Dell Tower Desktop Tower 2026, Core Ultra 5 225, 16GB, 512GB SSD + 160GB SSD, Black

A reliable office drone with a good CPU and a graphics card that's just there for moral support. Fine for work, forget it for play.

The Core Ultra 5 225 is a solid mid-pack performer in our database, landing around the 66th percentile for CPU. That's plenty of muscle for multitasking with 16GB of RAM, though that RAM sits at a mediocre 32nd percentile, so heavy Chrome tab hoarders might feel the squeeze. The integrated Intel UHD Graphics are the weak link here, coming in at a disappointing 37th percentile. Fine for video calls and YouTube, but that's about it. The storage setup is a bit odd: a 512GB SSD paired with a 160GB SSD. It works, but it's a weird split that feels more like leftover parts than a thoughtful config.

Stacked against something like the Lenovo Legion Tower 5a Gen 10 or the HP OMEN GT16-0364, this Dell gets absolutely smoked in graphics and gaming, but those machines are aimed at a completely different buyer. The Apple Mac Studio M3 Ultra is in another universe entirely for performance, but it's also a different price bracket and use case. The real comparison is against other everyday office towers, and here the Dell's weak port selection and mediocre RAM percentile make it feel a step behind where it should be for the money.

At CAD 1,349, this is a tough sell. You're paying business-desktop money for what is essentially a mid-range office PC with integrated graphics and a strange storage setup. If you need Windows 11 Pro and a reliable machine for work, it's not a rip-off, but you can find better-equipped towers for less if you shop around.

This is a no-nonsense office workhorse, not a show pony. The Dell Tower Desktop with the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 gets the job done for spreadsheets, email, and the daily grind without making a fuss. The one thing to know? It's built for business and home office work, and it knows it. Don't expect to game on this thing.

If you're looking for any kind of gaming or creative work, this isn't it. Go get a machine with a dedicated GPU instead, like the Lenovo Legion Tower 5a or the HP OMEN GT16. And if you need lots of USB ports or fast external storage, the port situation here will drive you nuts.

If you need a dependable, quiet office tower with Windows 11 Pro and you don't care about gaming or expandability, this Dell will serve you fine. But at this price, I'd want more RAM and better connectivity. It's a solid machine with a few frustrating compromises that keep it from being an easy recommendation.