GoKawiil7.5 / 10 Score Cnet Score CNET provides expert, unbiased reviews of products and services. When we assign a score, we use a scale of 1-10. Each product we score is evaluated by criteria specific to its category with most assessing pricing, quality, features and performance. Read more on: How we test Dell Tower Plus (EBT2250) Desktop Pros Good selection of ports
Respectable price-to-performance
Windows or Linux
Wide range of configuration options Cons Loud fans under heavy CPU load
No dust filtration
Proprietary motherboard limits upgrade options (again)
The Tower Plus is Dell's follow-up to what it once called its XPS desktop line. Even though the name has changed, the tower itself remains similar to the XPS 8960 desktop, albeit with new components. The XPS 8960 was an impressive enough machine, with solid performance that competed well with gamer-oriented PCs that had more robust cooling.
The Tower Plus doesn't hold up in a similar way. Its performance is strong but, unlike its predecessor, it doesn't punch above its weight. Its CPU doesn't feel hamstrung, but the fan sounds like a vacuum when it's running full tilt. The system will also almost certainly accumulate dust a bit like a vacuum, too. Worse, it has proprietary Dell components that will make upgrading difficult, if not impossible.
This might have been easier to stomach if the Tower Plus had a big price advantage, but it's not driving as hard a bargain compared to something like the Lenovo Legion Tower 5 Gen 10, which costs less, has slightly easier upgradability and manages to trounce the Tower Plus in gaming performance in spite of an otherwise slower CPU. That said, the Dell isn't a gaming PC and is meant for creatives and office workers, where a cleaner appearance might be preferred.
Dell Tower Plus (EBT2250) Desktop Price as reviewed $2,700 Size 28 liter (16.8x6.8x14.7 in/427x173x373 mm) Motherboard Dell X5WC5 Custom CPU 3900MHz Intel Core Ultra 7 265K Memory 32GB DDR5-5600 Graphics Nvidia RTX 5070 12GB Storage 1TB NVMe M.2 PCIe Gen 4 SSD (boot) (Samsung PM9C1b) Networking 2.5GbE, Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200 802.11be, Bluetooth 5.4 Connections Thunderbolt 4 (x1 rear), USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (x1 front), USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A (x3 front, x2 rear), USB 2.0 (x4 rear), 3.5mm audio connector (x1 front, x2 rear), SPDIF, 2.5Gb Ethernet, SD Card reader, HDMI 2.0 (on motherboard)=, HDMI 2.1 (x1 on GPU), DisplayPort 2.1 (x3 on GPU) Operating system Windows 11 Home
... continue reading