Dell's OptiPlex 160 'Tiny Desktop Computer' is appropriately named

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. You can also spring for a 64GB SSD and an external DVD-ROM drive, and there will be a dual-core Atom option in 2009. While folks over in Round Rock envision these in the workplace, we certainly wouldn't mind taking one home for a romantic weekend with Ubuntu.

[Thanks, Ivana]

[Chad @ Dec 11th 2008 8:53AM]

Looks more like an IBM / Lenovo ThinkCentre than a Dell.

[cwj @ Dec 11th 2008 9:28AM]

co-sign.

[silverblackvoid @ Dec 11th 2008 11:17AM]

it may be two hundred Benjamins more but it is lot cooler than the EEE Box (atleast thats what i think)

[icepop4who @ Dec 11th 2008 8:55AM]

romantic...? please do not ever use that word on a tech blog.

[ethana2 @ Dec 11th 2008 9:45AM]

It actually makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside :)

[Jason @ Dec 11th 2008 10:56AM]

Seriously, and why would you run Ubuntu when you could you have Linux?

[thatrotierkid @ Dec 12th 2008 4:14PM]

jason, if you arent joking... then that is the most hardcore fail in the history of engadget

[Jeff @ Dec 11th 2008 9:01AM]

At that size, a VESA mount option would have been nice.

[chaosrain @ Dec 11th 2008 9:10AM]

I completely agree. Between these and those mini studio desktops they build, I'm surprised they haven't offered a mount which allows you to slap one of these onto the back of an LCD monitor. It would become the perfect ad hoc all-in-one PC...when the specs increase.

[JDS @ Dec 11th 2008 9:28AM]

That square plate you see on the left side is the cover for the VESA mount.

[zioncat @ Dec 11th 2008 9:34AM]

Seriously dell your closing out the year with that "Tiny" thing.

[Daza @ Dec 11th 2008 9:54AM]

chaosrain, they already have such a solution and have had one for many years. It's called the GX280/GX620, and it mounts behind an LCD monitor in a Small Form Factor case. I've set up hundreds at my workplace, they're very compact things. However, they require a separate power brick which is very large and the cable clutter underneath tables is considerable in the PC lab they're in.

Of course they only mount to specific Dell LCDs which are supplied with the bracket/brace, but it's basically the same idea. Would be great if one of these baby's could mount on a VESA 200x200 though. The HTPC possibilities would be great (well, with dedicated 1080p H.264/VC-1 decoding).

[AVG @ Dec 11th 2008 10:49AM]

"However, they require a separate power brick which is very large and the cable clutter underneath tables is considerable in the PC lab they're in."

Not true. The ULTRA small form factors require that brick. The regular SFFs do not. And those also mount behind the screen on those special stands. Way better deals, too, with those 2 PCI slots.

[Flashpoint @ Dec 11th 2008 9:06AM]

Vista Home Basic?

With 1GB of RAM and a single core Atom?

Why the hell don't they just put Windows XP in it? 1GB of Ram and anything above 1Gigahertz works will with XP wherein I can't say its peachy with Vista.

Adding Vista to low end computers is part of the reason Vista has a bad name in the first place.

[tom @ Dec 11th 2008 9:11AM]

Who said you can't? Dell will just tack on another $150 downgrade fee for Windows XP when you upgrade to Vista Business

[ArcticFox @ Dec 11th 2008 9:27AM]

Have you even tried an Atom with Vista, I actually have system with similar specs to this dell and it runs Vista fine, please do a bit of research before you spread bullshit.

[Flashpoint @ Dec 11th 2008 9:38AM]

Artic Fox

The People Upranking me know what I'm talking about.

I've to date run Vista on a Dual Core with 3 GB of RAM (My HP laptop) as well as on a Single Core with 1 (and later 2 GB of RAM) . The latter was hanging up on me like I couldn't believe.

Tell you what... Take this same computer, try and watch a DVD on it or try to decode/encode music/video.

[Leindurstit @ Dec 11th 2008 10:11AM]

Jeeze, if you're offended by Dell having Vista Home Basic standard on THIS machine, you might not want to check out any of Dell's other Optiplex offerings...

[AVG @ Dec 11th 2008 10:51AM]

Pissing about Vista on lower end machines always gets upranks, so don't use that as a way to validate your argument. I saw a "will it blend?" upranked the other day, too.

And also, he's right. You're full of shit because I have a 950mhz machine with 512mb of RAM banging out Vista in my house as we speak. No complaints yet. With that dual-core Atom I imagine it would be especially zippy.

[roach @ Dec 11th 2008 11:04AM]

Yes, Vista does work on 1 GB. My gf laptop has one and it's good for your normal web surfing, movie watching and everyday thing. Add another .5 (1.5 GB), like I did to my 4 year old HP tablet PC with Vista and I use it for drawing. Albeit it still would probably work with 1 GB. If your system crash with 1 GB, you probably have another problem...Bad memory? Driver? Vista not updated?

Now spread the news.

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Dec 11th 2008 11:29AM]

Flashpoint,

Watching a DVD would indeed be hard sans optical drive :)

[ArcticFox @ Dec 11th 2008 12:06PM]

Yes but you HAVENT used an Atom, i use mine as a media center to record and watch back tv, i also watch 720p h264 so all those people upranking you are idiots just like yourself.

[Mark Anderson @ Dec 11th 2008 12:37PM]

For goodness sake! This is running Vista Home Basic which runs just fine on a 1.6GHz processor and 1GB RAM.

I wish people would think before posting sometimes. If you upranked Flashpoint you should be ashamed at the paucity of your own technical knowledge and just how easily you've been duped by ill advised smear campaigns.

[jay.viz @ Dec 11th 2008 9:09AM]

One would think a single core atom mini-desktop would be cheaper than that, considering the laptop version of that is faster, less expensive, and comes with a battery and a CD/DVD drive.

[patsy @ Dec 11th 2008 9:48AM]

No kidding, for specs that are identical to the Eee Box (except for the Vista thing), this thing is $300 more, bigger and looks worse to my eyes. But hey, I guess Dell's gotta make their monies somehow...

[apples @ Dec 11th 2008 9:11AM]

seriously this is one ugly computer

[KezMondo @ Dec 11th 2008 9:17AM]

That's what she sai... oh wait. You're right, the health and safety folk must have invaded the design department on this one.

[Loremaster @ Dec 11th 2008 9:13AM]

You guys must be kidding..... First off Dell is JUNK, they haven't made a decent PC since the 90's.
Second, you can get a Mac Mini with CD and Dual Core for $599, that includes DVI port, etc......

Please guys, don't cause me to loose faith in you too, Giz is already halfway in the trashcan of deletion from my browser!

[Mile @ Dec 11th 2008 9:19AM]

You've never touched the E4300, or bought one for ~$1k.

[jds @ Dec 11th 2008 9:31AM]

The Mac Mini does not have the built in ability to boot to a Citrix broker though. This is a virtualization oriented box that just happens to be a little desktop machine.

[bioadam @ Dec 11th 2008 10:03AM]

Why the hatin' for Loremaster? Sure he has a terribly cliched username but he makes a good point about price. If the Atom processor is so cheap, why is the OptiPlex 160 so expensive? And Loremaster is wrong about Dells being junk after the 1990s; Dells have always been junk, but they have always been affordable junk.

[Pastry Chef @ Dec 11th 2008 10:36PM]

I agree. The Mac MIni represents a much better value.

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Dec 11th 2008 11:32AM]

Huh, you're right. I thought this Dell came with a monitor but I checked it out and sure enough it does not. Overpriced Apple products indeed.

[Mark Anderson @ Dec 11th 2008 12:43PM]

You know, you guys might have a point on price if the Mac Mini came with a monitor at the price you quote but it doesn't does it?

Invalid comparisons FTW!

[chickenator @ Dec 11th 2008 5:04PM]

@Mark Anderson
this Dell doesnt come with monitor though. please read the link.

[BobTurbo @ Dec 11th 2008 7:35PM]

Firstly, Dell is not junk, they are probably the best PC manufacturer there is. Their computers are cheap, highly reliable, good quality, and come with excellent service and warranty.

Secondly, this computer costs so much because it has 3 years NEXT BUSINESS DAY, ON-SITE SERVICE. Does the pretentious Apple genius come to your house NBD to fix your Mac mini for 3 years after purchase? Oohhhh..

[Rob @ Dec 11th 2008 9:20AM]

The sharp edges are coming! The sharp edges are coming!

[Jason @ Dec 11th 2008 11:11AM]

Um...there's no sharp edges, dude. Click through and check the pictures.

[Loremaster @ Dec 11th 2008 9:24AM]

is it worse than DELL??? I am sitting on 400 GX620's (2years old), and have discovered serious flaws with their power supplies.. And some even have the Heat Sink problem the GX280's had with the Racing Fans....

[Ryback @ Dec 11th 2008 9:38AM]

Loremaster:

We had over 1200 gx280's at my former workplace. The racing fan was due to bad caps, not heat sinks. Dell had to replace alle the motherboards.

http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1034&page=1&pp=20
http://iloapp.gamerlamers.com/data/_gallery/public/2/1229006129_resized.jpg

[Daza @ Dec 11th 2008 10:06AM]

Strange, I've deployed hundreds of the GX280s/GX260s without a problem. We have thousands at the University and out of the hundreds I've used I only found one with a dead motherboard. They also use those massive brick PSUs you're talking about. The caps look fine, not leaky or bulging. Our units are from as far back as 2004, with 3.0GHz P4s with Hyper Threading, newer ones are Pentium Dual Core.

They're pretty nice machines I have to say, easy to service like all Dell's and their small form factor leaves a small footprint.

[Sofunnytom @ Dec 11th 2008 9:27AM]

looks like the computers at the DMV in California

[htd @ Dec 11th 2008 9:32AM]

eeepc box looks better, also newegg has 3 atom desktop barebone configuration there for $139.99 and $179.99

[trevor @ Dec 11th 2008 9:35AM]

into linux sex much, engadget?

[Menos @ Dec 11th 2008 9:42AM]

is that physically possible?

[trevor @ Dec 11th 2008 9:44AM]

i can't comprehend it, but apparently they manage...

[linuxamp @ Dec 11th 2008 9:48AM]

This just hurt the optiplex name.

[Uninformed idgit @ Dec 11th 2008 10:09AM]

Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these?

Hmm, you could pack about ten of them into a cabinet, it could look like a normal desktop, and it would still freeze, crash, and otherwise infuriate because of Vista.

"MooooJaaaaVeee!!"

[DssTrainer @ Dec 11th 2008 10:31AM]

I'm loving these smaller pcs.. especially in today's more "chic" home designs. Gone are the days of bulky alienware monstrosities with cool alien faces and sliding panels. Now the small, sleek, limited wires are the way too go.. but we still need to get this heat problem fixed for GPU's and CPUs.

All i want is the ability to cram a quadcore, 4G ram, and an 8800GT into a case about the size of this tiny desktop. Can't they just make a case into 1 huge heatsink and we can connect the cpu and gpu to it!?

[DssTrainer @ Dec 11th 2008 10:42AM]

actually if they used this method of fiilling the pc with oil:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/strip-fans,1203.html

Then you could probably get it all into a small case.