Dell Optiplex 990 Desktop With Intel Core I5 Reviews
At a Glance
Good's Rating
Pros
- Compact chassis saves space
- Potent general operation
Cons
- Limited connection options
- Limited upgradability
Our Verdict
Dell'south Optiplex 990 SFF manages to squeeze past much of the residue of the Business Desktop category, offering strong full general performance at a fair price.
The Dell Optiplex line of desktops is geared toward businesses that need capable number crunchers, backed upwards by Dell'due south robust support network. While they're available in all shapes and sizes, we took a await at a smaller model that nonetheless manages to evangelize strong performance for the Business Desktop category. The Dell Optiplex 990 SFF starts at $850, but the model we reviewed was fully equipped and is offered at $1920 (every bit of vii/11/2011).
The Optiplex line has undergone a slight refresh since nosotros last saw them. The Optiplex 990 SFF sports a sleek grill end, with the "Dell" logo tastefully affixed on a plate at the forepart. It'southward a very clean wait (though marred by the requisite "Windows 7" and "Intel Inside" stickers) that maintains the feel of the older Dell Optiplex 780 USFF, while offering a new end for the part. The chassis has been altered ever so slightly, simply enough to make it incompatible with the all-in-one stand up used in previous generations. Y'all'll nonetheless exist able to mount the Optiplex 990 SFF behind a display (as was the case with the Optiplex 780 USFF we reviewed a twelvemonth ago), but y'all'll need to pick up the new stands to make it all fit.
With a chassis this compact, don't expect to find much room to maneuver once you've popped off the chapeau. Latches and levers offer tool-free to access to the unit's innards, but the best you'll be able to do is upgrade or replace existing hardware. Though everything is rather tightly packed, the bays slide upwardly and out of the manner, which promises to make tinkering less of a chore — not that you'll spend much time doing so, in all likelihood.
The Optiplex 990 SFF we reviewed is equipped with a iii.4GHz Core-i7 2600 processor, 4GB of RAM, and an AMD Radeon HD 6450 graphics card. Windows 7 Professional is housed on the 500GB boot drive, and you'll as well detect a second drive for extra storage. A full terabyte of space is well exterior the norm for business organisation-form machines, which is corking. The Optiplex 990 SFF also offers a Blu-ray/DVD-RW combination drive, a curious albeit welcome addition. DVD-burners are par for the form beyond all consumer desktop models, but the Blu-ray player is rare — and should exist a nice artery for post-work amusement.
When lined up against the consumer-oriented mainstream desktop category, the Optiplex 990 SFF fails to stand out. It earned a score of 152 on our WorldBench 6 testing suite — splendid in its ain correct, but dwarfed by similarly priced machines that are more often than not outfitted with gaming in mind. That said, when lined upward confronting the remainder of the business desktops that have come through our labs, it's bested only by the Dell Vostro 460, which earned a 156.
Another key difference between the two: the Vostro 460 relies on integrated graphics, while the Optiplex 990 SFF is equipped with a discrete graphics carte du jour. We don't consider gaming performance when looking at business machines, and information technology wouldn't brand sense to do so hither — the Optiplex 990 SFF managed to postal service playable frame rates on our Far Cry 2 test (37.three frames per 2nd), merely only at the lowest settings. Of greater interest is the fact that the Optiplex 990 SFF can attain a potential resolution of 2560 by 1600 pixels, whereas the Vostro 460 taps out at 1920 by 1200 pixels.
The Optiplex 990 SFF'south port selection isn't too exciting. The automobile offers a full of x USB ports — 6 at the rear, and four conveniently up front. That's certainly a generous number, merely also a lack of variety. Both FireWire and USB iii.0 PCI cards are available as optional extras, simply the Vostro 460 includes both USB 3.0 and eSATA connectors. The graphics carte du jour offers DisplayPort and DVI connectors. Serial PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports gratis up your USB ports, and you get a serial port for your legacy hardware. Gigabit ethernet is condign standard, but the 802.11n Wi-Fi isn't — a welcome addition, and especially useful in a auto that'due south intended to be tucked away.
Last, the bundled peripherals include naught particularly exciting, equally expected in the concern category. The arranged mouse is generic and uncomplicated — two buttons and a gyre wheel. The keyboard, by contrast, offers quite a bit more functionality. Shortcut keys give quick admission to browser functions and applications, besides as offering a control for media playback. Information technology's a very unproblematic addition, merely 1 that'due south nonetheless appreciated.
A substantial price deviation exists between the Vostro 460 and the Optiplex 990. But the Optiplex line includes Dell's Pro Back up services, which are probable to exist invaluable if your business organisation doesn't have robust It services. That said, if you have your own support backend in place, the Vostro 460 offers marginally meliorate performance and will relieve y'all a few hundred dollars. Also keep in mind that both machines can be customized to suit your needs, and you lot'll save a flake of greenbacks if you opt for a larger chassis. You'll lose out on the space savings that the Optiplex 990 SFF offers, simply you will have room inside to make your ain upgrades.
Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/480926/review_dell_optiplex_990_sff.html
Post a Comment for "Dell Optiplex 990 Desktop With Intel Core I5 Reviews"