Dell Optiplex 780 - Any experience?

NeilF

NeilF

NeilF

Soldato
Joined
15 Nov 2003
Posts
14,473
Location
Marlow
Looking for a simple cheap machine for my mother to do basic browing/office stuff.

These seem to come quite cheaply refurbished with Windows 7 (64bit) and around 3ghz dual core processors?

Anyone had any experience of these?

All I'd do is keep a USB external drive plugged into it for it to do monthly automated backups to... and voila!
 
They're gonna be solidly built, but as theyd have been used in an office for however many years they're gonna be very well used, which shouldn't be a problem but HDDs may be a bit shoddy etc. What kind of prices are you looking at?
 
Can't speak about 780 but I had a 745 I acquired for a testing home server and it was great. Really impressed with how well put together they are.
 
We always use OptiPlex at work. Always work fine. And sometimes end up sticking ESXi on them and loading up with VMs if we need some servers in a hurry.
OptiPlex 780 is a couple of generations old, but still OK.
 
thel33ter said:
They're gonna be solidly built, but as theyd have been used in an office for however many years they're gonna be very well used, which shouldn't be a problem but HDDs may be a bit shoddy etc. What kind of prices are you looking at?
Click to expand...

Talking about £150 with Win7pro 64bit and approx a 3ghz dual core processor.
 
There are a couple at college, they're teeny tiny and Pretty close to silent, they take full size ram for easy upgrades if needed, and I'm pretty sure they have a mini pcie slot if you wanna out a WiFi card in.
 
Wow! It seems there's enough room in them to even fit a second 3.5" sata drive too! Perfect! I can use that to run automated backup onto!
 
thel33ter said:
You'd definitely be able to fit a 2.5", I'm not sure about a full size drive, although they seem to come in several form factors :P
Click to expand...

Well, the desktop (which is only about 20cm square) seems to allow two 3.5" drives!

I'll get one of these for my mum... and consider getting another to replace my very old shuttle I think. Put in an SDD for the primary and a 1TB regular 3.5 " secondary :)
 
Last edited:
I was specifically referencing the SFF one, you'd definitely be able to fit a small drive in for backups with some gentle modding, either way, it'll be a solid choice of computer for her and other than a Chromebox you're not gonna beat the price.
 
OK, got one of these (small form factor) for my mother and so far pretty impressed!

I may look at getting one of these to replace my aging Shuttle machine I think. I'd put an SSD in as the primary drive! Only down side is no USB3 slots... But not a biggy!
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom