Dell Inspiron Desktop (3910) Review

Dell’s latest Inspiron desktop (model 3910, starting at $529.99 for the model we tested) is an affordable desktop that fits the average home user’s everyday needs. A look at the front panel and under the hood reveals a system similar to his Inspiron desktop (3891) from last year, with the main differences being an upgraded processor and a few new rear ports. Inside is a 12th Gen Intel Core i3-12100 CPU with 8GB of memory and 256GB of solid state storage. We appreciate the updates and improvements made here, but not enough to earn an Editor’s Choice award. We recently tagged the Acer Aspire TC (2022) as one of our budget categories.

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Design: I’ve seen this face

The Inspiron Desktop (3910) uses the same chassis and layout as last year’s model. The slanted design that was popular last year is back again this year.

Dell’s usual plastic chassis and steel internal frame weighs about 11 pounds and has external dimensions of 12.8 x 6.1 x 11.5 inches (HWD). It’s not a Geekom MiniAir, but this compact tower fits on most desks and doesn’t get in the way too much.

(Credit: Kyle Cobian)

The front panel of this desktop has an SD card reader, a single combo audio jack for headsets, two USB 2.0 ports and one USB 3.0 Type-A port, and a USB 3.0 Type-C port. An optical disk drive is also installed on the top of the main unit.

(Credit: Kyle Cobian)

There is one important change when turning the unit. DisplayPort replaces his VGA port on last year’s model. This is an input that has been phased out on modern displays. Including this opens up the option of running dual monitors on more modern panels. It’s a productivity perk that’s becoming more common in today’s offices and hybrid work environments.

(Credit: Kyle Cobian)

The rear panel I/O remains the same except for the new ports. HDMI port, USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 Type-A ports (2 each), Ethernet jack, and 3.5mm audio jack for external speakers.

(Credit: Kyle Cobian)

Dell’s Inspiron desktops include two brands of peripherals: wired mice and keyboards. The mouse has a simple two-button and scroll-wheel layout that fits comfortably in an average-sized hand, but people with larger feet may find it difficult to rest in the palm of their hand. The keyboard has a full-size layout with an all-plastic design and a fair amount of flex, a typical compromise for budget system add-ins.

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Inspiron Desktop (3910) Upgrade: Heart of the Warning

To access the inside of your Dell Inspiron Desktop, simply loosen two screws and slide it out from the side panel. Doing so will give you some options for further upgrades.

(Credit: Kyle Cobian)

If you want to upgrade your storage space, step inside and you’ll have easy access to a 256GB M.2 solid-state drive. You have now learned how to clone your storage and protect your files. Since there is only one M.2 slot for storage (the second slot holds a Type-2230 Wi-Fi card), I need to replace the boot drive.

Other types of drives are like non-starters. The power supply provides a SATA power connector and three SATA motherboard data connections (one is used by the optical drive).But it doesn’t really have a place in the chassis mount Be it a 2.5″ SSD or a 3.5″ hard drive, I would be very concerned about the drive being left hanging or loose in this little case. As such, storage upgrade options are much more limited than the system’s spec sheet suggests.

Next to the CPU cooler is a memory slot for upgrading to up to 16GB of RAM, which is the baseline for most high-end machines, should you find your programs running a little slow. (Note that only one of the two he DIMM slots was used in the test unit, which means the model was not running in dual channel mode. )

(Credit: Kyle Cobian)

Also note the unobstructed PCI Express x16 slot for installing a dedicated GPU, in theory. The dedicated power supply’s 180 watt limit and lack of a GPU power connector necessitate low-tier cards that power off the motherboard, like certain models of the GeForce GTX 1650 and truly low-end GPUs like GeForce. GT1030(opens in new window).

(Credit: Kyle Cobian)

The power supply can be removed, but since this is a unique design rather than your typical ATX or SFX, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a suitable upgrade. The main power connection to the motherboard is not a common 24 pin connector. If you want to eventually install a video card, this is no minitower.

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Inspiron Desktop Test: Good performer, but not a leader in its category

Potential upgrades aside, we’re looking at the most bare bones version of the Dell Inspiron desktop, so we tested it against systems that are similar in terms of specs and price.

I made a mistake not including last year’s Dell Inspiron desktop (3891). Using last year’s model goes a long way to show how much the Intel Core i3-12100 is an upgrade over the Intel Core i3-10105 in his 3891. The Acer Aspire TC (2022) is the current Editors’ Choice award winner. The Geekom MiniAir 11 Special Edition is included as a mini PC alternative for those who might be attracted to its even smaller footprint. And the Lenovo IdeaCentre 510A is an example of an old budget system that works out of the box, but even when new it wasn’t impressive.

Productivity test

We use a number of programs to test the productivity features of our system. PCMark 10 measures overall performance by simulating real-world productivity tasks such as spreadsheet work, word processing, web browsing and video conferencing. In addition to its general performance tests, PCMark 10 has storage benchmarks to measure a system’s ability to read and write data from storage.

To test CPU performance, many programs are used to simulate CPU-intensive tasks. Handbrake measures your system’s ability to convert a 4K video file to 1080p.In my tests, I always used the same video file, Blender’s tears of steel demo shot. Maxon’s Cinebench uses the company’s 4D engine to render complex scenes, and Geekbench performs similarly to his PCMark 10 general test, tackling CPU-intensive workloads. Measure one after another. We also ran the PugetBench for Photoshop benchmark from Puget Systems to test the system’s content creation capabilities.

The Acer Aspire TC (2022) remains the budget desktop that far outperforms the Dell Inspiron in most productivity tests. Where the Dell Inspiron outperforms Acer is in the storage test, second only to the Dell Inspiron (3891), but not by much.

If you can find this Inspiron desktop at a budget price, then go for it, but the Aspire TC simply offers better performance for a lower price and includes the same basic features.

graphic test

In addition to measuring core productivity performance, it runs a number of tests on graphics output. 3DMark’s Time Spy subtest is designed for computers with dedicated GPUs, while the Night Raid test is more suitable for systems with integrated graphics. We also run two tests in the GFXBench suite that measure device performance for low-level routines such as texture mapping and high-level routines such as image rendering: 1440p Aztec Ruins and 1080p Car Chase.

The Inspiron desktop was unable to run the 3DMark Time Spy or GFXBench 1440p Aztec Ruins tests. Time Spy is intended for systems with dedicated GPUs, so systems that rely on integrated graphics may experience issues. Aztec Ruins also failed to run for similar reasons, but most of this test lot was also punted in this benchmark. (Therefore, it was not included in the graph below.)

Dell Inspiron Desktop Graphics Benchmarks can Run it to show the typical limitations of integrated graphics. The 12th Gen Intel Core CPU is powerful enough for basic tasks, but lags behind the Acer Aspire TC (2022) and Lenovo IdeaCentre 510A in the Night Raid test.

If you need more graphics performance in the future, you have the option of installing a dedicated GPU with your motherboard, but the cap is pretty low. Without it, though, I don’t plan on playing PC games on this machine, except for the most casual options.

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Verdict: Decent Basic PC… Respect Your Limits

In our test configuration, the Dell Inspiron desktop makes a good basic home or hybrid work desktop for productivity tasks. This is clearly not a true mini PC, but you get true desktop functionality here, saving more space than many mini-tower desktops while still offering a reasonable amount of room for upgrades.

Our complaints are mitigated by the price, which has updated monitor connections compared to last year’s model. So unless the 3910 is discounted, I’ll weigh other models on my shopping trip.