Review: Dell OptiPlex 7040 Packs Speed In Small Package

The OptiPlex 7040 is technically a PC tower, but it’s not like most of the ones you’ve probably seen: It’s not very towering.

The model of the new Dell PC that we tried -- the ’small form factor’ version -- is a stout little machine that measures only 11.4 inches high just about 3.5 inches wide.

But Dell still manages to pack a lot into the chassis, especially on power. The model we tested is pretty tricked out. It includes a quad-core, Core i7 processor from Intel, 16 GB of memory and 256 GB of PCI Express, solid-state storage.

The result is that this is a very fast machine, and as a big fan of horsepower for our multitasking habits, it almost makes us want to trade our work laptop in for one of these.

There are a ton of ports, including support for as many as three monitors.

The computer is fairly quiet, definitely not silent, though, with a hum pretty consistent in the background.

The graphics are nice and the internal speaker sounds pretty good, too. It got fairly loud during our tests, however, meaning you might not need an external speaker for it if you’re restricted on space. Which of course, is the big reason for choosing this PC in the first place.

The model we tested runs at $1,400. That price includes Windows 10 Pro, a keyboard and mouse, but users will need to factor in the price of a monitor on top of that.

The premium price appears to mostly be for the small size of the machine -- going with a larger version of the same computer will save about $150.

But for a computer that’ll help you get a lot of work done fast, and will barely make a dent in your desk layout, the small form factor OptiPlex 7040 is worth considering.