[June 2023] I spotted one of these on ebay selling cheap / spares or repairs due to something being loose inside.

I took a gamble on it and the loose thing inside turned out to be the hard drive which wasn't screwed in. In fact the case was missing its screw also - someone had evidently been inside the thing for some reason.

The system was sold to me with no power supply and a noticeable crack in the outer casing. Fortunately the system runs from a standard Dell laptop power supply that I have and I was able to snap the casing back into alignment; it's not perfect, but it could have been worse. The translucent layer is just an outer sleeve that the machine slips into and in the picture above the system had been inserted upside down. The Dell logo on either side lights up when the system is switched on, although it's pretty subtle in daylight.

With the outer layer removed half of the inner case is another cover to be removed to reveal the innards.

There are a couple of slots that are void of any expansions cards, labelled WLAN (for a Wi-Fi card) and BD. From a quick search online this latter one is supposedly for a "Broadcom decoder card for blu ray".

Powering on for the first time revealed a Windows 7 Pro install, even though the Windows COA label is for Vista Ultimate. After removing the previous user's password (thank you Hirens) I was able to log in; not much to find though except for an old install of Adobe Photoshop.

My system has 4GB RAM which I would consider adequate for anything up to Windows 11, but I have found an image online showing 8GB installed. The onboard graphics is going to be a limiting factor regarding performance. I could replace the 2.5" 160GB hard drive with an SSD and install Windows 10/11. Or I might revert back to its original Vista, or leave it on Windows 7 (32-bit). Or one could switch it over to Linux...

Possible upgrade...

The processor is an Intel Core2 Duo.

One thing missing is the stand. These appear to be hard to find so I might either make one out of 3/4" plywood, or affix some rubber feet and use the system in its horizontal orientation.

The original stand... I can see how these (or parts of them) would become lost.

Originally these systems could be purchased as a kit, with keyboard, mouse, and speakers.

I can see some design continuity between the aesthetics of the case and the keyboard (the latter has a glossy panel across the top edge and some round quick-access buttons that mimic the system's power button).

The front of the system sports two USB sockets and an SD Card slot; with the addition of photoshop on my system I think this might make a good photo backup system.

On the rear there are a few USB sockets, audio ports, and video out via HDMI, DVI, or VGA (via an adapter).

Overall I like the variety of colours that were originally available and the the aesthetics that hark back to the Y2K era, even if these systems were late to the game in 2008/2009.

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