Dell Pro Slim Plus QBS1250 2026, Core Ultra 7 265, 32GB, 1TB SSD, Black

The Dell Pro Slim Plus QBS1250 packs a 20-core Core Ultra 7 and 32GB DDR5 into a compact business chassis. It's a multitasking beast for office and dev work, with excellent port selection and Wi-Fi 7. But the integrated graphics are a dead end for gaming or GPU-heavy tasks, and $1,499 is a lot to pay for a machine that can't game. Buy it for work, skip it for play.

The CPU is the star here. That Core Ultra 7 265 sits at the 89th percentile in our database, which puts it in 'one of the best on the market' territory for this category. Twenty cores means you can run a pile of browser tabs, a couple of VMs, and your IDE without the fan sounding like a jet engine. The 5.3GHz boost clock helps with single-threaded tasks too, so everyday responsiveness feels snappy.

RAM and storage are more middle of the pack. The 32GB of DDR5 lands at the 73rd percentile, which is solid but not exceptional. For most office and dev work, 32GB is plenty. The 1TB SSD sits at the 54th percentile, right around average. Boot times will be quick, and you'll have room for a decent amount of files, but heavy media hoarders might want an external drive. The port selection is a genuine highlight at the 86th percentile. Eight USB-A ports, two USB-C, DisplayPort, Ethernet, and Wi-Fi 7. You won't be hunting for a free port anytime soon.

Stack this against the Lenovo Legion 90YA003GUS and the difference is night and day. The Legion is built for gaming with a discrete GPU, while this Dell is built for spreadsheets and code. The Legion will crush it in any graphics workload, but the Dell's 20-core CPU will hold its own in CPU-bound tasks. Different tools for different jobs.

The HP OMEN GT16-0364 and MSI Aegis ZS2 are in the same boat. They're gaming towers with big GPUs and flashy cases. The Dell Pro Slim Plus is the quiet professional in the corner. It's smaller, draws less power, and won't look out of place in an office. The Apple Mac Studio M3 Ultra is the wildcard. It's significantly more expensive and runs macOS, but if you're in creative work, the M3 Ultra's GPU performance makes this Dell look like a calculator. For Windows-based office and dev work, the Dell is the sensible pick. For anything visual, look elsewhere.

At $1,499 USD, this is a tricky value proposition. You're paying for the CPU, the DDR5, the compact chassis, and Dell's business-grade reliability. The reliability score sits at the 70th percentile, which is decent. Dell's Optiplex lineage means this thing is built to run for years without drama. But you're also paying for integrated graphics that can't do much beyond driving monitors.

Compare that to what else is out there. The Lenovo Legion 90YA003GUS and HP OMEN GT16-0364 are gaming machines with discrete GPUs in similar price territory. The Apple Mac Studio M3 Ultra is a different beast entirely, aimed at creative pros with deeper pockets. For pure office work, $1,499 is on the higher side, but you're getting a current-gen CPU and DDR5, which older refurbished Optiplexes won't have. If you need the core count and don't care about graphics, the math works. If you want any GPU muscle, it doesn't.

The Dell Pro Slim Plus QBS1250 is what happens when Dell takes the Optiplex formula and gives it a proper 2025 refresh. You're getting an Intel Core Ultra 7 265 with 20 cores, 32GB of DDR5, and a 1TB SSD stuffed into a small form factor chassis that won't eat your desk. This is the kind of machine IT departments order by the pallet, but the specs here make it interesting for home offices and developers too.

Who's this for? If you're running a business, working from home, or writing code all day, this thing is built for exactly that. Our scoring puts home office at 71.3, developer at 71, and business at 70.1. Those aren't flashy numbers, but they're honest. This is a workhorse, not a show pony.

The interesting bit is the Core Ultra 7 265. That's Intel's newer architecture with a 20-core setup running at 2.4GHz base and boosting to 5.3GHz. Paired with 32GB of DDR5, you've got serious multitasking headroom. Just don't expect to game on it. The integrated Intel HD Graphics scores a 16.7 for gaming, which is about as useful as a chocolate teapot for anything beyond Solitaire.

Gamers should skip this without a second thought. The integrated graphics score of 16.7 for gaming is a hard no. You'd be paying $1,499 for a machine that can't run anything modern at playable framerates. Look at the Lenovo Legion 90YA003GUS or HP OMEN GT16-0364 instead. They're in the same price ballpark and come with actual GPUs.

Creative professionals working with video, 3D rendering, or AI models should also look elsewhere. The CPU is strong, but those workloads lean heavily on GPU acceleration, and this machine simply doesn't have it. The Apple Mac Studio M3 Ultra is the obvious alternative if budget allows. If you need Windows, a workstation with a discrete GPU is the better path. This Dell is for spreadsheets, code, and browser tabs, not render farms.

If you're a developer or office worker who needs a reliable, compact Windows machine with serious CPU power, this Dell is a strong choice. The 20-core Core Ultra 7 and 32GB of DDR5 will chew through compiles, VMs, and multitasking without breaking a sweat. The port selection is genuinely great, and Wi-Fi 7 future-proofs your connectivity. Buy it for work, and it'll treat you well.

But if you have any gaming ambitions or need GPU acceleration for video editing, 3D work, or AI tasks, this is the wrong machine. The integrated graphics are a hard stop. You'd be better off with a Legion or OMEN at a similar price, or saving up for a Mac Studio if macOS fits your workflow. Know what you need before you click buy.