Dell on Thursday marked the low-key launch of a new round of tower desktops all aimed at SoHo or just desktop buyers hoping to get better support. The Vostro 420 mid-tower is the company's performance option and comes with many of the better options normally reserved for faster Inspiron systems, including the choice of up to a 2.83GHz Core 2 Quad for the processor, a 512MB GeForce 8800 GT for video and Blu-ray burners for movies and storage. Extra space in the chassis also allows for dual optical drives and up to four hard drives.

A starter 420 model sits at $549 and comes with a 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo, 1GB of RAM, an 80GB hard drive and a read-only DVD drive, but also makes a 256MB Radeon HD 3450 standard.

Following the pattern of most Dell desktop launches, the Vostro 220 and its slimline 220s have also been launched and focus more on the entry-level side with two hard drive bays, one optical drive, and more limited media options like a Radeon HD 3650 and a Blu-ray combo drive. A stock 220 costs just $319 with a 1.8GHz Celeron and GMA X4500 integrated video but is otherwise similar to the Vostro 420. The 220s boosts the minimum price to $379 but does so while upgrading to a 2GHz Pentium dual-core.

All three models should start shipping in late October.