Dell Inspiron 7700 AIO Review

Need an easy solution for college or home-office productivity and entertainment? Buy a large computer monitor and pretend it’s a TV. That will get you by, but the Dell Inspiron 7700 AIO presents a more elegant solution.

This all-in-one PC includes an HDMI input jack, meaning your Nintendo Switch or Roku streaming stick will plug directly in. You really don’t have to look elsewhere, since you console gaming and streaming are presented right on your Windows 10 desktop.

Plus, the 27-inch Inspiron i7700-7996SLV-PUS also looks elegant, with its built-in soundbar and a versatile stand, that you’d find on premium TVs. Can it adequately handle both PC and TV without sacrificing either? Let’s see.

Dell Inspiron 7700 AIO design

The Inspiron 27 looks sleek. That’s for sure. It rocks a 27-inch Infinity Edge touch display, that’s framed by narrow, 8mm silver bezels on three sides, and a larger chin on the bottom, anchoring a silver speaker bar. For the price, you’re essentially getting the equivalent of a more expensive QHD monitor -something like the Acer EB321HQU, neatly packaged with a space-saving AIO PC design, where the screen is hoisted on a tented stand made from bent metal tubes.

The result a great-looking AIO PC, with the same aesthetic as the flagship HP 24-dp0180 AIO. Unlike the Apple iMac’s aluminum stand, the metal wire design isn’t as strong and doesn’t feel premium, but it still holds the Inspiron 27 and makes it less imposing on a desk.

The stand meets the chassis at the bottom left and right edges, meaning it offers excellent stability and doesn’t get on your way when trying to plug and unplug your peripherals. The stand offers a decent amount of tilt, but it doesn’t offer height adjustments, and the Inspiron 27 is incompatible with third-party VESA stands.

Display

With the redesign, Dell discontinued the all-in-one 4-resolution screen option across the 27-inch AIO Series. The only option available is a full HD (1920 x 1080) display, available in either touch or non-touch options. The lack of a 4K option is dismal, since Apple offers 4K and 5K display options on its iMacs.

The extra pixels are a luxury that most base users won’t mind, but our review unit features the 1080p touch display. A screen this large practically begs to be touched, and the Inspiron i7700-7996SLV-PUS we’re reviewing offers that extra comfort. Above the display, there’s a retractable webcam for zoom classes and meetings; when not in use, you simply push it down into the chassis.

Ports

The Inspiron 7700 AIO’s power button is located in an easy access spot on the right of the faux speaker grille, but the rest of the ports are located around the back, just like the iMac’s ports. They include a power connector, a USB 3.1 Type-C port, a Gigabit Ethernet jack, three USB 3.1 Type-A port, a USB 2.0 port, a headphone jack, an SD card reader, and an HDMI video output port.

This is where the Inspiron 27 gets exciting. It has an extra HDMI video output that lets you use the 27-inch screen as an external display for a laptop or game console, a clever feature that the more expensive iMac lacks.

As mentioned earlier, the bottom of the display has what appears to be a giant sound bar. Sadly, that’s just for show – the HP AIO’s actual speakers are a pair of tiny stereo twitters that produce laptop-quality sound. They’ll fill an average-size living room and work fine for conference calls with workmates, but they offer tiny bass for music or Netflix binge. Luckily, good quality external speakers will fill the void.

Dell Inspiron 27 performance

In addition to the quad-core, 1.2Ghz (4.7Ghz) Intel Core i7-1165G7 CPU, in our review unit, the Dell Inspiron AIO can be configured with a 23.8 inch and a Core i5-1135G7 chip. Both are laptop-class parts from Intel’s latest 11^th Generation “Tiger Lake-U” (UP4) processor family.

The HP i7700-7996SLV-PUS also features Intel Iris Xe Graphics with shared memory and Intel Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 5.0 wireless connectivity. Other specs include 12GB of RAM, a 512GB NVMe solid-state drive and 1TB hard drive storage, which you can configure if you’re interested in future-proofing, but it helps keeps costs down.

As configured, the Inspiron 27 AIO is an adequate performer at everyday computing tasks, that will not stutter when you load even content-rich websites in different browser tabs. It doesn’t have any annoying noise from the cooling fan, which suggest that even with the CPU maxed out the machine won’t be a public nuisance.

As a general-purpose AIO, this machine has the chops to deliver perfectly. However, for heavy media creation it doesn’t keep pace with prosumer-class machines like the 27-inch Apple iMac or the Microsoft Surface Studio 2, but you can still run some Photoshop tasks hassle free.

Bottom Line

The Dell Inspiron 7700 AIO goes beyond its purpose as an all-in-one PC. By simply being able to connect a console or streaming box to this AIO presents lots of value to this solid desktop, and give the Inspiron i7700-7996SLV-PUS a unique gaming edge. Despite lacking on physical volume or brightness controls college students and cord cutters will certainly appreciate the versatility of the HDMI input port on the Inspiron 7700 AIO.

Are there better alternatives?

If you have the extra cash and looking for a better alternative, you can splurge on the 27-inch Apple iMac, which will deliver better performance, and can be useful for anyone working with large files or who need the graphics horsepower for creative tasks. Also, the 34-inch HP All-in-One comes with the same video input, an upgraded Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 graphics, making it better suited for 1080p gaming.

A Capable Home Hub

That said, the Dell Inspiron 7700 AIO (i7700-7996SLV-PUS) remains an excellent choice for college students, home-office users and creatives who need a PC that will last for years to come, and can be upcycled as a streaming screen long after the silicon inside has lived out its useful life.