REVIEW OF THE MONTH
Dell OptiPlex 7090 Ultra
Dell takes a different approach to all-in-one PCs with this curious but effective design. In effect, it sells you a monitor stand with a modular PC tucked inside. You can use it with any monitor that supports the VESA 100 x 100mm standard (almost all monitors do), and Dell even offers a choice of monitor stands and a wall bracket. Then there’s the small matter of the PC itself, which is basically a laptop in disguise. Don’t think it’s slow, though, with the latest generation of Intel Core processors ensuring there’s plenty of power. Ready to be won over? Head to p48 for our in-depth review.
SCORE
PRICE As reviewed, £766 (£920 inc VAT) from dell.co.uk I t takes a minute or two to wrap your head around what the OptiPlex 7090 Ultra Desktop actually is. Boiled down, this is a 20cm computer that can squeeze into an accompanying monitor stand. You can then attach the stand to any monitor that includes VESA 100 connectors, which is 99% of them. Think of the OptiPlex
7090 Ultra as the brains of an all-in-one PC, but brains that can be swapped out at will.
Clearly, that comes with compromises. There isn’t a desktop component in sight, with the OptiPlex built using laptop parts alone. Another is much reduced space for ports; in situ, the only directly accessible ports – via cutouts in the shell that clips onto the stand – are for USB-C and
USB-A. There’s also a consolation 3.5mm jack. As I’ll explain, however, there are ways around this paucity of ports.
Another issue is the restricted ability to upgrade. Whilst you don’t need a screwdriver to remove the 7090 Ultra’s cover and access the memory and M.2 SSD slots, upgrades will mean replacements rather than supplements. That said, you can ruin the 7090’s clean lines by attaching a secondary
2.5in drive, like attaching a camel hump on the rear. Fear not, it will still fit into the monitor stand.
Choices, choices
This means that your choice of specification will be all the more important, and as ever Dell spoils buyers for choice. Prices start at £659 exc VAT for the basic but serviceable spec of Core i5-1145G7, 8GB of memory (leaving one SODIMM socket free) and a 256GB M.2 PCIe SSD. That climbs up to a Core i7-1185G7, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD for £904 exc VAT. There’s no 1TB option.
Dell sent us a system with a
Core i5-1145G7, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, which was on “sale” for £766 exc VAT at the time of going to press. I emphasise the word “sale” because the official prices of
all the 7090 Ultra systems are much higher, with our tested machine’s list price set at £1,179 exc VAT. But that’s just Dell being Dell – it loves to show a saving on its site, and if the price bounces higher than £766 when you’re looking to buy then it’s always worth haggling using the online chat or calling.
This is also the time to order the extra storage drive, with the cheapest options being 5,400rpm hard disks (£59 for 1TB, for instance) and the most expensive being high-end SSDs (£213 for
1TB). Note all the prices quoted here, and for the remainder of this review, exclude VAT.
The other key option you’re faced with at the time of purchase is your choice of monitor stand – or monitor arm, wall mount bracket or “Offset VESA Mount” designed for Dell E Series monitors.
For most situations, however, a stand is the obvious choice, and your choice will largely be determined by the size of your intended monitor.
The default (included in the price) is the “Ultra Height Adjustable Stand” for 19in to 27in displays, but seriously consider the “Ultra Large Height Adjustable Stand”, which is designed for 30in to 40in displays. We were sent the smaller option, and this meant we couldn’t rotate the
Dell P3421W ( see p62).
Aside from this, it’s a perfectly serviceable stand. Not elegant – it’s plain and plasticky – but the 150mm of height adjustment means that you should be able to position your monitor for ergonomic comfort. There’s around 45° of swivel in either direction and tilt adjustment (Dell doesn’t quote this, but I estimate the range as roughly -5° to 20°).
Your choice of monitor is arguably even more important. Of course, it’s fine to make do with what you have, but if you’re also in the market for a new screen – Dell promises a saving of “up to 35% on selected monitors” – then look for one with a USB-C connector that can deliver up to 90W of power. It’s worth checking the small print here. For example, the Dell UltraSharp 34 (available for £533 exc VAT if bought at the same time) does deliver 90W of power, but the Dell P3421W only provides 65W.
The OptiPlex 7090 will still work over a 65W USB-C connection but it will run more slowly, or you can simply use the provided external power supply. It’s just one more cable feeding into the monitor, which is a shame when it can be so neat: note that the bottom of the 7090, which is normally enclosed by the shell, offers a Gigabit Ethernet port, two USB-A 3.2 ports, a USB-C 4 port
(which also supports Thunderbolt 4) and a DisplayPort connector. You can access all these ports even whilst the PC is on by pressing a button that “ejects” the shell from the stand.
Naturally, if you’re connecting over USB-C to the monitor, you have access to all its far more convenient USB-A ports. There’s potential for great elegance here, but I strongly recommend that you buy the extrashort 60cm USB-C to USB-C cable (£18) when you order.
“It’s fast, discreet and priced competitively when you consider the mix of hardware, warranty and Windows 10 Pro software”
More than enough
Assuming you’re feeding the 7090 Ultra with the full 90W of power, you will find the system extremely responsive. That’s immediately reflected in the excellent score of 161 in our benchmarks, which is highly impressive for a system based on laptop components. The fans whine when pushed, but this happens so rarely that it isn’t an irritant.
Out of curiosity, I also ran our benchmarks over a 65W connection and it scored a still substantial 149. It also barely slowed the PC in Geekbench 5’s single-core test, with 1,326 versus 1,443 at 90W, but it was telling that in the multicore tests the 65W-powered system fell significantly behind with a result of 3,727 versus 4,784.
The M.2 SSD is nothing special, with sequential read and write speeds of 1,939MB/sec and 772MB/sec. Again, you can upgrade to a higher specification (Class 40 rather than Class 30, to use Dell’s terminology) at time of purchase, but that seems unnecessary.
As Intel aficionados will know, the “G7” at the end of the Core i5’s name indicates the presence of Intel Iris Xe Graphics, which are a huge upgrade over the UHD Graphics
630 in older Core processors.
A 3DMark Time Spy score of 1,184 is roughly three times that of its predecessor, and means more basic games such as Minecraft will run smoothly at 1080p.
Drop settings down and even games such as F1 2020 will run reasonably well: I saw 35fps at
High settings and Medium increased that to 44fps.
Professional package
Clearly, however, this PC is geared towards work rather than play, and that’s reflected in the three years of on-site support provided as standard. Although, in the OptiPlex’s case, the easiest way to fix a fault will almost certainly be via a replacement. It’s always a relief to see Windows 10 Pro in place as well.
You also receive a basic Dell KM636 wireless keyboard and mouse set as standard, but I’m not a fan of either: the keyboard is lightweight to the point of needing clamps to stop it floating off the desk, while the mouse shows an odd unwillingness to be moved from its place of rest. You won’t regret upgrading to one of the two other options Dell offers.
This minor criticism aside, Dell has created something truly compelling here. The OptiPlex 7090 Ultra is fast, discreet and priced competitively when you consider the mix of hardware, warranty and Windows 10 Pro software. If you’re looking for the neatest setup around, whether in an office or at home, it’s a superb choice.
SPECIFICATIONS CIFICATIONS
Four-core r-core 2.6GHz Intel Core i5-1145G7 processor cessor 16GB 3,200MHz DDR4 RAM Intel ntel Iris Xe graphics 512GB NVMe M.2 2 SSD DisplayPort 1.4 Gigabit Ethernet ernet USB-C 4 with Thunderbolt 4 USB-C 3.2 3 x USB-A 3.2 3.5mm combo jack Wi-Fi i-Fi 6 Bluetooth 5 90W external PSU SU cordless Dell keyboard and mouse Windows 10 Pro 96 x 19.7 x 256mm (WDH) WDH) 3yr on-site warranty