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Features of the system include a choice of 40GB, 60GB or 120GB hard drives, six 2.0 USB ports (two front, four rear), three PCI expansion slots ADI AC97 audio and Intel Extreme Graphics 2. Customers have a choice of Pentium 4 processors (running up to 3.2GHz) or Celerons (up to 2.6GHz) is available, with DDR RAM expandable to 2GB and a range of optical drives (from CD-ROM.to CD-RW/DVD-ROM).

'Many of Dell's small business customers

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are so focused on the purchase price of desktop systems that they may sacrifice business critical attributes such as network optimisation and systems management,' said Tara Woodhurst, OptiPlex Marketing Manager Dell EMEA. 'With the OptiPlex 170L, small businesses get a product that addresses their budget concerns and offers the performance and functionality used by larger companies.'

Dell has also announced its latest quarterly results, for the three months ending 30 January. It highlighted a growth in enterprise computing - shipments of PowerEdge servers grew 40 per cent from the same period a year ago - and storage revenue was reported as being 47 per cent higher.

The company hailed the fourth-quarter as its best operating period ever, with record product shipments, revenue, and operating and net income. Revenue for the quarter grew 18 per cent to $11.5bn (yearly it grew 17 per cent to $41.4bn) and Net Income was reported as being up 24 per cent to $749mn (yearly it grew 25 per cent to $2.65bn).