A competitor for products like the Lenovo ThinkCentre and the Acer Veriton, the Dell Optiplex 755 aims for lower power more than greater performance. It certainly performed well in our tests for a business PC, but it's lacking a few of the perks found in competing brands.
It's no surprise, given the current trends, and the massive overheads associated with running a large computer-powered office, that more emphasis is being placed on the power efficiency and power-per-watt performance of computer technology.
Dell has even gone so far as to place an energy calculator on its Web site, theoretically allowing you to calculate the cost savings and carbon emission reduction of using a newer model over an older Optiplex GX620, which uses an Intel Pentium D with a 17in CRT monitor.
One of the main reasons for these implied energy savings is Dell's choice of processors, in this case the Optiplex 755 uses an Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66GHz CPU with a 1333MHz front side bus and a 4MB L2 cache. Although Intel Core 2 architecture is not the answer to the world's energy problems, they do have a more efficient power-per-watt performance. The machine has been given an Energy star 4.0 rating, which also means it includes an 80 plus power supply, a power supply that will run at a minimum of 80 per cent efficiency. Our review model includes a 22in widescreen monitor. A total 2GB of 667MHz DDR2 RAM is also installed, giving this machine a fair bit of power, especially for a standard workstation PC.
Performance-wise this gives the Optiplex an edge over the Lenovo ThinkCentres we've currently reviewed, and also the Acer Veriton, but it has nothing on them for size. The Optiplex 755 is a small form factor PC, and employs the standard Optiplex design, which allows the user to stand it on its end or flat, but it's still only marginally smaller than a normal mini-tower ATX case.