"It’s not pretty but it does the business. A ridiculously good component selection for what seems like peanuts. Long may the budget PC wars continue!"
John Hillman
Welcome to the budget PC wars; it’s a messy conflict with thousands of seemingly identical PCs being marched out of the factories each year to do battle in a crowded marketplace.
These PCs might not look that exciting, but you shouldn’t write them off: It’s possible to pick up a real bargain in terms of components as Dell/Acer/ HP, to name but few, cut prices in order to shift the most units.
For under £750 you can now get your grubby paws on systems that would have topped a £1500 a year ago. We check out the top range Dell 560 and display bundle, with an RRP under £700.
What we like most
Simply – the specs you get for the price are better than fantastic. The processor is an Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q8300. It’s not quite the top line Core i family (Core i3, i5 and i7) but it’s fast. It can confidently handle Photoshop, a spot of video editing, media playing and doesn’t flinch from gaming on lower settings. Anyone looking to play Crysis on max settings might have to look elsewhere though.
You need the memory to make the most of the processor though, and the Inspiron 560 packs 6GB of DDR3 RAM. I remember when that would have cost the same as a car, but moving onwards. The 560 is rounded off as a good media PC with a 1GB ATI Radeon Graphics card, a 7,200 rpm 1TB hard drive and a 23 inch full-HD display. Ridiculous.
What we like least
To put it mildly, the styling is dull, really dull. You can customise the front panel but at the end of the day it’s a great hulk of vaguely glossy black plastic that’s going to sit in your room. And it doesn’t play quietly either. The downside to those great components is the heat they chuck out, and you’ll find that the noisy fan is often kicking in to stop meltdown occurring.
The only final quibble with the Inspiron 560 is that it’s pre-loaded with a fairly large tab of software. Some quality time with uninstall is called for if you want to get a faster boot time.
It’s not pretty but it does the business. A ridiculously good component selection for what seems like peanuts. Long may the budget PC wars continue!
Processor Speed
2.50 GHz
Processor
Up to Intel Core 2 Quad-Core
Q8300 Processor (2.50GHz, 4MB cache, 1333MHz FSB)
RAM
Up to 8 GB DRR3 RAM
Screen Size
NA
Graphics
Up to 1GB ATI Radeon HD 5450
Hard Drive Storage
Up to 1 Tb Hard drive
Battery
NA
Multimedia
VGA
HDMI
19-in-1 card reader
Blu-ray drives available
Ports
USB 2.0 (2)
Headphone connector
Microphone connector
VGA connector
HDMI connector
USB 2.0 (4)
RJ45 10/100 Network port
Microphone connector
Line-out connector
Line-in connector
Weight & Size
380mm (W) x 180mm (H) x 440mm (D)
Starts at 7.9 kg
Connectivity
Wired LAN socket
Dell 1525 Wireless PCIe Network
Card 802.11 available
Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium Professional 64 bit
Dell Inspiron 560 may be hard to distinguish between the dozens of almost identical machines seemingly being released without prejudice all the time, but we highly recommend you give the Dell Inspiron 560 a look it’s one of the better ones.
Dell Inspiron 560
Dell Inspiron 560 is a home/office machine; this means it’s pretty spectacular in the spec department. As with most desktops you can customise the Dell Inspiron 560, with up to an Intel Core 2 Quad-Core, 2.5 GHz is a rather great processor speed, you can manage the highest quality of games, or work on some core intensive programmes like video editing on the Dell Inspiron 560.
To top it the Dell Inspiron 560 can be upgraded to 1 Tb storage which frankly is more space on a hard drive then I think I would ever need, but you may so give the Dell Inspiron 560 a look see.
If you want to find out more about its features, read the PC Site Dell Inspiron 560 review.
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