Opinions on new micro desktop....pls

Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy KnobPflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian

I am looking for a micro/mini desktop to do mostly spreadsheets and Lightroom/PS. ATM I am liking this Dell 7070 with i7, 16 or 32 RAM and a smaller SSD as all storage will be on my server. Cost as I spec'd it is about $1,169ish.

https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/cty/pdp/spd/optiplex-7070-ultra/cto01o7070uffus

Comments

  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    edited January 2021

    That is an interesting option! I don't think I've ever personally seen a PC in that format. Another very small form factor PC that might fit the bill is an Intel NUC (here is a link for the "creators" builds and here for the full list of pre-built options). You could have it on the desktop or mount it to the back of a monitor.

    Three years of in-home warranty is hard to beat!

    _k
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian

    @Tushon said:
    That is an interesting option! I don't think I've ever personally seen a PC in that format. Another very small form factor PC that might fit the bill is an Intel NUC (here is a link for the "creators" builds and here for the full list of pre-built options). You could have it on the desktop or mount it to the back of a monitor.

    Three years of in-home warranty is hard to beat!

    I was looking at those as well as a bracket that mounts it to the underside of your desk. While I don't expect to need a lot of connections I noticed that most NUC's were lacking in that department. Then I came across the Dell 7070 which really got my attention. It is amazing that we all had huge towers making lots of noise for so long and now all I want us super small. Even my laptops need to be as light as I can find.

  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian

    I'm not sure I agree with that for the ones on the same price point as your device. I don't honestly know the last time I needed anything but a USB and some of these have

    4x rear USB 3.1g2, 2x Thunderbolt 3 (USB 3.1g2), 2x front USB 3.1g2

    which looks to be the same as your linked Dell. Doesn't make one right or wrong, since the Dell offers an interesting solution to the mount. Same requirements that graphics can be delivered over Thunderbolt.

  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited January 2021

    @Tushon
    It is definitely not a deal breaker on the NUC's as they are still in contention for roughly the same price and I am not totally sold on anything including the Dell yet. However I am looking for the best combination of power, size and versatility I can find within my budget of $1,500. And while power is very important size and footprint/ mounting solution is at least as important. I am even considering a Mac Mini.

  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian

    I have built a couple of NUCs over the last few years, all in all I like them. You can make any call you like on memory and SSD. I am not that impressed with the 10th gen, the 8i7 has more powerful graphics.
    Easy to build and easy to run.

  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian

    $10 more for double the local storage, but looks pretty good to me!

    Mt_Goat
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited January 2021

    @Tushon said:
    $10 more for double the local storage, but looks pretty good to me!

    Great, just what I needed to hear. The better CPU and dedicated graphics should give me the improved work flow speed I am looking for with photo processing. I realized the first NUC's and the Dell used the same CPU and no dedicated GPU like the XPS laptop I am currently using. It does fine but I was looking for a bit of a bump in speed for batch processing.

    As for local storage, I store everything on my 6TB NAS. So local just stores OS, work space and temp storage.

  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian

    Yes, Skull Canyon is the high performance end. The Iris graphics in the 8i7 are pretty good so think before you go discrete, it is a $400 adder.
    One nice thing about this platform is that memory and SSD only need to be 'good enough'. You gain almost nothing by going the latest and greatest so it keeps the component costs down.

    Mt_Goat
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian

    I just ordered the better Skull Canyon after reading some comparative reviews on photography sites. I think it should also have the longevity to keep me current for the foreseeable future.

    https://www.amazon.com/Intel-NUC-NUC8I7HVK-Gaming-Mini/dp/B07PCRXBG2/ref=mp_s_a_1_13?dchild=1&keywords=intel+NUC8i7HVK&qid=1610483594&sr=8-13

  • RyanMMRyanMM Ferndale, MI Icrontian

    So, this is a little belated, but I have been selling the Dell Micro and Ultra systems to my clients since they came out.
    So far, reliability has been solid, I've yet to run into anyone with any performance issues. Mind you, I am not going to put this in the hands of someone doing video editing or something, but for basic desktop user shit, these systems are great. The space savings and thermal efficiency are excellent.

    Mt_Goat
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