Manufactured sometime in 2015, this is in no way a new computer. Thankfully, with the help of Linux, this machine can stay relevant for m any years. It is currently (as of 13 Dec 2018) running openSUSE Tumbleweed.
The primary function of this All-In-One is to act as a kind of information hub in my house. Very often, the refrigerator door has all the information on it but there is only so much you can squeeze on a those doors along with pictures and happy memes.
It acts as the main display of the family calendar as well as messaging hub using Franz and Gnome-Recipes for kitchen assistance. This machine freed up counter space and has generally de-cluttered the undersized kitchen to make using it more efficient. The touch screen works very well with KDE Plasma and many applications are very touch friendly. I tend to use Falkon browser over Firefox because it is more touch friendly.
Specs that matter
- CPU Pentium G3240T 2.7 GHz
- 8 GB RAM
- 930 GiB SSD
- Touchscreen LED 19.5″ at 1600×900
- Built in speakers
- SD Card reader
- 6 USB ports
- 3.5mm Line out
- 3.5mm Headphone / mic jack
- Atheros AR9565 Wifi b/g/n + Bluetooth
Future Upgrades
Nothing is planned for the immediate future but in order of upgrades will be considered:
- The current CPU consumes 35 Watts and I want to keep the replacement the same. I am looking to upgrade to either the Core i7-4765T or Core i7-4785T for this reason. I am not sure how taxed the power supply is and how much more it can handle.
- Increasing the RAM to 16 GB
- Replace the HDD with an SDD but that is low on my priority. It wouldn’t add any functionality to the system
- Possibly a second adjacent screen. It would have to be the same size and preferably the same resolution with VESA mount capability and also preferably touch screen (tall order)
Final Thoughts
I did upgrade the HDD to an SSD and that made a huge difference in performance. It is not even a question to how valuable the SSD was to this computer in user experience. It was well, well worth the purchase.
This is one of three desktop computers I am currently using in my house. Everything is either a laptop or an ARM based toy computer. I must say there is something rather nice about a computer that stays put but a battery backup would be nice.
Further Reading
openSUSE Tumbleweed on Dell Inspiron 20 3048 All-In-One Desktop