Dell Optiplex 7080 Micro Black 2020

A tiny office warrior with a big SSD and zero gaming ability. Buy it cheap, bolt it to a monitor, and get back to work.

For office work, this little guy is surprisingly snappy. The 1TB SSD is a standout, loading apps and booting Windows 11 Pro in seconds. The 6-core i5-10500T keeps things smooth during heavy multitasking, though it's worth noting the CPU sits in the 25th percentile for mini PCs, so it's not winning any races. The real weak spot is the integrated graphics, which land in the 9th percentile. You can forget about gaming or any serious creative work. But for crunching numbers and firing off emails, it's more than enough.

The Optiplex 7080 Micro is in a different universe than gaming towers like the HP OMEN 16L or Lenovo Legion Tower 5i, so don't even try to compare them. Its real competition is other mini PCs. The ASUS NUC 14 Pro is a more modern and powerful alternative with better CPU performance, but it'll cost you more. The Apple Mac Studio M1 Max is in another league entirely for creative work, but it's massive overkill and way more expensive for basic office tasks. For pure business use at a low price, the Dell holds its own.

Pricing is all over the map, ranging from $460 to $630 depending on the seller. At the low end, this is a solid deal for a reliable office PC. At the high end, you're getting fleeced. If you can snag one closer to $460, it's a great buy for a no-frills workstation. Just make sure you're getting the 1TB SSD and not a smaller drive.

The Dell Optiplex 7080 Micro is the office PC that gets out of your way. It's a tiny black box you can bolt to the back of a monitor and forget about, which is exactly the point. This isn't a machine for gaming or rendering, it's a no-nonsense workhorse for spreadsheets, Zoom calls, and a dozen browser tabs. The 10th-gen Intel Core i5 and 16GB of RAM handle everyday business tasks without breaking a sweat, and the 1TB SSD means you won't be playing storage Tetris anytime soon. Just don't expect it to do anything fun.

If you're looking for a machine to edit video, play games, or do any 3D modeling, this isn't it. Go get a mini PC with a dedicated GPU or a more powerful processor like the ASUS NUC 14 Pro instead.

If you need a tiny, dependable PC for office work and you find it for under $500, buy it. The Optiplex 7080 Micro is a space-saving workhorse that handles business tasks without complaint. Just know what you're getting into: this is a spreadsheet slayer, not a gaming rig. For the right price, it's a no-brainer for a clutter-free desk.