Inspired by the Dell Inspiron 400

MANILA, Philippines - The Dell Inspiron 400 is the Windows world’s answer to the Mac Mini, a full-fledged desktop PC that lives inside a compact, eight-inch square box that’s about three inches high. The unit, which has a minimalist look to it, is encased in glossy black plastic and is topped by a removable panel that’s available in seven colors. The power switch and the Dell logo sit prominently on the top panel.

Despite its diminutive size, the Inspiron 400 – also known as the Zino HD – packs enough power to get you speedily through most computing tasks. The review unit I tested uses a 1.8-gigahertz AMD Athlon Neo X2 dual core processor and came with four gigabytes of memory.

For graphics, the Inspiron 400 uses the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3200 integrated processor, which gives it decent performance for basic 3D gaming and high-definition playback, but the lack of dedicated memory means performance will be less than optimal on newer, more demanding 3D games. To improve graphics performance, one can opt instead to use the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 with 512MB of dedicated memory, but this will cost extra.

Storage on the review unit I received was a spacious one-terabyte Seagate Barracuda drive, although other models have less (500GB or 640GB). There are two USB slots conveniently located on the front panel right next to a card reader. The built-in dual-layer DVD+/-RW optical drive is accessible from the front panel as well.

On the back, there are two more USB ports as well as two eSATA slots for really speedy external storage – just in case one terabyte isn’t enough for you. Video and power cables go into the back of the unit, where there are also audio ports for speakers and an external microphone and a standard Ethernet port. There’s also an HDMI jack so you can hook the unit up to your large-screen digital TV.

The Inspiron 400 is easy to set up. Simply connect the monitor, the power supply and your external speakers and you’re ready to go. The computer comes with a wireless keyboard and mouse that are a joy to use. Just make sure you plug in the wireless receiver into one of the available USB slots – I prefer using one in the back of the unit to free up those in front – before you power up.

The Inspiron comes with Windows 7 Professional installed but Dell has added its own dock (made by Stardock Corp.) which makes it even easier to launch your most commonly used programs. The system also comes with Roxio Creator DE for burning CDs and DVDs. In addition, there is a trial version of Norton Internet Security installed, but this aside, there’s a refreshing absence of useless bloatware that often weighs down many branded computers.

Even with so many electronic components squeezed into a tight space, the Inspiron 400 runs cool. After several hours of operation, there was none of the heat that you might get from a notebook PC. Even better, the Inspiron 400 is as quiet as a mouse. There’s no irritating high-pitch sound that some computers emit.

The Inspiron 400 comes in three configurations: a model with 2GB of RAM and a 500-GB hard drive, which sells for P24,999; a model with 3GB of RAM and 640GB of storage, which costs P27,999; and the high-end model (which I reviewed). Dell does not sell this model in the Philippines, however. Dell officials say the Inspiron 400 series will be available this March.