REVIEW: Business Desktops from Dell and HP

DELL OPTIPLEX 745

The Dell OptiPlex line has been around for several years. They’re not really value-oriented like the HP machine, but when someone mentions a PC meant for business use, it’s the OptiPlex I think of. Though I try to do it without ending on a preposition.

The machines I was setting up cost just over $1700 and were housed in a sleek ultra-small case that fit just about anywhere. Each came with a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, a gig of RAM (we ordered that in a single DIMM so we can expand if we feel like it), a fast 160GB SATA hard disk and a 256MB dual-monitor-capable ATI video card. Got all that because this particular client bought these jobbies with Vista Business pre-installed. He’s not worried about software compatibility, since he’s one of the lucky few who isn’t dependent on some old package that won’t be Vista-ized for another year. He also got a nice lease deal via Dell’s small business leasing service and some nice 19-inch flat panels tossed in, too.

Our configurations were fairly basic since this is a small 5-person office. But the OptiPlex line is capable of things enterprise-class IT admins might be interested in, too. Dell has options for systems management and diagnostics in hardware, the ability to enable or disable Wake-on-LAN, and more. While purchasing, you can even ask for things like disabling games, Outlook Express or legacy communications applications–‘course, Vista Business takes care of that for you, but it’s a nice thought nonetheless.

The OptiPlex’s are also capable of both basic and advancec configurtions. The machines we purchased started at $950 (sans display), but can run over $2K if you add in things like second hard disks, upgraded optical drives and similar stuff. Dell also allows you to choose multiple partitions to be pre-installed on a single drive as well. It’s not the be-all/end-all of advanced configs, but it’s nice to be able to setup machines with that degree of tech details right off the Web customizer.

Dell has the ability to do custom software installations on your machines prior to deployment, but nobody offered that to us during our sales cycle–guess when you’re only buying 5 machines the more advanced stuff gets left in the background. Then again, they did have a good sales and leasing staff and we got what we ordered purty darn quick and with no screwups on delivery.

Performance, BTW, is great. I can’t run benchmarks since (a) it’s Vista and (b) these are client machines, not lab machines; but setup, Office installation, and some day-to-day-type use showed us these machines were quick enough to keep the rank and file happy even under Vista’s heavier hardware load. Then the guys started doing their dev work on the new machines and we didn’t hear a performance peep, either–that’s the acid test to me. Quiet users, happy Oliver. Overall, we likee. HP COMPAQ DX2200 Not as rosy a hardware picture as the Dell OptiPlex 745, HP’s dx2200 nevertheless deserves attention because (a) it’s not meant to compete with the 745, and (b) it’s way, way cheaper. Look up ‘value PC’ in the dictionary, you’ll find a picture of the dx2200 there.

My test unit came in an old-style tower case filled with mostly old-style hardware: A Pentium 4 3.0GHz CPU, 512MB of RAM, an 80GB SATA hard disk, a CD-RW/DVD-R combo optical drive and a 17-inch flat display. The OS was Window XP Pro, but that’s because they shipped this box back in late 2006. Today, HP adverts the dx2200 as being ‘Vista-capable’. However, I’m going on 8 months of living with Windows Vista on a variety of machines and you wouldn’t want to run it on the dx2200 configured this way. That’s not to say you can’t, but you’ll lose the fancy graphics eye candy.

But that weakness is really the box’s strength. This thing starts at $400. Ours was $539 as configured (and that includes the display). So I could have set up my client’s 5-man office with Windows XP-running dx2200s for the price of two Vista-running OptiPlex’s–with money left over for a new color laser printer and a Linksys small office switch. Not bad.

But not good enough for that particular client. Those guys are semi-techies running more than just email and MS Office. They’re not doing space shuttle simulations, but nevertheless, the hardware in the dx2200s simply wouldn’t have hacked it for these folks, which is where you really need to be careful with this particular machine. Power users, techies and similar workers aren’t meant for dx2200 hardware.

Then again, I’ve got a friend who owns an 15-person plumbing business. That’s six PCs in the office that need to be replaced because they’re seven year old and out of warranty. Those guys do email, scan eBay and Home Depot for equipment and job leads and run a hosted CRM application. Now that’s perfect for the dx2200.

And while the dx2200 isn’t going to have the OptiPlex’s advanced desktop management features, HP doesn’t skimp on back-end sales services. We got a good lease deal from Dell on the OptiPlex boxes even though we were only buying 5. But HP has SMB-oriented financing and leasing, too, as well as a good bundling option with their printer business.

All in all, I’d go with the Dell OptiPlex 745 over the HP Compaq dx2200 for most information workers. $400 hardware is, actually, just that, and it simply won’t cut it for anyone who has risen above an email and basic productivity level. But there are millions of business PC users who actually haven’t done that. And for them, especially their managers who don’t want to spend $2K for someone to check an electronic calendar, the dx2200 is perfect.