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Hewlett-Packard is preparing to refresh several of its enterprise PC offerings with an emphasis on power efficiency and the latest processor technology from both Intel and Advanced Micro Devices.
At a show in New York City on Sept. 5, where the IT giant, of Palo Alto, Calif., plans to unveil a number of consumer and commercial PCs, HP will roll out an updated version of its enterprise Compaq dc 7000 series desktop and two additional workstations.
Within the PC business, HP remains the worlds top selling vendor, according to both IDC and Gartner. Although the company has mostly succeeded thanks to the continued demand for laptops and consumer products, HP has managed to increase its PC sales across the board.
When executives detailed the companys second quarter results, HPs notebook revenue increased 54 percent compared to the second quarter of 2007, while desktop revenue grew 12 percent year-over-year.
Even though most of the emphasis in the last few months has focused on its consumer products, HP is now jumping back into the enterprise space with an updated desktop model and two workstations. As it did early this year, HP is focused on price, new microprocessor technology and energy efficiency with its PCs.
The first of these PCs is the Compaq dc 7800, one of HPs high-end, enterprise desktop models. What makes this series different than other HP desktops is that the company plans on rolling out what it calls an ultra-slim model. The desktop measures 2.6-inches high, 9.9-inches wide and 10-inches deep, and looks to reduce the amount of space needed to deploy a fleet of desktops within an enterprise.
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By reducing the PC footprint, as well as providing an integrated stand and the companys QuickRelease bracket, HP hopes to offer a desktop that can better fit into cubicle space or in areas where space is a concern, such as kiosks, call centers and even bank branches, said Todd Kruse, an HP product marketing manager.
The new desktop also meets the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys new Energy Star 4.0 requirements, which started in July and call for 80 percent efficient power supplies and lower idle wattage ratings. This model, when running normal operations, uses between 55 and 100 watts, Kruse said.
The ultra-slim desktop, along with the small form factor and convertible minitower, will use the latest Intel Core 2 processors as well as the latest version of the chip makers vPro technology, which debuted in August. The desktop models also use Microsofts ReadyBoost technology, which is 1GB of flash memory that allows for applications to boot faster when used with the Windows Vista operating system.
All three use Intels Q35 Express chip set and the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100 graphics card.
The ultra-slim model offers two SODIMM (small outline dual in-line memory module) slots with a total of 4GB of memory. It also offers a hard disk drive than can expand from an 80GB capacity to a 160GB capacity. (The other two models that HP is introducing offer 8GB of memory and hard disk drive capacity of 250GB and 500GB.)
In addition, all three models offer a total of six USB 2.0 ports. The desktops are the first Intel-based models that offer dual monitor support, Kruse said.
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The starting price for the dc7800, depending on the specific configurations, is $695, according to an HP estimate. All three models are available starting Sept. 11.
Along with its desktop model, HP is introducing a pair of workstations at the same event. The HP xw4600 is the Intel-based model and the xw4550 uses AMDs dual-core Opteron processor.
In addition to using the dual-core Opteron 1000 series processors, which offers clock speeds ranging from 2.0GHz to 3.0GHz, the xw4550 offers an AMD 690G chip set with an ATI Radeon X1250 integrated graphics chip. The workstation also offers 2D and 3D graphics from Nvidia.
The AMD-based workstation offers 4 DIMM slots that can support up to 4GB DDR2 (dual-double rate 2) RAM. The PC also offer a pair of hard disk drives that each offers a maximum capacity of 500GB. The workstation also offers six storage bays, which allows the PC to simultaneously support 32-bit and 64-bit applications, along with a total of eight USB 2.0 ports.
The HP xw4600 offers customers the choice of several Intel processors, including Pentium dual-core, Core 2 Duo dual-core and Core 2 Quad quad-core models. There is also an option for the Core 2 Extreme quad-core QX6850 processors with a clock speed of 3.0GHz, a total of 8MB of L2 cache and a 133MHz FSB (front side bus). The workstation also supports an Intel X38 Express chip set and offers 2D and 3D graphics technology from both ATI and Nvidia.
The HP xw4600 offers four DIMM slots with a total of 8GB of DDR2 RAM along with a total of four hard disk drives that offer a maximum capacity of 2TB. There is also a total of 12 USB 2.0 ports.
The two workstations offer configurations that meet the 4.0 Energy Star requirements. The xw4550 model is available in Oct., while the xw4600 ships in Nov., according to HP. The HP xw4600 starts at $900, while the HP xw4550 starts at $800, according to the company.
The dc7800 desktop offers Windows Vista and XP, while the two workstations offer both Windows Vista and XP, along with an installer kit for Linux that becomes available in the first quarter of 2008.
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