Dell Inspiron 3647 vs. Lenovo ThinkCentre M800 Small
Comparison and Differences
Differences between Dell Inspiron 3647 and Lenovo ThinkCentre M800 Small
If you are looking for a more modern desktop, then you should go with the Lenovo ThinkCentre M800 Small which was released in 2015. The Dell Inspiron 3647 is older and entered production in 2013.
Both models have the same form factor, meaning reoughtly they have the same phiysical size and form.
Processor
Usually the newer the generation of the CPU, the better the performance and efficiency is. If your budget allows it, you should go with the Lenovo ThinkCentre M800 Small as it is running a newer generation CPU. This is not to say that Dell Inspiron 3647 is bad - it can still run some powerful CPUs, albeit being an older generation.
Memory
The Lenovo ThinkCentre M800 Small has 4 RAM slots while the Dell Inspiron 3647 has only 2 slot(s). This is not something to worry about. Just make sure you take it into consideration when planning how much RAM you are going to use.
The Lenovo ThinkCentre M800 Small is using the faster 2133 MT/s RAM. The Dell Inspiron 3647 is slower by supporting RAM speeds of up to 1600 MT/s. Additionally, if you will be needing a lot of RAM, better go for the Lenovo ThinkCentre M800 Small as it has the ability to run 64 GB of RAM. The Dell Inspiron 3647 can do a bit less at max 16 GB. Most of the times, this should be sufficient for the majority of users.
Ports
In total the Dell Inspiron 3647 has 9 USB ports. The Lenovo ThinkCentre M800 Small is inferior in this regard and packs 8 USB ports. In any case, if you miss USB ports, you can always purchase a USB hub. None of the desktop models has a USB 3.1 port (10Gb/s), so if you need a fast connection to your peripherals, like external Solid State Drive, you will need to look elsewhere.
Unfortunately, only the Lenovo ThinkCentre M800 Small has a DisplayPort. The Dell Inspiron 3647 does not have one? Don't worry though, nowadays video adapters are cheap and you can get almost any combination of conversion types.
The Dell Inspiron 3647 comes with an HDMI port, while the Lenovo ThinkCentre M800 Small does not support the interface. Of course missing HDMI port is something that can be easily fixed with a good adapter (e.g. DisplayPort to HDMI).
SATA ports are placed on the system board and it is where you connect your HDD, SSD and Optical Disk Drives. More SATA slots will allow you to have more drives running at the same time. In this regard the Lenovo ThinkCentre M800 Small is better equipped as it comes with 3 SATA slot(s), while the Dell Inspiron 3647 has 2 slot(s).
M.2 SSD interface allows you to transfer data with higher speeds compared to the old SATA interface. Unfortunately, neither the Dell Inspiron 3647, nor the Lenovo ThinkCentre M800 Small has one. However, you can still use a SATA SSD drive which should give you satisfactory performance.
Make sure that the available M.2 slot supports the PCIe (also called NVMe) interface. This is important as there are M.2 slots which support only the inferior SATA III interface. For comparison, the SATA III interface has max speeds of 6Gb/s, while the PCIe 3.0 x4 will support speeds up to 32Gb/s!
Power Supply
Having a Power Supply Unit with high power rating is important, if you are going to use components which require extra power. The Lenovo ThinkCentre M800 Small comes with a decent 210 Watt PSU, but the Dell Inspiron 3647 has a more powerful one rated at 220 Watts. Choosing either one depends on your specific requirements and use case. Also don't forget that some models might have more than one PSU option - try to always get the most powerful one, especially if you plan to upgrade to a powerful GPU.
Motherboard
