Dell’s Vostro 270s Core i5 slim tower PC

If you ask someone what their typical impression of a desktop PC is, it will likely conjure up images of floor-sucking beige boxes that add a nice warehouse-type hum to the room. While desktops may not have the cool-factor of mobile devices these days, we can all be grateful that engineering advances have allowed us to ditch the monstrous beige towers without much compromise.

Our featured deal today uses a chassis design known as Small Form Factor (SFF). SFFs have smaller internal volumes (think about how much liquid would fit inside a desktop chassis) than traditional mini or full tower PCs. As a result there are fewer expansion options, with models like the 270s only including one 3.5-inch hard drive bay and one 5.25-inch optical drive bay. While expansion is limited, you still get the latest processors, ports, and other features.

To give you an idea of how much space a SFF design saves, let’s compare the dimensions between the mini tower Vostro 270 and the SFF “slim tower” 270s:

270: 14.41 x 6.89 x 17.32 inches; 28.18 liters volume
270s: 10.67 x 3.94 x 14.8 inches; 10.19 liters volume
As you can see, the measurements in nearly every dimension are significantly decreased and the overall volume dropped by almost two-thirds.

Not only will the 270s nestle into nearly any nook or cranny you have, it still has the performance and features to last the average user for years. Underneath the hood is a third-generation Ivy Bridge Core i5-3450S, which has four cores that ramp between 2.8GHz and 3.5GHz depending on load. 4GB of DDR3 RAM is included by default, along with a 1TB 7200rpm hard drive.

Connectivity is covered with a bevy of ports including two USB 3.0, six USB 2.0, VGA, HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet, 8-in-1 media card reader, and 5.1 surround audio. Wireless-N is included as standard to avoid those pesky Ethernet cables whenever possible. Dell even includes one year of next-business-day on-site warranty service at no extra cost, along with 15 months of Trend Micro Titanium security software.

The $390 instant savings Dell is offering brings the price of this well-configured Vostro 270s down to just $459 with free shipping, one of the lowest prices we have seen on a config like this.

Image Credit : extremetech
Source : extremetech
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