Dell's latest Inspiron Desktop (model 3910; starts at $529.99 in the model we tested) is an able budget desktop well-suited to the daily needs of the average home user. Looking at the front panel and under the hood, you'll see a system similar to last year’s Inspiron Desktop (3891), with the main differences being an upgraded processor and some new rear ports. Inside, it's powered by a 12th Generation Intel Core i3-12100 CPU with 8GB of memory and 256GB of solid-state storage. We appreciate the updates and refinements made here, but they're not quite enough to net an Editors' Choice award; we recently tagged the Acer Aspire TC (2022) for one in the budget category.
The Design: I've Seen This Face Before
The Inspiron Desktop (3910) uses the same housing as last year's model, with the same layout. We praised last year’s attractive-looking slant-pattern design, and it makes a comeback here.
Dell's usual plastic chassis and steel inner frame come in at about 11 pounds, with the exterior measuring 12.8 by 6.1 by 11.5 inches (HWD). It’s no Geekom MiniAir, but this compact tower should fit on most desks without too much intrusion.
This desktop's front panel has an SD card reader, a single combo audio jack for a headset, two USB 2.0 and one USB 3.0 Type-A ports, and a USB 3.0 Type-C port. An optical disc drive is also included along the top of the unit.
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Turning the unit around reveals one important change: A DisplayPort replaces the VGA port from last year’s model, an input that has been phased out by more modern displays. Its inclusion opens up the option for running dual monitors with more modern panels, a productivity perk that’s become more commonplace in today's office and hybrid-work environments.
Aside from the new port, the rear-panel I/O remains the same: an HDMI port, USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 Type-A ports (two of each), an Ethernet jack, and a 3.5mm audio jack for external speakers.
Dell includes two branded peripherals with its Inspiron Desktop: a wired mouse and a keyboard. The mouse is a simple two-button and scroll wheel layout that fits comfortably in an average-size hand, though individuals with bigger paws might have trouble palming it. The keyboard is a full-size layout with an all-plastic design and a considerable amount of flex, a typical compromise among budget-system add-ins.
Upgrading the Inspiron Desktop (3910): Caveat Central
Accessing the Dell Inspiron Desktop’s internals is as easy as loosening two screws and sliding off a side panel. Doing so gives you a couple of options for upgrades further down the line.
Once inside, the 256GB M.2 solid-state drive is easily accessible if you’d like to upgrade your storage space. That's given you learn how to clone your storage to secure your files; you get just that one M.2 slot for storage (a second one is filled with a Type-2230 Wi-Fi card), so you'd have to change out the boot drive.
Other kinds of drives are something of a non-starter. You do get SATA power connectors coming off the power supply, and three SATA motherboard data connections (one is used by the optical drive). But there's no place in the chassis to actually mount a 2.5-inch SSD or a 3.5-inch hard drive, and we'd be very leery of having a drive left dangling or just placed loose in this small case. So your storage upgrade options are much more limited than what the system's spec sheet might suggest, unless you're cool with double-sided tape as a drive-mounting solution.
Next to the CPU cooler are the memory slots to upgrade to up to 16GB of RAM, the baseline for most high-end machines, if you’re noticing programs are slightly sluggish. (Note that only one of the two DIMM slots was filled in our test unit, which means the model was not operating in dual-channel mode.)
You'll also note an unobstructed PCI Express x16 slot for, in theory, installing a dedicated GPU. Due to the proprietary power supply's 180-watt limit and lack of GPU power connectors, you’d need a low-tier card that powers itself off the motherboard, like certain models of the GeForce GTX 1650 or truly low-end GPUs like the GeForce GT 1030.
The power supply can be removed, but it's a proprietary design, not typical ATX or SFX, so you'd be hard-pressed to find a suitable upgrade; the main power connection to the motherboard is not a typical 24-pin connector. If you think you'll eventually want to install a video card, this is not the mini-tower to get.
Testing the Inspiron Desktop: A Respectable Performer, But Not a Category Leader
Possible upgrades aside, we’re reviewing the most barebones version of the Dell Inspiron Desktop, and so we tested it against similar systems in terms of specs and price.
We’d be remiss to not include last year’s Dell Inspiron Desktop (3891). Using last year’s model will go a long way to showing just how much of an upgrade the Intel Core i3-12100 is over the 3891’s Intel Core i3-10105. The Acer Aspire TC (2022) is our current Editors' Choice award holder here. The Geekom MiniAir 11 Special Edition is included as a mini PC alternative for someone who may be attracted to its even smaller footprint. And the Lenovo IdeaCentre 510A is an example of an older out-of-the-box budget system, though it failed to impress even when it was new.
Productivity Tests
We use a number of programs to test our systems' productivity capabilities. PCMark 10 measures overall performance by simulating a number of real-world productivity tasks, like spreadsheet work, word processing, web browsing, and video conferencing. Along with that general performance test, PCMark 10 has a storage benchmark to measure a system’s ability to load and write data from storage.
To test CPU performance, we use a number of programs to simulate CPU-heavy tasks. Handbrake measures a system’s ability to convert a 4K video file to 1080p; in testing, we always use the same video file, Blender’s Tears of Steel demo short. Maxon’s Cinebench renders a complex scene using the company’s 4D engine, and Geekbench works similarly to PCMark 10’s general tests, measuring more CPU-intensive workloads one after another. We also run Puget Systems’ PugetBench for Photoshop benchmark to test the content creation capabilities of our systems.
The Acer Aspire TC (2022) remains our first-place budget desktop in most of our productivity tests, blasting right past the Dell Inspiron. Where the Dell Inspiron does top the Acer is in the storage test, although it's second to the Dell Inspiron (3891), if not by much.
If you can find this Inspiron desktop for a deal, we might recommend that you go for it, but the Aspire TC simply performs better for less, and it includes the same basic features.
Graphics Tests
In addition to measuring core productivity performance, we run a number of tests on graphical output. 3DMark’s Time Spy subtest is designed for computers with dedicated GPUs, while the Night Raid test is better suited for systems that use integrated graphics. We also run two tests in the GFXBench suite that measure the devices' performance of low-level routines, like texture mapping, and high-level ones, like image rendering: 1440p Aztec Ruins and 1080p Car Chase.
The Inspiron Desktop failed to run the 3DMark Time Spy or GFXBench 1440p Aztec Ruins tests. Because Time Spy is meant for systems with dedicated GPUs, systems that rely on integrated graphics sometimes run into trouble. Aztec Ruins also failed to run for similar reasons, but most of this test lot punted on this benchmark, too. (As a result, we didn't chart it below.)
The graphics benchmarks that the Dell Inspiron Desktop could run show the typical limitations of integrated graphics. The 12th Gen Intel Core CPU is powerful enough for basic tasks, but it lags behind the Acer Aspire TC (2022) and the Lenovo IdeaCentre 510A in the Night Raid test.
Should you need better graphics performance down the line, the option to install a motherboard-powered, dedicated GPU is there, but the ceiling is pretty low. Without it, however, don't plan to play PC games on this machine short of the most casual options.
Verdict: A Decent Basic PC...Just Respect the Limitations
In our test configuration, the Dell Inspiron Desktop makes for a suitable basic home or hybrid-work desktop for productivity tasks. This clearly isn't a true mini PC, but you gain true desktop functionality here, with room for some modest upgrades while saving more space than with many mini-tower desktops.
Our gripes are tempered by the price, and versus last year's model, we’ve gained an updated monitor connection. However, we've tested more powerful budget towers for less cash, like the Acer Aspire TC (2022), so we'd weigh other models in your shopping journey, too, unless you see the 3910 on a price cut.
Dell's Inspiron Desktop (3910) makes for a cheap, versatile budget PC that won't chug running normal tasks. Just mind its upgrade limitations.
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