Bake-Off: Desktop PCs With Value

DELL'S VOSTRO V220
Dell introduced its Vostro lineup of desktops and notebooks last year, in what was then a new brand aimed at delivering small-business-focused solutions heavy on management and ease of use. Earlier this year, the Test Center looked at the Vostro 200 Slim PC—a desktop we liked for its combination of performance, form factor and pricing. The Vostro V220—which at deadline hadn't been officially launched but was set for availability by month's end—isn't a slim form factor, but it does follow up with decent performance, a configuration we liked, and nice, out-of-the-box ease of installation and use. The V220 came with an Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 CPU at 2.53 GHz and 4 GB of RAM. Testing with Geekbench, the PC scored 2776—less than the Vostro 200 but higher than the other business desktops we took up for this review. Running a standard workload, the V220 drew 64 watts of power and threw 79 degrees at its vent. Its noise level was below the ambient sound in the lab and our decibel meter's threshold of 50.

While most of Dell's business is still direct, it may want to make less prominent an icon that allows for customers to contact Dell directly for support and other issues.

Aside from what it did provide on the V220, Dell also got our attention with what it did not provide: namely, bloatware. Save for McAfee security software and a Google search widget, the PC was refreshingly free of bloatware. Combined with its strong performance numbers, its 4 GB of RAM and its clean design, we have no problem recommending the Vostro V220 for VARs—although it won't get the blue ribbon until it can promote VAR services and support as it does for its own.

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