Dell OptiPlex
Hacker ApprovedRanked 8 of 10 personal computers by recommenders
Cheap used Optiplex desktops offer Core i5 and i7 power for self-hosting and Linux. Critics say they draw more power than ARM boards.
Cheap used Optiplex desktops offer Core i5 and i7 power for self-hosting and Linux. Critics say they draw more power than ARM boards.
23 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 21
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 91%
Recommended in 10 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 21 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 11 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 10 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Cheap used units with good specs
“You can buy a lightly used Dell Optiplex with 8gb RAM for like $40 which will cover all your self hosting needs today”
Comment from 29 Dec 2025 in “Self-hosting is being enshittified” “I bought a couple of these in that price range that not only worked, but had a GPU of some kind”
Comment from 5 Sep 2026 in “The "$60 Gaming PC" – AMD BC-250 (2025)” “The other day I got a used optiplex for $20, it had 2TB hdd, 265gb ssd, 16gb, and corei7.”
Comment from 23 Apr 2026 in “I Am Building a Cloud” - Comment from 1 Apr 2026 in “Raspberry Pi profit surges as AI boom lifts demand”
- Comment from 11 Jun 2026 in “Raspberry Pi 5 – 16 GB, $350”
- Comment from 23 Oct 2026 in “Disney Raising Prices Days After Confirming Ads Will Now Show Up on Every Tier”
- Comment from 11 Aug 2026 in “My server is a phone now”
Strong performance for the money
“You can get a far more capable small form factor or ultra small form factor used Intel Core i5/i7 something corporate desktop”
Comment from 4 Sep 2026 in “The Raspberry Pi Interactive Timeline · 2006–2026” “newer ewaste like Dell Wyse thin clients or Optiplexes would absolutely smoke those boards on performance”
Comment from 20 Jul 2026 in “HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router” “Buying a second hand Optiplex would give you 10x the performance at the same price”
Comment from 1 Apr 2026 in “Raspberry Pi profit surges as AI boom lifts demand” - Comment from 5 Sep 2026 in “The "$60 Gaming PC" – AMD BC-250 (2025)”
Reliable and easy to open
“I do miss just being able to pop the lid open when I needed to troubleshoot something instead of having to lug the Optiplex into the office”
Comment from 18 Jan 2026 in “Spirit of ThinkPad” “Dell business machines are pretty reliable.”
Comment from 6 Sep 2026 in “The "$60 Gaming PC" – AMD BC-250 (2025)” “Optiplex's used to be my go to the SFF”
Comment from 4 Dec 2025 in “RAM is so expensive, Samsung won't even sell it to Samsung” Runs Linux and self-hosting well
“You can buy a lightly used Dell Optiplex with 8gb RAM for like $40 which will cover all your self hosting needs today”
Comment from 29 Dec 2025 in “Self-hosting is being enshittified” “I like running Linux on older Dell Optiplex systems that you can buy off of Ebay.”
Comment from 27 Jun 2026 in “Linux on Older Hardware: The Complete Revival Guide”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Higher power draw than ARM boards
“the power consumption of an x86 box is magnitudes higher than an embedded-ARM box”
Comment from 24 Mar 2026 in “FCC Updates Covered List to Include Foreign-Made Consumer Routers”
Other personal computers people recommend
The four most recommended other personal computers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Mac | 453 | 292 | 61% | 12 | 15 yrs59 owners | — |
| Apple Mac Studio | 319 | 160 | 66% | 12 | 2 yrs23 owners | — |
| Apple M1 Mac | 48 | 10 | 83% | 12 | 6 yrs8 owners | Approved |
| Apple II | 46 | 12 | 79% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Dell OptiPlexThis page | 21 | 2 | 91% | 10 | — | Approved |
What people said
26 of the 29 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“an old optiplex I got for around $20”
“Dell business machines are pretty reliable.”
“I bought a couple of these in that price range that not only worked, but had a GPU of some kind”
“You can get a far more capable small form factor or ultra small form factor used Intel Core i5/i7 something corporate desktop”
“Old Optiplex are also good deals.”
“Machines like Lenovo Thinkcentre or Dell Optiplex.”
“newer ewaste like Dell Wyse thin clients or Optiplexes would absolutely smoke those boards on performance”
“Toss the rtx into a cheapo optiplex or thinkcenter”
“I like running Linux on older Dell Optiplex systems that you can buy off of Ebay.”
“Small Dell Optiplexes are good for desktop computers.”
“found an optiplex for $20, 16ddr4, 250 ssd sata, core i7.”
“I am getting a lot of mileage out of it.”
“The other day I got a used optiplex for $20, it had 2TB hdd, 265gb ssd, 16gb, and corei7.”
“It is an excellent vessel for sailing the high seas and streaming the loot.”
“Buying a second hand Optiplex would give you 10x the performance at the same price”
“the power consumption of an x86 box is magnitudes higher than an embedded-ARM box”
“great for product protoytyping”
“Dell OptiPlexes and bad caps went together in those days”
“Dell likes to pull this stunt on other devices too. Like their 1L desktops in the OptiPlex line that I managed for many years.”
“I do miss just being able to pop the lid open when I needed to troubleshoot something instead of having to lug the Optiplex into the office”
“Old optiplex’es sff or not idled between 15w and 30w.”
“I recommend looking for old Dell OptiPlex towers on Facebook Marketplace”
“You can save a lot of money by buying used hardware.”
“You can buy a lightly used Dell Optiplex with 8gb RAM for like $40 which will cover all your self hosting needs today”
“Optiplex's used to be my go to the SFF”
“they did make as full of an effort as can be reasonably expected to make it happen within one business day”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.