Dell OptiPlex 5070 SFF, Core i5-9500, 16GB, 2TB SSD

The 2TB SSD is the star here, ranking in the 84th percentile for storage. But the i5-9500 CPU sits in the 22nd percentile and the integrated graphics are down at the 14th. For office work and file storage, it's a solid refurbished pick. For anything else, look elsewhere.

The i5-9500 is a 6-core, 3.0GHz chip from Intel's 9th generation. It's fine for email, web browsing, and light multitasking, but it's not going to impress anyone in 2025. Our database puts it in the 22nd percentile for CPUs, which means roughly four out of five desktops we've tested have a faster processor. The integrated graphics are even rougher, sitting in the 14th percentile. Don't expect to run anything more demanding than YouTube or a casual browser game.

The 16GB of DDR4 RAM is adequate, though the 32nd percentile ranking suggests it's on the lower end of what we see these days. The real bright spot is storage. That 2TB SSD is in the 84th percentile, which is genuinely impressive for a refurbished SFF machine. Boot times will be snappy, and you won't be juggling files to free up space. Just don't confuse fast storage with fast everything else.

Stacked against the competition, the OptiPlex 5070 SFF is playing a different game entirely. The Lenovo Legion 90YA003GUS, HP OMEN GT16-0364, and ASUS ROG G700TF-U7KF5070 are all gaming-focused machines with dedicated GPUs and far beefier CPUs. The Apple iMac M4 is in another league for creative work. Even the Acer Nitro N60-180-UB33, the budget option in that group, will run circles around the OptiPlex in anything graphics-related. Where the Dell wins is storage per dollar and physical footprint. None of those competitors are going to give you 2TB of SSD in a box this small for under 750 CAD. But if you need any kind of graphical horsepower, the comparison isn't close.

Pricing is a bit of a moving target here. The CAD listings range from 706 to 746 across two sellers, with both 8GB and 16GB configurations floating around. For a refurbished office PC with a 2TB SSD, that's not unreasonable, but you're paying for storage capacity, not compute power. The 16GB version is the one to get if you can find it at the lower end of that range. At the higher end, you're creeping into territory where a newer machine with a better CPU starts to make more sense.

The Dell OptiPlex 5070 SFF scores a 49.6 out of 100 in our database, which puts it firmly in the middle of the pack for desktops. The standout spec here is the 2TB SSD, landing in the 84th percentile for storage. That's a lot of room for a refurbished office box. But the rest of the machine tells a different story. The i5-9500 CPU sits in the 22nd percentile, the integrated graphics are down at the 14th, and the port selection is nearly dead last at the 6th percentile. This is a machine built for spreadsheets, not spectacle.

For home office use it manages a 56.9, and for business tasks a 53.9. Those aren't terrible scores for a refurbished unit, but they're not going to win any awards either. The 16GB of DDR4 RAM helps keep things moving, though it's only in the 32nd percentile. If you need a quiet, compact box that boots fast and holds a ton of files, this does that. If you want to do anything beyond office work, you'll feel the ceiling pretty quickly.

If you need any kind of graphics performance, skip this. The integrated GPU ranks in the 14th percentile and the gaming score is 8 out of 100, which is about as close to zero as it gets. The port selection is also a real weak spot at the 6th percentile, so if you're planning to hook up multiple monitors, external drives, and peripherals, you'll be fighting for connections. And if you're doing anything CPU-heavy like video editing or large data crunching, the 22nd percentile processor will have you staring at loading bars. This is a machine for light office work and file storage, nothing more.

The Dell OptiPlex 5070 SFF is a one-trick pony, but it's a decent trick. That 2TB SSD in the 84th percentile is the whole show. If you need a compact, quiet machine for office work, file storage, or a home server, this does the job without drama. The 4.8 out of 5 rating from existing buyers suggests people who buy it know what they're getting. Just don't expect it to stretch beyond its comfort zone. The CPU, GPU, and port rankings all point the same direction: this is a basic workhorse, not a performance machine.