Key Specs
Since many of our users are going to want to run different OSes on this, we wanted to give some of the key hardware specs. There is a lot on these machines that are customizable, but this at least gives you some sense of what hardware is available. If you want to know if your hardware is compatible with your OS, this list should help do that tie-out.
CPU Support
We did not have the 11th Gen processors, so here are the officially supported 10th gen CPUs for the unit:
| PROCESSOR | TDP | Cores | Threads | SPEED | CACHE | INTEGRATED GRAPHICS |
| Intel Core i3-10100T | 35 W | 4 | 8 | 3.0 GHz to 3.8 GHz | 6 MB | Intel UHD Graphics 630 |
| Intel Core i3-10300T | 35 W | 4 | 8 | 3.0 GHz to 3.9 GHz | 8 MB | Intel UHD Graphics 630 |
| Intel Core i5-10400T | 35 W | 6 | 12 | 2.0 GHz to 3.6 GHz | 12 MB | Intel UHD Graphics 630 |
| Intel Core i5-10500T | 35 W | 6 | 12 | 2.3 GHz to 3.8 GHz | 12 MB | Intel UHD Graphics 630 |
| Intel Core i5-10600T | 35 W | 6 | 12 | 2.4 GHz to 4.0 GHz | 12 MB | Intel UHD Graphics 630 |
| Intel Core i7-10700T | 35 W | 8 | 16 | 2.0 GHz to 4.5 GHz | 16 MB | Intel UHD Graphics 630 |
| Intel Core i9-10900T | 35 W | 10 | 20 | 1.9 GHz to 4.6 GHz | 20 MB | Intel UHD Graphics 630 |
| Intel Core i3-10100 | 65 W | 4 | 8 | 3.6 GHz to 4.3 GHz | 6 MB | Intel UHD Graphics 630 |
| Intel Core i3-10300 | 65 W | 4 | 8 | 3.7 GHz to 4.4 GHz | 8 MB | Intel UHD Graphics 630 |
| Intel Core i5-10400 | 65 W | 6 | 12 | 2.9 GHz to 4.3 GHz | 12 MB | Intel UHD Graphics 630 |
| Intel Core i5-10500 | 65 W | 6 | 12 | 3.1 GHz to 4.5 GHz | 12 MB | Intel UHD Graphics 630 |
| Intel Core i5-10600 | 65 W | 6 | 12 | 3.3 GHz to 4.8 GHz | 12 MB | Intel UHD Graphics 630 |
| Intel Core i7-10700 | 65 W | 8 | 16 | 2.9 GHz to 4.8 GHz | 16 MB | Intel UHD Graphics 630 |
| Intel Core i9-10900 | 65 W | 10 | 20 | 2.8 GHz to 5.2 GHz | 20 MB | Intel UHD Graphics 630 |
RAM Support
- Up to 2x 32GB DDR4 SODIMMs (64GB total) DDR4-3200, or lower, depending on the CPU used
Storage Support
- 2x M.2 PCIe Gen3 for NVMe SSD slots, one can be Gen4 with an 11th Gen Core CPU.
- 1x 2.5″ SATA
Networking (Wired)
- Intel i219-LM (Required for vPro)
WiFi Support (Optional)
- Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201, 11ax 2×2 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 5.1, Intel vPro technology support, M.2 Card
USB Ports
- 2x USB 3.2 Gen2 Front (Type-A)
- 1x USB 3.2 Gen2 2×2 Front (Type-C)
- 2x USB 3.2 Gen2 Rear (Type-A)
- 2x USB 3.2 Gen1 Rear (Type-A)
- Options for additional ports, as configured with a USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-C with DisplayPort
OSes From Factory
- Windows 10 Home (64-bit)
- Windows 10 Professional (64-bit)
- Windows 10 Pro Education (64-bit)
- Windows 10 IoT Enterprise 2019 LTSC (OEM only)
- NeoKylin 7.0 (China only)
- Ubuntu 18.04 (64-bit)
- Windows 11 Pro was a free upgrade on ours.
The OS section can be a big deal. Sometimes the units are advertised as supporting Windows 10 or Windows 11, but one gets a Windows 10/11 Home license. If you want to, or may want to, run Windows 10 Pro or Windows 11 Pro, knowing exactly which OS is on the device is ultra important. Having Ubuntu Linux installed from the factory is nice since we know many of our readers will use these with Linux. We also had our system running Proxmox VE as a Linux virtualization node but that is not an officially supported OS. Ubuntu installed without issue. One also usually needs to make BIOS tweaks in order to run Linux on Lenovo machines since they are optimized for Windows but we did not with our test unit.
Note: These systems sometimes change specs mid-generation. If you find another spec sheet with items you think we should add, please let us know in the comments.
Next, we are going to look at the performance and power consumption before getting to our final words.
I’ve recently bought 2 used Dell Optiplex 5070 SFF with 32GB for ~$325 each. These have the Core i5-9500 @ 3.00 GHz. I can’t imagine a better computer for the money. These are similar to the 7090 you’re reviewing here but for someone on a budget I think the 5070s are a much better deal.
Totally makes sense Jon. Part of the reason for doing newer models is that today’s current gen becomes tomorrow’s used value node.
Did I understand an i7 model was purchased new from the vendor but an i5 arrived instead? Could such mistakes impact a corporate customer procuring many systems for office use? What if a number of them sat in receiving for a month before the mistake was discovered? Maybe I’m misunderstanding what happened, but anecdotal evidence of this type of mistake seems more important to me than the tests.
Eric – from a reseller not from Dell. It happens. I had the option to return it, but I just took a partial refund instead.
I’ve picked up a 3050 USFF for like 100 € and a 3060 Micro (same 1l format) for 150-ish, both second hand. Very happy with them. Impressive what manufacturers can cram into such a tiny space nowadays, if you see the 2 M.2 storage slots on that 7090 you just reviewed.
has there been any STH peeking at the Intel NUC P14E compute unit 11th to 12th gen upgradeable laptops?
if you haven’t been able to get a hold of any come April’s fiscal close, we could route some SKUs by you without any big hurry I am pretty sure that’s possible because this is a product that we think that we really want to help to survive which justifies pushing the boat out – apologies if out of order for suggestions like this here but it is just what it is nothing more.
I got one for a small esxi box, having issues with two NVMe drives. The 2nd will drop out of bios randomly.
Great review Patrick, thank you.
I’m very interested in fan noise, which you touched on.
Is it possible to adjust the fan profile in the BIOS?
Will it work with 2xM.2 SSDs and 2.5″ SATA SSD installed? Dell lists only configurations with 2 SSDs as supported, but I wonder if it based on thermal/power considerations or there are some chipset restrictions? Would be nice if you try it on practice (just got my 7090, but have no SSDs to try before buying).
Just picked up a 7090M for a client and it has a PCIe slot with an AMD RX640 GPU in place of the 2.5″ SATA option.
I by used 9020/3020/5070s and for the money you can’t get much better than these. My 5070 with i5 9500 w/ 16gb ddr4 and a 300mgb internet connection is as fast as anybody can ask for no matter what the user needs. The micros are slower even with i7 7th gen cpus. There more like a fast laptop speed.
1/12/23 I bought a 7090 new in March of 22. It is the worst POS I have ever bought from Dell. The 2nd video driver didn’t work so they replaced the motherboard. The HD loses data such as the server settings at random times. The new motherboard is jacked up too. So they are replacing that and the HD again. The Firewall settings keep getting dropped too. The 7090 is a LEMON !!
And I love the other 19 Dell computers I have bought over the last 15 years. Don’t buy this POS!