Dell OptiPlex GX260

Dell's OptiPlex range has managed to dominate three business PC Labs now, and at first glance the OptiPlex GX260 looks set to follow. The superb case design remains, while the processor and motherboard have been treated to a bit of a makeover.

A 2.26GHz Pentium 4 now sits on a Dell motherboard based on Intel's new 845G chipset. This supports the 533MHz bus and Intel's latest take on integrated graphics. More importantly, however, it now supports USB 2 and has an integrated Intel PRO/1000 MT 1Gbit/sec Ethernet adaptor. The GX260 is the first Dell desktop PC to feature this network controller and makes the OptiPlex the ideal roll-out PC for businesses switching over to a 1Gbit/sec network, giving you a network-ready PC straight out of the box.

There's a total of six USB 2 ports, two of which are front mounted under a pull-out flap with a headphone jack. The other four USB 2 ports are on the backplane, and with a PS/2 keyboard and mouse they're all available for use. What's more, unlike some new legacy-free business PCs such as the Compaq Evo D500 Ultra Slim Desktop (see Reviews, issue 94, p117), you still get a parallel and serial port. This is what makes the GX260 a great business PC - combining modern backward-compatible standards like 1Gbit/sec networking and USB 2 with long-established ports that are still difficult to do without.

The GX260 has also been designed with upgrading in mind, and its case design makes getting inside a doddle - just push the two side buttons and lift the cover. There are three chassis available - small form factor, small mini-tower and small desktop. We reviewed the latter, where the PSU has been moved in front of the motherboard so that a riser can provide two full-size PCI slots - an advantage over the GX240's single, half-height PCI slot. You can also upgrade to a half-height AGP graphics card, which is ideal for adding a DVI output for a digital flat panel.

You otherwise have to rely on the analog output from the Intel 845G integrated graphics, but this is more than enough for business use. It also now supports 32-bit colour, which was a downfall of the previous 815 and 810 graphics solutions. The only real problem here is that it steals from your system memory - 32Mb as standard, which is a serious issue if you're only starting out with 128Mb of RAM.

This is a problem with the standard specification, as Windows XP Professional really needs more memory to run smoothly. The overall benchmark score of 0.94 shows the OptiPlex is still very fast, but the graphics score of 0.77 is notably low and shows a bottleneck on potential performance.

The other issue with the standard specification is the drives. It's good to see both a floppy drive and 48-speed CD-ROM included, but the NEC PowerMate i-Select ML3 P1600 (see Product update, issue 92, p103) features a DVD/CD-RW combo drive, 256Mb of RAM and a 40Gb hard disk. With this in mind, the Dell's basic 20Gb Maxtor hard disk also starts to look limited, although it's still enough for general office use.

It's worth noting, however, that Dell's use of simple quick-release levers and cages will make it easy to upgrade any of the drives, although there are no bays free. The NEC's removable storage provision is invaluable though, and even writing CDs at eight-speed is a vast improvement over just a floppy drive. We advise to upgrade from the start, and you can order the GX260 from Dell with 256Mb of RAM and a CD-RW for £769.

Okay, so this is £130 more than the NEC, but the high-speed networking, faster processor and brilliant case design more than make up for this. Not only is the case easy to access, but it's incredibly quiet too. To top it all off, Dell is supplying a three-year, next-business-day, on-site warranty, compared to the NEC's one-year, on-site affair. If you have £700 (plus £49 for delivery) to spend on a business PC, we advise you give Dell a call and quote the e-value code 200P40REV to make sure you get the best deal.

Author: Ben Hardwidge