly run FEAR or Left 4 Dead.

Packed within is an Intel Celeron 440 processor clocked at 2GHz and 2GB memory. This coupling enabled this machine to run smoothly during our tests which involved multitasking with a handful of word processors, Web surfing with a few browser windows and an IM client running in the background. Handling storage in our review unit is a conveniently partitioned 160GB HHD; while it may not at all sound spacious at a glance, it’s actually sufficient given this AiO’s intended mainstream business uses. However, Dell also threw in a 250GB storage option if you need a bigger space; either that or you can supplement it with an external HDD through one of the USB ports. Similarly, an 80GB model is also available for office departments with less than average storage needs.