Dell OptiPlex GX270 buy or not to buy?

Don't look back, IBM: Somebody might be gaining on you. Dell continues to improve its corporate line of OptiPlex PCs, and Dell offers a more impressive array of management tools than ever before.
 
July 13, 2009 - PRLog -- Most notably, the company recently introduced an automatic backup system along the same lines as IBM's RapidRestore Ultra. Nevertheless, Dell is still a half step behind its biggest competitor, failing—if only by a slight margin—to ensure that its software image stays unchanged as long as the IBM ThinkCentre's.
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The Dell OptiPlex platform is divided into three separate lines: the GX60, the SX270, and the GX270. The GX60, built around Intel's Celeron processor, is Dell's budget series. The SX270 is the company's family of ultrasmall desktops. And the GX270 delivers the mainstream models, available in three different guises: mini-tower, desktop, and small-form-factor, which is the system we tested.

You can use the same software image across all GX270 systems, but you have to apply a different image to GX60 or SX270 machines, because they use a different motherboard. Dell promises to keep each line available for at least 15 months, but it does not guarantee that the systems will support the same image over that period. But Dell's ImageWatch program gives all customers 60 to 90 days' notice before the company makes any image-changing hardware adjustments. (IBM is the only company reviewed here that guarantees image compatibility for a full two years.)
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Altiris Web Reports
As part of its OpenManage Suite, Dell provides two free management tools for system inventory and health monitoring. The OpenManage Client Connector lets you remotely manage only one system at a time, while the OpenManage IT Assistant lets you gather information on multiple systems at once. The clients lack the slick interface available with LANDesk's management software (found on Gateway and MPC systems), and their inventory lists don't go into quite as much detail; you can't see exactly which memory slots are filled, for instance. But they're still effective and relatively easy to use.
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With Dell's Local Recovery software, you instantly recover lost files or return to past software images. Much like IBM's RapidRestore Ultra, Local Recovery regularly backs up your software image to a local hard drive partition. A free version is available from the Dell Web site, but this can be used only locally. If you wish to restore systems remotely, you have to pay $29 extra per client for Local Recovery Pro. Neither application can back up open or locked files or create a recovery CD, but you can handle such tasks with the company's Recovery Solution application, available for $47 per client.

Dell also offers the OpenManage Client Administrator, which lets you deploy images and applications and even lets you inventory both hardware and software. Based on technology from software developer Altiris, this package is available for a per-client license fee: $47 for up to 1,000 seats. And last, Dell provides a free tool, the Dell Client Configuration utility, for remotely updating BIOSs and other system settings. This utility can't be used without a software distribution tool such as OpenManage Client Administrator.
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The small-form-factor GX270 we tested at PC Magazine Labs is everything you'd expect it to be. Its performance on Business Winstone was very good, as was the performance of the other systems we reviewed. Its clamshell chassis opens with ease. You can remove any of its drives without tools (though because of the placement of interior system cables, the hard drive is a bit more difficult to remove than we would have liked). You can also add or remove PCI cards tool-free. As an added bonus, the system's keyboard includes a built-in smart-card reader. The machine, however, lacks a floppy disk drive; adding one costs an extra $20.

Dell backs the system with a three-year parts-and-labor warranty. For $99 extra, you can purchase Dell's Gold Tech Support for access to priority support.
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Dell's OptiPlex line isn't quite as impressive as IBM's ThinkCentre family, but it's a viable option that comes close.

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ElectroComputerWarehouse.com is a Re-Marketer of Grade "A" Refurbished/Off-lease computer systems. We strive to provide our customers with the best quality products at prices not found anywhere else.

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