Dell Optiplex Micro 3070

Few years back I purchased this tiny computer with an intent to use it as a backup PC just in case things goes south with my main workstation. I did not pay much attention to specs as it didn't seem to be too important back then. After a year or two later I figured this computer was pretty much sitting idle with no use at all. So, I decided to give it to my son as his first desktop computer which he appreciated a lot and currently using it to watch videos, playing games and occasionally trying out other office applications.

The specs of this computer was not great. It came with an Intel Pentium Gold G5420T CPU. A traditional SATA based two and a half inch 500GB hard disk drive was there with Windows 10 pre-installed on it. It came with only a 4 GB of RAM stick on it. So, now you can imagine how well it should have performed. Well, let's just say it was a horrible computer and was not up to any good standard even at that time.

I got fade up with this PC after trying to use it for couple of days. So much so that I eventually decided to upgrade the computer before handing it over to my son. I upgraded the CPU with Intel i5-9500T and it started to show some hope right away. Later I upgrade the memory from 4 GB to 16 GB modules and the storage with an M.2 slot based NVMe drive. The result was so much better than what I initially anticipated. So, this is what we have got right now.

Since this PC has a built in SATA port, I am thinking of adding another SSD drive for media storage. However, that is yet to be materialized. I am aware of the fact that the WiFi module is something that needs to be upgraded as well. We are currently using WiFi 6 based router which will soon be upgraded to WiFi 7. So, that would make more logical sense to upgrade the module as well.

Even though this PC came with Windows 10 pre-installed, I decided not to upgrade the OS to Windows 11. Instead, I installed Linux Mint on it few months back when Microsoft announced the end of Windows 10. Linux works great on this PC and we are definitely not going back to any Windows platform on that PC ever again.

Somehow I also happen to have an Intel i7-9700T laying around which has two additional core. So, I may upgrade the CPU once again at some point but that is not something I am thinking of right now. I am quite happy with the performance of this PC and it seems like my son also likes his little computer as well. So, this computer will remains as it is for the time being.