Dell Inspiron i3050 Mini PC Review - $149 Windows 10 PC - Gaming, HTPC / Kodi and more
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- Опубликовано: 14 июл 2024
- Buy it on Amazon - lon.tv/9qf59 (affiliate link) - Dell's cheap little Mini PC performs well, has upgradeable RAM and storage, and might be useful as an HTPC.
VIDEO INDEX:
00:02 - Hardware overview
02:17 - Upgrade options - RAM and storage
03:32 - Boot up time
03:52 - Web browsing and video watching
06:13 - Microsoft Word performance and demonstration
06:36 - Minecraft and gaming performance
08:12 - Kodi, Blu Ray MKV playback, and DTS-HD / Dolby TrueHD
The i3050 is powered by an Intel Celeron J1800 processor - this is essentially an Atom Bay Trail processor with 2 less cores but much faster clock speed. The result is snappier visible performance, but less CPU power for multitasking and other tasks that would benefit from the additional processing power.
It comes equipped with 2GB of RAM but the ram chips are removable and likely upgradeable. The built in M2 SATA drive can also be upgraded for additional storage.
Home theater PC users will like that it supports higher end audio formats like Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD.
It performs well for basic tasks like web browsing, email, movie watching, etc. And at $149 it's a great value.
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I love this channel. Such a likable guy.I'd like to see him review a Lumia 950/surface pro 4 or another cheap Windows tablet.
OMG Karateka Disk in background!!! Awesome!
The dog that just walked in gave me a chuckle 😂
Man lon, you truly are the Go To guy for laptops and small pc reviews.
Great review! I just ordered mine today on Amazon! Can't wait to get it! :D
@3:44 Bonus points for the Karateka floppy disk in the background, bravo!
It's a classic! Still works too!
Great review man! Definitely on my wish list!
I'm very excited about this relatively new and super cheap PC market. Just a few years ago I was paying upwards of $300 for less performance than these. Have you tried Minecraft Windows 10 edition? It's a different version (a Pocket Edition port) but the performance and graphics are magnificent! That could be something to consider if someone is looking to play on a budget with a possibly better frame rate. Great review, Lon!
I'm a sucker for mini PCs.
I have the J1900 in a mini ITX case hooked up to my bedroom TV. It works great, but my wife uses it primarily for catching up on TV shows while taking a bath, so it hasn't been overly taxed thus far.
Hey Lon, any chance on reviewing some more powerful mini PCs, as an decent alternative for PS4, or just as powerful media center? Really like your channel btw. so happy I found you on YT.
Excellent video Lon. I have been trying to decide what would be best to use for Kodi and emulators. I have seen you reviews of the Nvidia Shield TV and was thinking about that but then came across this video. What do you think would be better between the two?
great!!!.. looking forward to it!
You really do great reviews! I'd love to see how to pull out that M2 SSD you pointed out - sounds tempting! (It's a real ssd, not an emmc?)
These went on and off sale during the shopping season late last year. I eventually got one for $129, and was rather surprised that it included a 2.4gHz, dongle-based keyboard AND mouse - both work very nicely, although I feel guilty about clogging the increasingly polluted 2.4gHz wifi band. The keyboard and mouse are labelled Logitech underneath, which is nice since Logitech's software allows multiple devices to share a single dongle - in this case both mouse and keyboard. The keyboard is easier to type on than my out-going Mac Mini stock Apple keyboard and never lags, drops key strokes, or fails to wake up so fast that any sleep mode is invisible. My only gripe on the mouse is the (apparent) inability to set the scroll wheel to "Australian" direction scrolling - if you have a solution, I'd love to hear it! And, oh yeah, you will sound like an office worker on the keyboard, the keystroke is nicely, old-fashioned long, BUT the strokes are all *pretty loud.*
*I hesitated getting this due to unfamiliarity with the 2 core J1800 Celeron, and fears the fan would blow loud.* _I needn't have worried._
As to the J1800 processor, I remembered how dual core, but higher-clocked N2840's were outperforming quad core, lower-clocked Bay Trails in test reports and benchmarks, and sure enough the Dell is much zippier than my quad core, Bay Trail powered Lenovo Compute Stick.
Mind you, with the exception of the ability to run VLC, I treat the Dell Inspiron i3050 Micro PC as a Chromebook - really, I just live in the Chrome browser, and turn off auto-load Flash in Chrome settings.
At first, I limited myself to very little multi-tasking and not too many tabs open, but after an easy-peasy $40 upgrade to an 8gb Crucial RAM stick _(love the way Crucial's website absolutely, positively identify the _*_right memory_*_ for your device via their online tool)_ I got over my fear of multiple Chrome tabs _(despite Chrome's notorious memory hogging)._
*I now keep as many tabs open on this poor little thing as I used to keep open on my Mac Mini (8gb/i5).*
*_There is NO practical difference in everyday computing speed on this wimpy Atom micro desktop, vs the much larger (and classier) Mac Mini i5!_*
And on the _improvements_ side, I can now EASILY manage my Android and Windows phones via USB - file management on Mac was a disaster, such a disaster I had to revert to wireless file transfer apps as a work-around.
*As to the fan (there IS one, right) I have never heard it run* - it either doesn't, or it's much better-engineered (size, blade angles, top speeds, conservative use) than the angry swarm of bumblebees sound that came out of the Lenovo Compute Stick with its tiny, frequently running, fan.
I really appreciate Dell support.
Mine, purchased in December 2015 (last month) shipped with Win 8.1 *(I note yours came with Win 10, and the website now says Win 10, but it's also up to $179 and not the $159 you mentioned, so I guess you got it during one of their frequent flash sales emailed to their subscribers).*
Upgrading to Win 10 was easy, though, and I used it as an opportunity to use the Win 10 Media Creation Tool to re-format the hard drive and do a clean install; it helps that Dell's support page provides the latest drivers. I think I gained 5gb by wiping out the Dell recovery partition (and all the Dell Bloat!).
*I hope the next iteration of this i3050 micro desktop gets the latest Atom processor - Cherry Trail for the much better graphics support (12 vs. 6 eu's) and hardware support for h265.* But, I'd rather have this older processor at the higher clock speed than a Cherry Trail at a much slower clock speed.
I also hope *Dell switches to a wall-wart styke power charger, **_with USB tip,_* instead of the current bulky lamp-cord to power-brick to thin-cord-with-proprietary-charging-tip design.
*_Really, Dell - you do do many things right, but blow it on a proprietary power supply?_* Of course the whole industry has blown it on the non-interchangeability of power bricks/charging tips.
Lon, I super super hope you have the new Intel Compute Stick with Cherry Trail on your "to do" list. I would love to hear how that performs, especially as to whether the new design can handle Bluetooth keyboard/mouse set-ups - the outgoing one had a cheapo chip that combined wifi and BT on the same chip and couldn't chew gum and walk at the same time - apparently couldn't handle wifi well AND coordinate with keyboard and mouse - Lenovo even includes a big cautionary notes on their version of the Compute Stick warning to only use the 2.4ghz dongle style of hooking up keyboard and mouse.
_I haven't tried the Dell micro with both Bluetooth mouse AND BT keyboard, but I DID swap in an ultrathin and light Amazon Basics bluetooth keyboard as an experiment, and there were no lag or other performance issues at all._
I really like the abundance of ports and the presence of one USB 3.0 port. USB 3.0 thumbdrive speeds make it the cheapest, easiest way to get extra storage - I am hoping to get a Cruzer Fit ultra-low profile thumb drive for that port soon.
Once again, thanks for your great reviews!
tanks for telling me that I can game thanks for tips to I did not get my mini inspiron yet but thanks tho plus I subbed
Lon, that thing looks just like my Dell Zino from 5-6 years ago.
Great review Lon. I'm looking for a mini pc to replace my HP laptop I'm using exclusively for my Plex Media server. I clicked your link to Amazon and I think Amazon (or Dell) has caught on to what a great little machine this is and have raised the price to $330. Can you recommend another mini pc for under $200 that will run Plex Media Server well? Thanks Lon.
Cool review, thank you
Hey, Lon, great review. Did you happen to test this machine's ability to play video at 23.976 fps? Thanks.
Hi Lon, you may actually purchase a SATA cable from Dell, just go to their website -> support -> parts, you can start a online chat with their sales person on weekdays, hope that will help you! :)
I have 2 & 3 year old 10.5 inch Acer and Gateway laptops that I use in the vehicle and workshop for internet, email, Word and Navigation the problem is they are slow. Seeing one is in the vehicle I don't want to spend big bucks and the same for the workshop. Do you know if this will run faster then my 2 10.5 laptops?
Hi Lon from the past, I’m watching this video as I’ve just ordered an older refurbished mini pc and am wondering how it might go as a HTPC.
im glad more company's are doing these mini pcs now, i think the hp stream is still winning by a margin though. One thing i wish manufacturers would stop doing is using glossy surfaces as they scratch easily and are finger print magnets 2 very annoying features. Good mini pc either way and good value
cpu can be upgraded. when he shows it from the side with the bottom off you can clearly see the side of the cpu socket.
I been using this mini PC for 4 years now and it's still pretty smooth. All the Windows upgrades have been smooth as well. The only thing I needed to upgrade is the ssd from 32gb to 128gb. I use it for casual web browsing and video streaming like Netflix. I'm surprised that Dell hasn't made any new versions. The only downside is that it doesn't have 4K.
How did you upgrade it to 128Gb?
Did you just put in a 128Gb sd card?
@@BradKwfc You got to get a SSD which is like a hard drive for the computer but tiny (m.2 ssd 2242) which is inside the mini PC so you'll have to take it apart. And you will have to copy (migrate) Windows 10 to the new SSD using a USB drive from another computer to the mini PC. Go to Dell's website for detailed instructions.
@@danram247 Awesome Thanks for the explanation. Might get one of these now that I see how easy they are to upgrade.
Hi Lon. Great video as always. Love your reviews. I would really like you to take a look at this mini PC VOYO-V3 Intel Cherry Trail X7-Z8700 with Windows10-64Bit 4GB RAM and 128GB SSD. Its pretty cheap at Aliexpress. Around 230USD. As you see it has higher specs than the competitor devices and I wonder how would it perform. Especially at League of Legends (one of the most popular MOBA type games which you should also include in your reviews to give the audience a better overview of the low end device performance). I really hope that you'll notice my comment and consider it. Thanks!
Hi Lon, thanks for the review. Are you still using windows media center? If not, what are you using now. Thanks!
+Lon Seidman thanks! Just trying to figure out what to do at home.
Hi , Thanks for he video . Is the fan quiet . I would use the computer for recording music , my mics are very sensitive , need a quiet computer . Cheers , Pete.
We have these for small children in a classroom and you can't install anything on them due to windows wanting to do updates and other programs take up a lot of GIGs (OFFICE). This thing has like 30 and to do anything more you will have to upgrade and you'll have to find parts when it should come with them. But nope! Can't play installed games, and all these kids want to do is go on Roblox and don't care about learning Math or English... oh, well... am not a teacher or a concerned parent.
hi Lon, nice information, but I have a question if you can help please, I'm trying to create a recovery media before I upgrade the HDD but it wont let me use a USB flash drive or a DVD's, "the only option it gives is USB HDD, and it gives me error message within a few seconds after I started the process.??
nice job good useful data
I meant to ask you this a while ago LON.. Can HD HOMERUN still be used with these mini PCs if Microsoft took out Windows media Player from Windows 10? And does this mean that my XBOX 360 is useless as a pass thru now? I do have an XBONE as well but not sure if that will work. LOVE YOUR STUFF!!
i have one and would like to add a harddrive in the tray inside. where can i get sata connector ?
I'm getting this for Christmas, and I was wondering if there were any upgrades other than ram or storage that you would suggest.
It only has 1 memory slot right?
Haha! 5 1/4 floppies in the background! You are a computer collector!
How do these compare to say other boxes like from MINIX, etc which also lets you upgrade the Laptop Memory, M2 SSD slot storage. Minix using PowerLine Ethernet pushes almost 100mbps.
hello, can you recommend the 8g to get for my dell inspiron micro desktop
You often mention that you have your movies stored on your hard drive. What tool do you use to do that? I am looking at moving in that direction.
Thanks, I use MakeMKV for my DVDs, but did not know it would work on my Blu-rays. As for space, thanks to your reviews, I have a WD mycloud, so it should not be an issue. Thanks again for all you do.
that old Mac in the background , do you actually turn it on and used it ?
I know I'm bit late to the party, but mine is still a bit slow, even with an 8GB stick. Still haven't upgraded the storage, however, and its used primarily for video streaming on RUclips, etc. Would you happen to know if upgrading the M.2 Drive to a larger capacity would help with speed, as I only have roughly 8GB of storage space left after system updates and the installation of Chrome. Overall a good little unit even in 2022, however.
Did you have a chance to try out MAME or any other emulators on it?
Ha ha dog walks in, checks something, walks out, doesn't phase you one bit. That's great
What do you do when you're done reviewing each device? Do you throw it away or put it somewhere in storage? I'm not asking to have a device, I'm just curious to know what you do with them. :)
***** Alright, thanks. I'll check out your store.
+lon seidman would this be a good pc for n64 emulation using a wireless controller
will this be adequate to use to make websites? starting online course soon and dont want anything to bulky and not to expensive. also dont want to buy something that won't perform properly
ive found these cheaper then full towers and definitely smaller
Could you twitch stream from PS4 & cap card through OBS at constant 60 fps/1080P?
can this little thing handle Kodi or chrome browser?
Only gripe I have is that I think its still a little to early to be calling a 2.5" drive a full size drive. Full size is still 3.5" HDD.
Lon, I'm diggin my 3050 and I've paired it w/ my Xbox One. However, I'm getting a bit of a weak wifi signal. I thought swapping the 3160 Mini PCIe card to a 7260 card would do the trick, but I think I may be wrong and get the same results. Would a second antenna do the trick? If so, would you be kind enough to recommend one? Thank you in advance.
how is it for streaming Xbox one games? that is my primary reason for looking at one of these.
Karateka - on 5.25 floppy disk = priceless
Can I play my farmville 2 from Facebook. My PC is slow and it keeps telling me I need to download the flash player to be able to play
Can someone link me to a website where I can buy a hard drive that can go into the empty slot?
I hope you respond to this, please can you tell me if you need a internet cable for it?
Can it run fallout NV on low settings or run paint tool sai and other editing software
Lon,
I'm looking for a mini to run office and to record/edit audio. Would this work for that or is there another mini that might work?
+Lon Seidman
Apparently those are discontinued. It seems they are pushing HP Pavilion Mini now instead. Any knowledge of this? Any alternatives for audio recording/editing as the Stream is now 240 and up. Or is the Stream still worth it at this higher price?
Streaming videos like on Netflix and Hulu. Does it perform well too?
Is the Minecraft discs better than downlin it on the computer
How many plex streams would I be able to run and at what quality? Right now I have the HP MINI STREAM
Thanks
That takes the cake over Kangaroo in my opinion. Lon, I believe the Insignia Flex, the 11" version, is one of the last retail store brand Wintablets you've yet to review. This brand tried to push itself past the competition with the higher res and all that.Though I prefer Wintablets, admittedly, these Mini PCs seem to start seeming more appealing.
+Jonathan Euceda In terms of speed, probably, but the built-in battery - which acts presumably as a built-in uninteruptible power supply - has to be appealing. For me, the deciding factor was Dell vs. unknow, and Dell is a more known quantity to me.
+Michael Webber That's true. Budget Wintablets don't have that secure of a build quality in comparison to a Mini PC, honestly
Jonathan Euceda Yeah even HP blew it with the sound problem on the Stream 7 when you put in headphones - unusable, or nearly so, static. BUT they are also an engineering marvel to behold, and with Win 10, they are _almost_ in the tablet game, in terms of simple stuff like auto-pop up keyboard, and not covering text entry boxes with auto-pop up.
+Michael Webber HP Streams straight up regular laptops area really isn't bad. I personally have an Insignia Flex and the problem is a slightly loose back case. Mini PCs just seem much more secure than Tablets
Laptops will usually feel more secure too. Wintablets still aren't quite into the budget build quality optimization zone yet. A simple solid 8" Wintablet with these specs would be nice
Jonathan Euceda You said, in paret _"Wintablets still aren't quite into the budget build quality optimization zone yet."_ *Yup, that hits the nail on the head.*
do a vs vs this and a hp stream mini
+SuperSurge28 Yes, I second this! From the review, it seems very similar to the HP Stream Mini...definitely wondering how they compare/differ.
Can you upgrade to windows 10 pro ? We are thinking of using these as kiosk machines with elo touchscreens.. Do you see any issues there ? Our app is a google chrome app that we want to run in kiosk mode...
+Lon Seidman Awesome Thanks !
What's the best mini pc for under $200.00 IN YOUR OPINION? Seems like you really like the Kangaroo PC. The Kangaroo Plus would be more Ideal if it had windows on it too, but I'd have to figure out how to put windows on it and that would be more money for a copy of windows so it would end up being a $300.00 mini PC
can you review the remix ultra tablet?
Is this model supports auto wake up function?
would league of legends play well and above 40 fps? im thinking this or the VOYO V3
looks good for watching movies but would it be good to use it as a plex server?
Hey Lon, I have seen many of your reviews on mini pc's under $200 and I was wondering which has the best performance for the money? I am planning on buying one to use as an everyday desktop
+Lon Seidman hey fella happy new year I was just wondering if you could do a review on a mini pc it's called the pipe x8 and it's a dual booting system windows 8.1 but upgradable to 10 and it also boots android to. it has a built in touch screen on the device and I'm thinking of getting one as I need something small but useful for a desk set up. can u take a look and review the system for me then I know what I'm getting.
+gaming and console tech sorry it's the pipo x8. I love auto correct mate hahaha..... thanks again let me know.
+Lon Seidman I think HP discontinued the Stream Mini. Only the more expensive Pavilion version is available now.
+Lon Seidman any chance you can look into that mini pc for me and let me know Lon the pipo x8.
Hey my name is Ebony I got a question can I use this on my dell laptop I have a dell 3135 laptop and it has windows 7 installed on it will this work on it or do I have to upgrade to window's 10 on it?
Oh so it's not use for laptops?
I was just looking at this on amazon lol
How well does it stream the xbox one?
Can I get something like this and put lunix on it?
Great review. Thanks. I used the following memory, 8gb, plus it's cl7 timings at 1600, a little faster:www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231759 As far as the SSD noticed that SSD drives either via SSD cable or M2 socket seem to fall back to SATA2. I don't know if flaw. Have not found a true PCIe M2 that fits here, all seem to be 2280 format. I can assume the PCIe non-sata drives will run faster. It's a matter of time before 2260 format found for the super fast drives. This 3050 can take the 2242 or 2260 m2 drives. The little clip holding the drive can be moved back to another hole on circuit board.
Hello How are u today?
i bought too many android boxes and i did not like them
I endup after lots of thinking and searching buying (Intel NUC NUC5i5RYH)
- what do think about it for Home Media (Kodi)?
+Lon Seidman what video ?
if you are talking about this video i think the one i am talking about way better
out of all the mini Pc's which is the best for movie streaming and web browsing?
+Lon Seidman ok thanks. well tell me which one would you prefer?
You could probably squeeze a bit more fps out of Minecraft on this by turning the resolution down to around 1366x768 or even 1280x720
***** Well, I'm just saying if someone was going to be running Minecraft on this PC they might want to turn the resolution for better performance or any low end PC for that matter
Can we watch tv online in that mini pc?
hello, I updated my ssd to 128gb, how do I transfer my windows 8.1 to the new ssd
Get ghost32
dell sent me the windows 8.1, and i downloaded it
How much HD does it come with?
will this work with Abode Photoshop?
Hey Lon, could you please test if Ubuntu works on this machine? Would be nice as a small server =)
+Lon Seidman Thank you! Thats awesome =)
Can you bring up the "stats for nerds" on youtube videos so you/we can see if these little pc's are dropping frames, specially at 1080p60. at a quick glance they might not be dropping frames but from my experience after a while of watching or after the cpu heats up and throttles at all they can begin to drop frames pretty bad. The throttling part is geared more towards the fanless systems such as compute sticks and core m pc/laptops.
+snafupossum Lon said he ran 1080p at 60fps, but on my unit, it hesitates, stutters, on RUclips 1080p/50fps content. Huh? 1080p/30fps no problem, but that frame rate is no longer an option on RUclips (what???).
Which mini pc is best as a Plex server thanks
2.5" or 3.5" hdd caddy ?
which is better Dell or kangaroo? pls tell me Lon
do you think this could run star wars the old Republic?
Lon some CherryTrail I believe? have been able to play Bf4 at 30FPS no problems. Will double check. There are some Chinese models with Core i3 and i5 chipsets, using HD6000 graphics around $200 to $300 USD. AliExpress, but you have to know what seller some are not clear on what you are actually buying they post PHOTOS with specs but the TEXT descriptions make you think you are getting the OLDER model. Would hate to get ripped off because they are not clear enough to steal your money.
Nice!
Is the Power Supply included? The Amazon Ad and your Video fail to mention this. If a buyer learns that they needed to also order a Power Supply as well and can't use the new Toy until they get one they will be unhappy. If it needs one then exactly which, if not then we need to know...
Does this support playback of HEVC x265 video?
+Lon Seidman x265.com/hevc-video-files/ kodi.wiki/view/Samples
the link here to Amazon has a cost of $329.99.. what happened to the $149? its aug 2016 bummer
So it can handle games like Unturned ,Roblox, And other steam related games?
can this pc run 4k vidio
This guy reminds me of Banya from Seinfeld
I just installed 4 camera system at 4 separate buildings for a customer. He wants to watch all system via a VMS software. I found a cheap mini computer online for under $100. It has an intel processor but it runs extremely slow an even locks up. Do you feel this Dell i3050 will deliver what I am trying to do? I thank you in advance for your response.
Joe Cahill, owner of J & J Security in Milford Ct
Without knowing what the computer is now it's hard to say. Generally these lower cost mini PCs all perform around the same at this price point. You might want to look at a more expensive NUC i3 based computer.
can it do hi10p?
can anyone please tell me how to upgrade the storage?
Very carefully.
AMD CRIMSON Display Driver crashed on me when you were showing Minecraft running. Pretty sad playing your RUclips video makes my CRIMSON driver crash, even though your video kept playing, wierd.
can this computer runs windows 7?
What about plugging a second monitor? It's deal-breaker for me - it needs to run flawlessly on 2 screens setting.
Hairuddin Munip Well all you need is an HMDI cord and the other one that I can't remember the name of. Just plug each cord into their respective monitors and you're set.
Anthony Mondz it's what most modern TVs use to connect to a device like an Xbox One
What about Plex?