Dell Joins Nettop Craze

[Hooch Tan]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/desktop-optiplex-160?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd' target='_blank'>http://www.dell.com/content/product...s=04&l=en&s=bsd</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Dell just dropped the new tiny-tower OptiPlex 160 for businesses and educational markets looking to save space and "go green." This 1.85-inch thick machine packs the usual assortment of ports, and an integrated power supply (no brick!), but unfortunately forgoes the integrated disc drive. The $563 base model incorporates a single-core Intel Atom processor, 80GB HDD, 1GB RAM, integrated video, and Vista Home Basic SP1 -- most of which reminds us of the Eee Box, other than the extra two Benjamins Dell's asking for. "</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1229039098.usr20447.jpg" style="border: 0px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>I remember the time when Nettops weren't called Nettops, but just really expensive, tiny desktop PCs.&nbsp; The first one that comes to mind for me is the Compaq iPaq Desktop, which came out sometime in 2001.&nbsp; With the Dell joining the recent Nettop explosion, it does suggest that it is now a serious market.&nbsp; The Optiplex is definately targeted towards the business segment, and the space freed up and power savings combined makes this quite attractive.&nbsp; It's still a tempting purchase for home as well since all its benefits still apply for home use, especially for somewhere like the kitchen, where it can be mounted to the back of a monitor.</p>

[Macguy59]

Vista on a Netbook is painful. What would make it any better on this ?

[Darius Wey]

Vista on a Netbook is painful.

In what way? I'm running it on a Inspiron Mini 9 with 2GB RAM and it runs brilliantly.

[The Yaz]

I recently purchased an Emachine EL-1200 mini desktop as a Christmas present for one of my kids. Like the Nettops, it is based on laptop architecture (low voltage, quiet fan, slower processor) with a slightly larger chassis than the Dell.

It comes with XP installed and a DVD writeable drive. All for $199 USD.

Dell is going to have to get the price lower if they want to compete in this market ;)

[ptyork]

Holy crap! $563???? I even went the Dell site to confirm that figure was in USD and didn't include a pony or something. It is, it doesn't, it doesn't include the pictured monitor, and ships with Vista Home Basic (Business or XP are $100 MORE--no business will run Home Basic, so make that figure $653). That is without a doubt the worst deal going on a desktop. I guess Dell thinks businesses are stupid enough to jump on anything "green" and are wiling to pay. Man Dell has lost it...seriously, what complete dung!

[Macguy59]

In what way? I'm running it on a Inspiron Mini 9 with 2GB RAM and it runs brilliantly.

In was on a Mini 9 that I played with. We must have different ideas on "runs brilliantly"

[Darius Wey]

In was on a Mini 9 that I played with. We must have different ideas on "runs brilliantly"

I'm not sure how the Mini 9 you played with was configured, but I should mention that running Vista is only really feasible once the Mini 9 has been upgraded with 2GB RAM. The faster 16GB SSD helps, too.

Unless both of those were present in the Mini 9 you played with, in which case, we do have different ideas on "runs brilliantly". ;) It's obviously not going to compare to Vista on a quad-core system with oodles of RAM and a GeForce GTX 280. For a netbook, though, it runs well, even with Aero enabled.