The Dell Optiplex 3040 and 3050 Micro are useful machines when you need a small form factor, versatility, and affordability. It’s not as hip and chic as a Raspberry Pi, but is potentially more affordable.
If you’re not familiar with them, the Dell Optiplex 3040 and 3050 Micro were corporate PCs for small spaces. I see similar units in hospitals and doctors’ examination rooms. The 3040 is a 2015 model that doesn’t support Windows 11, so companies are getting rid of them. And despite their age, they are reliable and can run other operating systems just fine. The 3050 is the 2017 model that also doesn’t support Windows 11.
The 3040 is something of a sweet spot. The floor for a bare Optiplex micro, with no AC adapter, storage, keyboard, or mouse, is around $50. So if you’re shopping for an Optiplex micro, no matter the age, the starting price for a functioning unit is around $50. So why buy a 3030 or 3020 if they’re going to cost about the same?
The 3050 is a small step up from a 3040. The 3050 will take slightly newer CPUs, but the most important advantage is having an M.2 slot for an SSD. For those reasons, a 3050 tends to cost a little more, usually. Here’s a link to the Ebay search I like to use to find 3040s and 3050s.
Their small size and relative affordability make them a solid substitute for applications where you might use a Raspberry Pi as a small Linux box.
They’re good for homelab applications too. You can stack 12 of them in the same vertical space one conventional minitower occupies.
Used Optiplexes in general are a good source of affordable hardware.
AC adapters for Dell Optiplex Micros
Resellers often separate the AC adapter from the system unit. Optiplex Micros need a Dell AC adapter with a 4.5mm plug. Many Dell laptop adapters have a larger 7.4mm plug, so don’t assume any random Dell laptop adapter you have laying around fits. Adapter cables do exist if you accidentally buy the wrong unit or any extras you have laying around are the wrong size. I hate to sound like a snob but I do recommend genuine Dell OEM units. When you get an off-brand or especially unbranded AC adapter, you don’t know what you’re getting when it comes to reliability or safety. The real thing is plentiful and generally costs $10-$15 used.
The key is to look for a Dell PA-12 adapter with a 4.5mm plug.
RAM for Dell Optiplex 3040 and 3050 micros
The Dell Optiplex 3040 and 3050 Micro have two slots for DDR4 SODIMM laptop memory. If you get a good deal on one without memory, 4 GB modules are fairly cheap if your application doesn’t need a ton of RAM, such as using it as a streaming box. You will get better performance with two identical modules. But an i3-based 3040 with 4 GB of RAM runs LineageOS TV, a free de-Googled Android, rather well. The entry-level CPU was a Pentium G4400, but i3 and i5 CPUs are more common.
Storage for Dell Optiplex 3040 and 3050 micros
For storage, a 3040 uses 2.5-inch HDDs or SSDs. The drive tray is sometimes missing so watch for that. I don’t think you can install an M.2 SSD in the slot intended for a wireless network/bluetooth card. Examining mine, the slot looks like it’s keyed the wrong way for an M.2 SSD, but I haven’t tried it because I don’t have any short M.2 SSDs to try. I installed my old 80 and 128 GB SATA drives and they were plenty. A 3050 does have an M.2 slot, which means you can install one of each type of drive to build a low-profile server, or you can take advantage of the availability of inexpensive used 64 GB M.2 SSDs.
Sometimes the drive sled goes missing, so it’s best to confirm if that’s included unless you’re getting the machine at a significant discount. The drive sled generally sells for $10 on its own, or you can 3D print a suitable substitute for a few dollars less.
CMOS batteries
Two of the units I bought had flat CMOS batteries, so they gave me errors the first time I tried to boot them. They take standard CR2032 batteries. On two of my three units, there’s a metal clip on the battery holder. Squeeze the clip with a pair of needlenose pliers and the battery pops out easily. The third unit didn’t have a clip, it was just plastic all around. On that one, I had to hold down the battery holder with my left hand while I pried the battery out with a flat-bladed screwdriver with my right. I thought I was going to break something and I almost did until I held down the battery holder with one hand. Then the battery flew out.
Networking
Make sure you think about whether you want wireless. In theory, a wireless card being present costs a bit more. In practice, having to buy the wireless card separately costs still more. My bright idea was to buy USB modules, but their compatibility can be a bit spotty. If you want wireless, it’s easier to watch and wait for units that have wireless modules already installed.
For wired networking, all Optiplex Micro units have built in wired gigabit Ethernet. Sometimes you can find units that have a second wired interface instead of a wireless interface. That could be useful in some applications.
Orientation
If you’re going to make a set-top box out of it and set it under your TV, the case badge rotates if you don’t like looking at a sideways Dell logo. When facing the device, pull the plastic logo toward you. It will spring out a couple of millimeters. Then turn it 90 degrees and let it spring back into place.
Disassembly of a Dell Optiplex micro
The case screw in the back is supposed to be captive. Unscrew it until it starts flopping around, then you can slide the lid off. The lid slides forward, and sometimes gets stuck. A dab of silicone grease on the sides can help keep the lid from seizing. It doesn’t take much.
The fan just clips onto the heat sink, so you don’t have to unscrew the heatsink to get to the memory. Just press the two tabs on the fan assembly to remove it.
Speaking of the heat sink, the thermal pad Dell used is probably a bit tired at this point. Cleaning off the CPU, scraping off the pad from the heat sink and cleaning off the residue, then applying a moderate-but-not-stingy amount of thermal compound improves cooling, which improves the CPU throttling, which improves performance.
How age affects price
I like the 3040 because it’s the oldest model in its form factor to use a DVI connector like your TV. That makes it ideal to make a set-top box out of it. That said, there’s not a lot of price difference to move up to a 3050 because neither of them can run Windows 11. The price floor on these is around $50, because if you can’t get $50 for the trouble of packing it up and shipping it, you can part it out, get at least that much, and whether shipping the whole unit intact or shipping four much smaller packages is harder really depends on the situation. You’ll pay more for a 3060 because that generation can run Windows 11 without any hackery.
That price floor also means you don’t save much by going to earlier-generation units. A 3020 micro costs about the same as a 3040 or 3050 micro, so getting a newer CPU and newer memory is worth it, unless I happen to have a bunch of memory laying around that fits an older model.
Dell Optiplex 3040 vs 3050 micro
So what’s the difference between a Dell Optiplex 3040 or 3050 micro? The 3040 uses 6th-generation i-series CPUs while the 3050 uses 7th-generation. So a 3050 will be a bit faster than an equivalent 3040. But beyond that, the 3050 has an M.2 slot for an SSD, which means you can put both an M.2 and a SATA SSD in the system, packing quite a bit more storage into that small space. Storage is very expensive right now, but eventually that will change.
I’d pretty much use them interchangeably as streaming boxes, but if I wanted to use one as a media server, a 3050 would be much better. A 3050 would also make a better home web server. You laugh, but I’m running this site on a 3010 minitower right now. The main reason to go with a 3050 is being a generation newer means another year or two of life expectancy, for little or no difference in cost.
HP and Lenovo equivalents
For my use case I went with Dell 3040 and 3050 units over HP or Lenovo for two reasons. First, it has a DVI and a Displayport output where all the HP and Lenovo units I’ve seen have dual Displayport. DVI is preferable for connecting to a TV, which is a major use case for me. Second, Dell 3040s tend to be cheaper than equivalent HP and Lenovo boxes. I think there are just more Dells out there.
But if you can get a good price on an HP or a Lenovo and you have suitable cables or adapters, by all means go for it. They have a very similar footprint and similar internals.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.