Product Reviews

HP Compaq dc7600 Ultra-slim

Desktop

Summary: Hidden in a small ultra- slim case, this computer system has the same power as larger systems and wins our Best In Class Award for value, power and compactness.

The ultra-slim version is great for those cases where you don’t have a lot of room to spare.

Price: $1242

The HP Compaq dc7600 series of computers are a group of customizable computers systems with

an affordable price and the power to be an excellent workstation in the office environment as well as at home. In our case, we received the ultra-slim desktop unit to test and give this system our Best In Class Award for value, power and compactness.

Although this particular model is available as a tower or a larger desktop, the ultra-slim version is great for those cases where you don’t have a lot of room to spare. Still offering the same computing muscle as its counterparts, this version is just a bit larger than a notebook although you will still need to purchase a monitor. With a 3.4GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor, 1MB Level

2 cache RAM and 512MB of DDR2 SDRAM the sys-

tem’s performance

was rather impressive. Add to that a fast SATA 80GB hard drive and the data processing performance was above average for computers with this combi- nation.

Our system had an integrated Intel Media Accelerator 950 graphics card, however with the company’s web site configuration program you can choose between two faster NVIDIA cards and a

DVI adapter which will

really complement the HP Compaq dc7600. The system uses a multibay for some peripheral items such as our 8X/24X DVD-ROM. As more offices are going with a faster Gigabit network, the computer has an integrated Broadcom 10/100/1000BaseT Ethernet port with options for a wireless hookup if you need it. Other peripheral devices can be attached through a FireWire interface and we really do appreciate HP

Compaq’s normal six high speed USB ports available with the computer.

The dc7600 ships with Windows XP Professional, although you can save a few dollars by going with the Home version. If you prefer a Linux based system, HP offers this computer with the HP

Compaq dc7600 Alternate OS called F r e e D O S . Productivity software isn’t included with the

base system but the configuration program gives you a wide selection of packages that can be installed on the shipped system.

When you need the computing power for business applications in a work environ-

ment, the Hewlett Packard Compaq dc7600 system offers great space savings and excellent performance. This particular computer is priced on the company’s web site for around $1240. To find out more details or

price a system just right for your needs, visit the site at www.hp.com.

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