Dell launches business desktop with Sandy Bridge

Dell has launched a new desktop for small and medium businesses looking to adopt Intel's new Sandy Bridge platform. Despite its starting price of $599, the lowest-specced Vostro 460 Mini Tower packs the new 3.1GHz Core i5-2400, which e-tails for $195 alone. Another $110 or $210 gets you an upgraded 3.3GHz i5-2500 or 3.4GHz i7-2600.

All the CPUs are paired with Intel's H67 chipset, which utilizes Sandy Bridge's on-die graphics core. We imagine Intel's new HD Graphics 2000 IGP is plenty sufficient for standard office use, but the Vostro 460 can be outfitted with a 1GB Radeon HD 5450 ($60), 1GB GeForce GT 420 ($145), or a 1GB Radeon HD 5670 ($195) if you need a little more horsepower.

The default $599 configuration is only equipped with a gig of RAM, but you can add up to 16GB if that isn't sufficient. Hard drive capacities range from 320GB to 1.5TB, and although a secondary drive is available, it maxes out at 1TB. A DVD reader comes standard, while a Blu-ray burner tops out the optical drive category with an added expense of $235.

Besides the standard ports and connectors, you can add a 19-in-1 media card reader, a USB 3.0 PCIe card, and an IEEE 1394a adapter. OS options include Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate. Systems ordered today have a preliminary ship date of February 2 and come with a basic keyboard/mouse as well as a one-year warranty.

Dell launches ultraportable Inspiron notebook with Fusion

Fusion-based systems continue to crawl out of the woodwork this week with Dell's new Inspiron M102z. The new 11.6-inch ultraportable is currently listed on Dell's Australia website with a starting price of $599 which gets you a single-core 1GHz AMD C-50 processor, on-die Radeon HD 6250 graphics and 2GB of DDR3 1333MHz RAM. For an extra Benjamin, Dell outfits the machine with a dual-core 1.6GHz E-350 APU, Radeon HD 6310 graphics and 4GB of RAM.

All configurations come with a 1366x768 LED-backlit display, a 320GB 7200RPM hard drive along with 2GB of Dell's cloud storage for a year, a 1.3-megapixel webcam, 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, 10/100 Ethernet, a 7-in-1 card reader, three USB 2.0 ports, and HDMI and VGA outputs. A six-cell battery is standard while an optional nine-cell unit provides up 14 hours of life. The company offers a third model for $749, but that only appears to gain an internal DVB-T TV tuner.

It's worth noting that HP's Pavilion dm1z series is already available stateside for a starting price of $449.99 and seems to offer more flexibility. You can add up to 8GB of RAM, 250GB to 750GB of mechanical storage or a 128GB SSD, WWAN connectivity via Verizon, AT&T or Sprint, as well as Windows 7 Professional instead of Home Premium. Both systems offer roughly the same dimensions, though HP's appears marginally thinner and heavier than Dell's.