Shopping for Dell Desktop Computers

Customization as a way of life.

Dell says its OptiPlex line is targeted at corporate customers, whereas its Dimension brand is its mainstream consumer line. Aside from them saying that, though, there's no easy, consistent way to distinguish between them. To some degree, the highest-end OptiPlex systems can be specified with more capacity and more power than the highest-end Dimensions. But there's lots of overlap. And, basically, a Dimension is going to cost less than an OptiPlex configured identically.

Let's take a look at some "starting at" prices, and what they cost when configured our way. We first considered the entry-level 170L line.

The OptiPlex 170L Celeron "Base" is the "Entry-Level Solution" in the OptiPlex line and is listed "from $378"--but this is the Celeron model, and we want to go with a Pentium system. As it turns out, this is one of the few Dell models where you can't just upgrade the chip.