Another ordinary desktop pc
Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2004 6:28 am
[color=\"green\"]well thats a new one <img src=\'http://www.killanet.net/forum3/public/s ... /smile.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':)\' /> [/color]
Dell OptiPlex SX280 Review
A Fast Runner That Leaves No Footprint
Eric Grevstad
Thu 9/30/04 -- Does it still count as a desktop if it takes zero square inches of desk space? That's the puzzler behind Dell's new business PC, the OptiPlex SX280 -- which squeezes Intel's new 915G Express platform, 90-nanometer-process Pentium 4 "Prescott" power, DDR-2 memory, Serial ATA storage, and a swappable device bay into a case you can pick up with one hand and then hangs it off the back of an LCD monitor, so the monitor stand's the only part that touches your desk. Even without a wireless keyboard and mouse (oddly missing from Dell's configuration page), it's an exceptionally neat and tidy productivity package, with performance that'll tempt IT managers to forgive its not-exactly-low price.
Though bigger and thicker than a compact laptop, the SX280 is small and stubby even compared to desktops given the "small form factor" label in the past -- 9.8 by 3.5 by 10.3 inches, about the size of a big-city phone book (it weighs about 11 pounds). One thing that both keeps the system petite and contributes to its quiet operation is the lack of a conventional power supply; its 220-watt supply is a notebook-style (but twice the size of most notebooks') external power brick.
Power supply aside, the SX280 is a self-contained desktop, not built into or permanently yoked to an LCD monitor as with all-in-one designs like the Gateway Profile or Sony Vaio V series. It's seen to its best advantage, however, when teamed with one of Dell's two LCD monitors with what the company calls an all-in-one stand -- a height-adjustable base with a bracket for mounting the OptiPlex behind the display. (Dell cautions that you shouldn't rest a heavy CRT on top of the PC as you might with a full-sized desktop.)
The special stand also helps explain our test system's total price of $1,706: It includes the 15-inch E152FP monitor, an XGA-resolution (1,024 by 768) analog LCD that proved admirably bright and sharp, with no bad pixels and wide viewing angles, and which offered a flicker-free-even-under-fluorescents refresh rate of 75Hz as well as the usual flat-panel 60Hz.
As excellent as it was, however, the monitor also amounted to $479 of the bottom line, which will strike most shoppers as $100 if not $150 over the going rate for a 15-inch desktop LCD nowadays. Opting for Dell's other height-adjustable, 15-inch flat panel -- without the piggyback bracket -- would have saved $80, just as splurging on the 17-inch 1703FP with all-in-one stand would have added $120.
[s]sauce[/s] [url=\"http://www.hardwarecentral.com/hardware ... ws/5593/1/\"]source[/url]
Dell OptiPlex SX280 Review
A Fast Runner That Leaves No Footprint
Eric Grevstad
Thu 9/30/04 -- Does it still count as a desktop if it takes zero square inches of desk space? That's the puzzler behind Dell's new business PC, the OptiPlex SX280 -- which squeezes Intel's new 915G Express platform, 90-nanometer-process Pentium 4 "Prescott" power, DDR-2 memory, Serial ATA storage, and a swappable device bay into a case you can pick up with one hand and then hangs it off the back of an LCD monitor, so the monitor stand's the only part that touches your desk. Even without a wireless keyboard and mouse (oddly missing from Dell's configuration page), it's an exceptionally neat and tidy productivity package, with performance that'll tempt IT managers to forgive its not-exactly-low price.
Though bigger and thicker than a compact laptop, the SX280 is small and stubby even compared to desktops given the "small form factor" label in the past -- 9.8 by 3.5 by 10.3 inches, about the size of a big-city phone book (it weighs about 11 pounds). One thing that both keeps the system petite and contributes to its quiet operation is the lack of a conventional power supply; its 220-watt supply is a notebook-style (but twice the size of most notebooks') external power brick.
Power supply aside, the SX280 is a self-contained desktop, not built into or permanently yoked to an LCD monitor as with all-in-one designs like the Gateway Profile or Sony Vaio V series. It's seen to its best advantage, however, when teamed with one of Dell's two LCD monitors with what the company calls an all-in-one stand -- a height-adjustable base with a bracket for mounting the OptiPlex behind the display. (Dell cautions that you shouldn't rest a heavy CRT on top of the PC as you might with a full-sized desktop.)
The special stand also helps explain our test system's total price of $1,706: It includes the 15-inch E152FP monitor, an XGA-resolution (1,024 by 768) analog LCD that proved admirably bright and sharp, with no bad pixels and wide viewing angles, and which offered a flicker-free-even-under-fluorescents refresh rate of 75Hz as well as the usual flat-panel 60Hz.
As excellent as it was, however, the monitor also amounted to $479 of the bottom line, which will strike most shoppers as $100 if not $150 over the going rate for a 15-inch desktop LCD nowadays. Opting for Dell's other height-adjustable, 15-inch flat panel -- without the piggyback bracket -- would have saved $80, just as splurging on the 17-inch 1703FP with all-in-one stand would have added $120.
[s]sauce[/s] [url=\"http://www.hardwarecentral.com/hardware ... ws/5593/1/\"]source[/url]