Most mini PCs don’t offer as many configuration options as their larger desktop cousins. The Dell OptiPlex 7080 Micro (starts at $859; $1,637 as tested) is an exception: It’s available with a choice of 10 possible 10th Generation Intel CPUs, from an efficient 35-watt Core i3 to a full-power, 65-watt Core i9. To accommodate this variety of processors, there are three power supplies on the menu. In addition, the system can be configured with 4GB to 64GB of RAM; either one or two storage drives; and even a discrete graphics option. All of this from a machine that’s no bigger than a hardcover book and can be mounted in a bunch of different ways. The system’s cooling fan noise, however, might give creative departments and other power users pause. Choosing a lower-end OptiPlex 7080 Micro configuration for basic office tasks will likely lead to quieter operation and better office acoustics (not to mention, happier users).
A Mini PC With Maximum Options
The baseline OptiPlex 7080 Micro model costs $859 and features a six-core Core i5-10500T CPU, 8GB of RAM, Intel integrated graphics, and a 500GB, 7,200rpm hard drive. Our $1,637 test configuration comes from Dell’s build-your-own menu and features an eight-core Core i7-10700T chip, 16GB of memory, AMD Radeon RX 640 graphics, and a 512GB solid-state drive. The Radeon RX 640, based on the company’s older “Polaris” architecture, is a seldom-seen low-end GPU and the only graphics upgrade option, not that we were expecting a great variety of graphics choices in such a small PC. Impressively, you can outfit the OptiPlex with both a 2.5-inch hard drive and an M.2 solid-state drive—or a pair of M.2 SSDs. Opting for the Radeon graphics, however, leaves no room for a hard drive.
With the wide-ranging CPU options, the OptiPlex 7080 Micro offers a choice of three power supplies: 90, 130, or 180 watts. Despite using a 35-watt CPU, the presence of Radeon graphics necessitates the maximum, 180-watt PSU for our test configuration.
You’ve got a number of mounting options for the system, too. Dell sells a few display stands that will house the OptiPlex 7080 Micro as well as a monitor, with an integrated mount that lets the system piggyback on the display’s back panel. More likely, you’ll simply stash the system behind your display—it rests horizontally on four rubber feet or can stand vertically with or without the optional stand—or opt for the VESA mount with adapter bracket that lets you mount the system on an office wall or the underside of a desk.
A Loud Fan and Some Perplexing Ports
The OptiPlex 7080 Micro comes dressed in corporate matte black. It measures (standing on edge) a compact 7 by 1.4 by 7.2 inches (HWD) and weighs 2.9 pounds. I found it easy to stash the system vertically behind my monitor. If it were a more permanent addition to my office instead of a short-term loaner, I’d be tempted to buy the bracket to mount the Dell under my desk to save even more space. Between its compact dimensions and the variety of mounting options, even the most cluttered and cramped offices should have little issue in finding room for the system.
My test unit, however, certainly made its presence known on occasion. Keeping thermals in check with a tiny PC always presents a challenge, and my OptiPlex 7080 Micro frankly created a racket when engaged with graphics-intensive tasks. The system ran quietly during general office tasks, including multitasking scenarios and the all-too-realistic scenario of having more than a dozen Chrome browser tabs open, but during our multimedia graphics and gaming benchmarks, the cooling fan was loud enough to be heard in the next room. There was no middle ground—the OptiPlex was either operating in near silence or doing its best jet-engine impression.
Perhaps a configuration with integrated graphics would demand less of the cooling fan and require it to engage less often. Given the loud sound, I would urge creative departments that demand discrete graphics to opt for a larger chassis and restrict the OptiPlex 7080 Micro to general office tasks where integrated graphics will suffice. I’d also be wary of choosing one of the 65-watt CPUs and would opt for a more efficient 35-watt offering.
Given its small size, the OptiPlex 7080 Micro offers an impressive number of ports, although the selection isn’t the most useful. The system provides a pair of DisplayPort 1.4 ports, and the Radeon RX 640 graphics card adds a third DisplayPort 1.4 connection along with two mini DisplayPorts. I’d happily trade one of the DisplayPort connections for an HDMI port. On a system with integrated graphics, you can add a serial port adapter that provides both HDMI and DisplayPort connections plus a VGA port, a USB-C port, or a PS/2 and serial port. This port adapter, however, is not available when the Radeon GPU is on board.
My test unit suffered from a shortage of USB Type-C ports—you get one on the front panel and that’s it. Meanwhile, there are four USB Type-A ports, one up front and three around the back. Separate headphone and mic jacks are on the front panel, and an Ethernet jack sits at the rear. My 7080 Micro also carried Dell’s optional Wi-Fi adapter, with an antenna that attaches to the back panel.
Easy Interior Access
Remove a single thumbscrew, slide off the top panel, and you’ve got easy access to the interior of the system. In our test system, the Radeon RX 640 graphics card can be removed without tools. (On a system with integrated graphics, a bracket for a 2.5-inch hard drive would take the place of the Radeon card.)
Beneath the graphics card are two M.2 slots, one of which was free in our tester. Two DIMM slots accommodate a maximum of 64GB of RAM; our review unit carried two 8GB memory modules. These are laptop-style SO-DIMMs, not full-size desktop modules.
Next to the DIMM slots, the large and frequently loud cooling fan takes up the rest of the room inside the case.
The system also includes internal speakers, but you’ll want to use your monitor’s speakers if it has any. The OptiPlex 7080 Micro’s built-in speaker is underwhelming enough to use only as a last resort.
The test system came with a wireless keyboard and mouse. Both are serviceable, but you can knock $35 off the price if you forego them.
Dell supplies a host of IT support to help departments deploy and manage a fleet of OptiPlex 7080 Micros, as well as optimization tools to make using the machines a pleasant and efficient experience. The Dell Optimizer software uses AI and machine learning to learn your computing habits and look for ways to optimize your OptiPlex experience by switching between apps faster or adjusting audio levels during video calls to improve the sound. I didn’t use the machine long enough to see any speed gains when launching or switching between apps, nor did I hear any improvements in the audio quality of video calls.
Dell backs the OptiPlex 7080 Micro with a three-year warranty that includes onsite service after an attempt at remote diagnosis.
Testing the OptiPlex: A Small But Mighty Performer
As mentioned, our $1,637 Dell OptiPlex 7080 Micro is based on Intel’s Core i7-10700T, an eight-core, 16-thread CPU with a base clock speed of 2.0GHz and turbo speed of 4.5GHz. It’s the 35-watt version of the Core i7-10700, which is a 65-watt chip with a frequency range of 2.9GHz to 4.8GHz. Most OptiPlex 7080 Micro models rely on integrated graphics, but ours featured the AMD Radeon RX 640, a midrange mobile GPU with 4GB of dedicated video RAM.
I compared the OptiPlex 7080 Micro to a varying cast of compact PCs, from the silent and efficient Core i3-based Zotac Zbox CI622 Nano to the powerful, Core i9-based Intel NUC 9 Extreme Kit NUC9i9QNX. In between those two small-form-factor (SFF) bookends is the Core i5 ECS Liva Z3 Plus. I also added the new M1-based Apple Mac mini to the conversation; because of macOS, it couldn’t run all of our standard bench tests.
Productivity and Media Tests
PCMark 10 and 8 are holistic performance suites developed by the PC benchmark specialists at UL (formerly Futuremark). The PCMark 10 test we run simulates different real-world productivity and content-creation workflows. We use it to assess overall system performance for office-centric tasks such as word processing, spreadsheet work, web browsing, and videoconferencing. The test yields a proprietary numeric score; higher numbers are better.
The results were more or less as expected, with the Dell trailing the Core i9-powered Intel NUC but easily clearing the 4,000-point score that indicates excellent office productivity. (The macOS-based Mac mini is incompatible with this Windows benchmark.)
Next is Maxon’s CPU-crunching Cinebench R15 test, which is fully threaded to make use of all available processor cores and threads. Cinebench stresses the CPU rather than the GPU to render a complex image. The result is a proprietary score indicating a PC’s suitability for processor-intensive workloads.
The OptiPlex again finished in the middle of the Intel-based systems, closer to the leading Intel NUC 9 than the lower-end Zotac and ECS minis. The Mac took second place, showing the promise of Apple’s new M1 processor.
Cinebench is often a good predictor of our Handbrake video editing trial, another tough, threaded workout that’s highly CPU-dependent and scales well with cores and threads. In it, we put a stopwatch on test systems as they transcode a standard 12-minute clip of 4K video (the open-source Blender demo movie Tears of SteelTears of Steel) to a 1080p MP4 file. It’s a timed test, and lower results are better.
The Dell OptiPlex 7080 Micro did well here, finishing only three minutes off the pace set by the Intel NUC 9 and well ahead of the other two Intel-based machines. It was also seven minutes quicker than the Mac mini. (Note that this version of Handbrake is not the latest Apple M1-native version.)
We also run a custom Adobe Photoshop image-editing benchmark. Using an early 2018 release of the Creative Cloud version of Photoshop, we apply a series of 10 complex filters and effects to a standard JPEG test image. We time each operation and, at the end, add up the total execution time. As with Handbrake, lower times are better here. The Photoshop test stresses the CPU, storage subsystem, and RAM, but it can also take advantage of most GPUs to speed up the process of applying filters, so systems with powerful graphics chips or cards may see a boost.
The OptiPlex 7080 Micro finished the Photoshop exercise before the Mac mini and took only 12 seconds longer than the Core i9-powered Intel NUC.
Graphics Tests
3DMark measures relative graphics muscle by rendering sequences of highly detailed, gaming-style 3D graphics that emphasize particles and lighting. We run two different 3DMark subtests, Sky Diver and Fire Strike, which are suited to different types of systems. Both are DirectX 11 benchmarks, but Sky Diver is more suited to laptops and midrange PCs, while Fire Strike is more demanding and made for high-end PCs to strut their stuff. The results are proprietary scores.
While the Dell’s Radeon RX 640 graphics gave it a leg up on the Zotac and ECS, both of which rely on Intel integrated graphics, it was no match for the NUC 9 and its powerful Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 graphics card. This is graphics meant for modest help with GPU compute tasks, not gaming.
Next up is another synthetic graphics test, this time from Unigine Corp. Like 3DMark, the Superposition test renders and pans through a detailed 3D scene and measures how the system copes. In this case, it’s rendered in the company’s eponymous Unigine engine, offering a different 3D workload scenario than 3DMark, for a second opinion on the machine’s graphical prowess.
The OptiPlex 7080 Micro achieved playable frame rates in the low-end Superposition benchmark, indicating that it’s capable of playing older, less demanding games at modest resolution and image quality settings. (In contrast, the “WNR” results, for “Would Not Run,” could not even handle this test at 1080p.)
On the whole, the OptiPlex 7080 Micro had a strong showing on our application and multimedia benchmarks, but it required heavy use of its cooling fan in order to achieve these results. The system ran quietly during the PCMark test and anecdotal multitasking, but the noisy fan kicked in frequently during the multimedia and gaming tests.
A Case Where Less Is More
The Dell OptiPlex 7080 Micro is an easily managed compact business PC with an impressive array of configuration options. You’ll likely find a setup that meets your needs and budget, but be careful reaching for too powerful a build, because the system’s loud cooling fan could start to feel like an unwanted officemate.
We recommend skipping both the Radeon graphics and 2.5-inch hard drive options to leave more room inside the tiny chassis to improve airflow. And given the strong performance of the 35-watt Core i7-10700T processor, we’d lean toward one of the 35-watt CPU offerings, rather than a 65-watt equivalent, to help keep the peace in your workspace.
