Optiplex desktop form factor and rack mounting

Desktops, Servers and Storage, OptiPlex products submitted by rmhartmann Aug 13

As a system integrator, we often place Optiplex "desktop" units sideways on a rack shelf for equipment rack cabinet mounting. We don't use the Optiplex as servers, but simply for running specific applications or for configuration of other devices in the rack. When sideways, the size of the Optiplex "desktop" chassis is just a little too high to fit in a 2RU space, plus the rack shelf approach to mounting is not that neat. How about offering the Optiplex in a 1RU, 2RU or 3RU rack mount chassis like the Poweredge Servers? [For a minimal upcharge please ;) ] 4 Comments »

Peace and quiet

OptiPlex products submitted by falbert May 22

Forget about performance for a second or two and give "Silence" a chance. I was very sad with the latest Dell products we received. The Optiplex 755 and some servers were just too loud. Silence is golden and does make a more pleseant computing experience. 2 Comments »

Optiplex 620/745 USFF HDD Cooldown Fix

OptiPlex products submitted by bouncer 06/07/07

The first time I ran a benchmark on my brand new Optiplex 745 the temperature of the HDD (Samsung-HD501LJ-500GB) reached 59 degrees celsius. This was way too much imho.

After I took apart the casing and removed the harddisk i spottet the harddisk / gpufan, wich seems to be running without even cooling the HDD because it sucked the air all in from below an not through the narrow tunnels around the harddisk.

To cool my hdd better, I put in 4 low head screws at the bottom of my hdd which are not used to gain some space for the airflow.After that i ductaped the fan's bottom airintake by 3/4 to force it to whirl some air out of the newly generated space.

The best thing would be if you can build a new holdingplate for the harddisk wich has more space between the harddisk and the mountingplate to get a better cooling.

After a 2h benchmark my hdd's temperature is now about 47 degrees celsius. This is 12 degrees celsius less than before.

p.s.

SpeedFan to get the temperatures

Debian 4.0 to recheck the results (remeber the legacy mode and generic all ide)

Sorry for my bad englisch (german)...


(It would be nice to post a comment what i could do better if you demote me) 3 Comments »

Dell Factory Build: Problems (Optiplex)

Service and Support, OptiPlex products submitted by tleavit 04/16/07

4 out of the last 8 Optiplex we have purchased have serious problems with the factory build of XP. We blow it out and soon after the thing hangs after XP loads past the logo screen (right before ctrl-alt-delete pops up). Example: We received 2 745 Opliplex on Friday (core 2 duo 2.1 ghz). Blew both out. One of them failed in the exact same way that the other 4 Optiplex in the last month or so have failed. We have troubleshot the things for hours in the past with no luck. The only solution is to slap the CD back on it and rebuild again. I said something to our rep and got the old "call support". We are already waiting an extra 2 hours on the box's and don't have that kind of time to deal with help desk guys that by and large do not have the technical skills to tell us anything more than "rebuild it". My network admin staff think its a conspiracy to get Dell to sell us their own custom solutions but that might be far fetched. Get 'er fixed!

We have had no problems at all on the last 10 latitudes we purchsed in the last month or so. 6 Comments »

OptiPlex, Vista Business and dual monitors

Monitors and Displays, Operating Systems, OptiPlex products submitted by amg 09/10/07

Would someone terribly mind updating the Premier page so that it does not give the false impression that Dell can fulfill an order for dual monitor support on an OptiPlex 755 running Windows Vista until one has spent the time going through the whole configuration? The average shipping time on an OptiPlex 745 with an ATI Radeon X1300 Pro is well over a month. I don't know who plans out the purchases through Dell's vendors but maybe they need to polish up that old crystal ball. Between the monitor shortage and now the video card shortage, it seems that Dell is not quite on their usual game. 2 Comments »

cheap render farm

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), OptiPlex products submitted by animart3d 04/19/07

so that not to do renderfarm but cheap of the market. single they must put 5 optiplex in a cabinet for rack. to use a source of being able redundante and shared for the 5 computers and that each one has its exits usb and of network. 3 Comments »

Enable RAID 1 support for Optiplex series desktops.

Desktops, Servers and Storage, OptiPlex products submitted by lester67 03/07/07

Enable RAID1 support for Optiplex series desktops, and include a quick utility that allows an email to be sent in the event of a drive failure. Possibly pair this up with a way to mount two laptop HDD's in a 3.5 HDD space, for desktop, and small factor implementation.

Dell gets to sell twice as many hard drives on the Optiplex, and drive failures become a nuisance not a show-stopper. 1 Comment »

Optiplex 745 with 19" flat panel monitor

Monitors and Displays, Sales Strategies, OptiPlex products submitted by br7868 03/08/07

It is only possible to buy this computer with a 17" flat panel monitor.

No other flat panel monitor are offered.

It must be possible to choose between several monitors. Comment »

Bring back the Dell OptiPlex GX 280!

OptiPlex products submitted by hexstar 03/31/07

I think Dell should bring back the Dell OptiPlex GX 280 form factor. Why? You could open it from the back easily by pressing a button and splitting it open, then there were green tabs that you put on drives to easily slide them in and out to avoid dealing with screws, things were easily identified and it was very easy to add and replace hardware. There doesn't seem to be any form factor quite like the OptiPlex GX 280's and I greatly wish they'd continue to use that form factor. Anyone agree with me? :-) 2 Comments »

Better naming conventions for Optiplex and Latitude series (eg, GX620 & D620)

Advertising and Marketing, Latitude products, OptiPlex products submitted by drmaddog 02/28/07

First, of what happened to the GX for the Optiplex series?

GX280, GX620....745? 740?

Also, do not allow product models to overlap between different product types. For example: Optiplex GX620, Latitude D620. This gets confusing when trying to support users who just refer to each machine as a 620. 2 Comments »

Optiplex Base Business Profile

OptiPlex products submitted by polk Jun 4

Our organization is just short of using a thin client type device. With the growing need to be secure, we do not need some of the standard features Dell equips on their computers.

We are a business and we do not need:
CD or DVD (Optical) drives. We install across the network or utilize a single portable drive for software applications installation. This prevents a source of entry for viruses etc. Large hard drives: We maintain our files of information on a server. We do not want our user base to keep things on their computer because they do not back them up. In most cases a 40 GB hard drive is more than enough for our user base. Drives keep increasing in size. We do not need this space.
External speakers. We only need internal speakers.

Provide a physical means to secure the USB ports. This is another security exposure. There should also be a means to lock in the USB connection for the keyboard and mouse so that they can not be removed to use the USB drive for something else.

We do not have the software to serve up the software applications we have in place. In addition, thin clients are about as expensive as a desktop computer.

I know that we can configure a system to meet our needs, but I still think Dell should consider my recommendations for a business baseline computer. Processors, RAM, etc. are important factors to us. 2 Comments »

Please stop aslant stickers on Optiplex 755

OptiPlex products submitted by berksmobil Jun 2

Please try no to put on aslant service-tag, windows and intel stickers on DELL Optiplex 755. Also windows and intel stickers are a bit off-edge the case. Thanks alot. 5 Comments »