Pros & Cons
HP Compaq Business Desktop dx2000 Specs
| Graphics Card: | Intel Extreme Graphics 2 |
| Monitor Type: | LCD |
| Native Resolution: | 1280 x 1024 |
| Operating System: | Microsoft Windows XP Professional |
| Primary Optical Drive: | DVD-ROM/CD-RW |
| Processor Family: | Intel 5 Series (Pentium 4) |
| RAM: | 512 MB |
| Screen Size: | 15 inches |
| Secondary Optical Drive: | None |
| Storage Capacity (as Tested): | 40 GB |
| Type: | Business |
Company:
Hewlett-Packard Co., www.hp.com
Price:
$1,298 direct
Spec Data:
3.0-GHz Intel Pentium 4 with SSE3 (Prescott), 512MB DDR400 SDRAM, Intel Integrated Extreme Graphics 2, CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive, 40GB hard drive, 15-inch LCD monitor, six USB 2.0 ports, integrated sound card, Microsoft Windows XP Professional.
Pros:
Aggressive price. Prescott-based Pentium 4 delivers solid performance.
Cons:
The 40GB drive means that your workers won't have space to store frivolous MP3s and video files, but that amount is too limiting if this is your sole machine. The integrated graphics solution is not upgradable.
Bottom Line:
All work, no play.
Review
The HP Compaq Business Desktop dx2000 looks the part of a business desktop: Its stark front panel and dark gray exterior surround a...
HP Compaq Business Desktop dx2000
The HP Compaq Business Desktop dx2000 looks the part of a business desktop: Its stark front panel and dark gray exterior surround a system that's all business. This is not a machine for a home that needs to share business and home duties; rather, this is a system to give your employees so they can get some work done. HP bundles its L1530 15-inch LCD monitor with the dx2000, which is a good choice for working on business documents: With Windows' ClearType technology, letters look crisp on the LCD display. The speakers built into the monitor work fine for business beeps and sounds, though they're tinny for listening to music. And note that the Dell Dimension 4600 comes with a 17-inch panel for about the same price.
The lack of an AGP port could be a plus in a business system, since it saves a little money and prevents users from installing AGP graphics cards to play games. But it also means that you can't upgrade your graphics should the work you do become more graphics-dependent.
While the dx2000 "only" comes with a 40GB hard drive, that's plenty for Windows XP, e-mail, and Microsoft Office. With 40GB, workers will be less tempted to load up the hard drive with space-hogging MP3 and video files. Caveat: If your business involves editing videos or other multimedia files, configure your system with a larger hard drive.
The DX2000 was the second-highest performer in our roundup, only a few tenths of a point behind the Velocity Micro on our Winstone tests. Thanks to its state-of-the-art "Prescott" Pentium 4 processor, the DX2000 is well positioned to last for years of use.
Compared with its competitors, the dx2000's preinstalled programs are pretty basic: Windows XP Pro and Microsoft Works 7.0 (the one without Word). Depending on your perspective, that could also be a plus, since there are fewer programs taking up hard drive space. And HP does include several useful extras on a CD, which you can install if you need them. One that we recommend you install is Retrospect Express, a backup program that can be set to back up to the DVD/CD-RW combo drive automatically. Combo drives can't write to DVDs, but they can burn CD-Rs or CD-RWs. If you work with regular business documents like word processing, presentation, and spreadsheets, a CD-R should be enough to back up your active documents. Still, we would upgrade to a DVD burner if this was the machine you run your business on.
While the dx2000 may seem unusually Spartan to those who are used to bigger, more advanced components, its practically bare-bones setup ensures that what gets done is strictly business. And that's good for anyone's bottom line.
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