Dell Inspiron 3050 Review- a worthy contender for HTPC

The Dell Inspiron 3050 is a new contender in the Home Theater Personal Computer market. A little while back we compared some Android TV boxes with mini PCs. Our preference was the Lenovo Q190 both for performance and extra resources. Some TV options like free Hulu are available for PC browsers, but not for tablet or phone software which is the operating system for the Android TV boxes. Now we have been introduced to the Dell Inspiron 3050, a Windows 10 micro PC with built in Bluetooth,  a 32GB solid-state drive, media card reader and 2GB of memory.

Specs

The Inspiron 3050 micro PC is part of the new generation of desktops and laptops that offer minimal drive space and power, but focus on being nimble and cheap. Free cloud storage for a year is included as part of a marketing movement geared toward these sleek PCs.

I personally prefer a mini PC to an android mostly because there are more free video resources available, but if needed, it can also serve as a light use PC. Others may choose an Android box for the simple fact that they can add a remote for a more familiar streaming experience. You will need to decide which works best for you.

Now let’s look at the reviews. This is the area that concerned me the most. Make not mistake about it, there are lots of bad reviews on the 3050. I had ordered this unit back in December, in part, because I needed to use up a couple hundred dollars in an eGift card. I read the reviews and decided to take a chance anyway. Most of the negative reviews revolved around the limited internal storage space. With my Lenovo Q190 I didn’t have any concerns with space as it came with a 500GB hard drive. These new micro PCs seem to standardize around a 32GB card which seems a little short-sighted. Take a look for yourself and you will see that many reviewers complained about a lack of space.

At the time I made my purchase the operating system advertised was Windows 8.1. During the upgrade from 8.1 to Windows 10, many users complained how they were not able to complete the installation and had to perform work arounds to get Windows 10 to install. I never received the Windows 8.1 version, mine eventually came with Windows 10 and I didn’t have to worry about playing that work around game. Although I didn’t have to go through the agony myself, I can understand the frustration caused by limited storage.

Receiving the Inspiron 3050 with Windows 10 already installed won’t mean that your storage troubles are over. You still won’t have much space to download or save video files or programs. I wanted to make sure I had plenty of room for Windows Updates, so I kept it simple. I added a free anti-virus and anti-malware program. I also downloaded the Web-based Slingbox and a couple of other small programs. I also deleted the free Office Suite. The primary purpose for my Dell 3050 is streaming video, so I don’t need a lot of programs to bog things down. I was left with over 12GB of free space. I inserted a very inexpensive 32GB SD card ($7) for video storage and I was ready.

Cost

The list price for the 3050 is $199. I have never seen it advertised for that price. I bought my first unit for $130 and it came with an upgraded wireless keyboard and mouse in addition to a wired combo. I would not suggest purchasing the wireless combo upgrade at $30 as you must be within about 5 or 6 feet for the keyboard to work reliably. The 3050 also went on sale again for $150 shortly after and then again for $130 and bouncing back to the normal $180 price. If you are patient, you should be able to get this unit between $130 and $150.

Conclusion

For my purposes the Dell Inspiron 3050 does what I want it to. It is small and uses only 5 to12 watts (idle to max) of power so I can keep it turned on and instantly ready to stream movies. Some users complained that it ran a little hot, but others said it seemed fine and I have not had that negative experience myself. My model is on the low end of power with only a Celeron processor, but it still performed well enough. Just don’t expect it to play 1080P movies at 60 frames per second. Users are able to upgrade to a 2.67 GHz Pentium Quad Core for $50 more. I didn’t think the upgrade in power was worth the money, but I also realize my configuration would be frustrating if I were trying to use this as anything other than a media streaming or very light duty PC.

Make sure you get a Windows 10 model. If you order from Dell that won’t be a problem, but other etailers might still have some Windows 8.1 units they want to get rid of. There is information out there to help get rid of Dell bloatware and other unwanted programs to free up some space. Before dismissing this little gem, read those Dell reviews again with the knowledge that you can have enough room with minimal programs installed and you may find the Dell Inspiron 3050 worthy of taking a chance on Just don’t pay the normal prices as sales come around pretty frequently.