Dell responds on OptiPlex, Energy Star 4.0, and Vista

Yesterday, I wrote about Dell’s new OptiPlex systems, which are designed to meet the Energy Star 4.0 standards [PDF].

The thrust of my post was to explore whether or not it was possible to buy a desktops — from Dell or any other company — that would both meet ES 4.0 and would run Windows Vista effectively for the average business user.

Specific to Dell, I also wanted to know how a buyer could tell whether he or she had selected a configuration on the Dell site that met the Energy Star 4.0 criteria.

Dell spokesperson Jeremy Bolen was kind enough to offer a response to my post, which follows:

I just wanted to clarify a few things. First, customers can find Energy Star 4.0 systems by going to www.dell.com/energy — a site with

information about our energy initiatives — and through the regular OptiPlex online sites by clicking on Energy Star logo when you select either the OptiPlex 740 or 745.

There you will find systems that are fairly robust in configurability for commercial users. And, you’ll find that our systems are available with either Windows XP or Vista that are perfectly capable of running Ultimate with up to 4GB of RAM and optional 256MB video cards.

As you probably know, Energy Star 4.0 divides systems into three categories, basic, mainstream and power user scenarios that have different energy consumption requirements. Depending on how a customer configures their system, it will fall into one of those categories (more information on this can be found at www.energystar.gov).

We feel that our offerings are transparent and our teams worked countless hours to ensure that Dell OptiPlex systems meet Energy Star 4.0 guidelines.

First off, thank you, Jeremy, for the reply. I do have some points to make in response:

1. Going to the regular OptiPlex section of the Dell site, I see no mention of Energy Star 4.0 at all.

2. Going to the Dell Energy page you reference, and clicking around a bit, leads you to another place from which to customize and order one of these new OptiPlexes.

See, that is the stumbling point for me, and my questions remain:

1. What does “select configurations” mean? Is there someplace a user can find them?

2. Is it really possible to get one of these systems that is Energy Star 4.0-compliant yet still capable of running Vista — with Aero activated — while meeting the average business user’s needs?

3. How does a user know, once he or she has configured a system, that it is still Energy Star 4.0 compliant (i.e. that he or she has chosen a “select configuration”)?

I do want to stress that I applaud Dell for being among the PC vendors tackling energy efficiency. I like that the company is making 80-percent efficient power supplies standard in these systems.

But at the risk of sounding like a broken record, I still want to know if any company — not just Dell — is capable of doing what I’m talking about here: developing a desktop (not workstation, as defined by Energy Star) that can take adequate advantage of Vista? If so, I’ll be impressed. Given the system requirements of Microsoft newest desktop OS, I think the company has made it challenging for hardware vendors.

I also would urge PC vendors to make it crystal clear to buyers which configurations of their systems do meet Energy Star 4.0. It also would be cool if you could see how adding, changing, or removing components to a configuration affects a system’s energy consumption.