HP Vectra VL420 PA5765A review

AMD may have made a dent in the consumer market - with even big players like NEC, Compaq and HP utilising its services - but the cruel hand of history and tradition is still manifesting itself in business machines. For now, at least, business continues as an Intel-only camp. Perceived stability rather than outright speed is a higher priority though, and when machines like HP's new Vectra VL420 PA5765A come with a 2GHz Pentium 4 and 256Mb of RAM, you're still getting a very fast PC.

This was soon borne out in our benchmarks, and with an overall 2D score of 3.96 the Vectra is the fastest SDRAM-based Pentium 4 system we've seen. This is still a fair way from the RDRAM-based Dell Dimension 8200's 4.67 (see Reviews, issue 85, p144), but it offers a cost-effective solution without losing out on the essential areas of performance. Even 3D performance is kept respectable, with 3DMark2000 and 3DMark2001 returning scores of 3,393 and 2,331 respectively at 1,024 x 768 in 32-bit colour.

A GeForce2 MX graphics card handles this, but its main purpose isn't 3D rendering. The reasoning behind its inclusion is the secondary DVI output on its backplate, and HP is planning to pair this up with its 15in L1520 DVI flat panel to get the cleanest display possible. This will cost an extra £329, but is well worth considering if you can afford the luxury, offering a gorgeously bright and crystal-clear picture at its native XGA resolution.

The Vectra costs £760 without a monitor, which doesn't look particularly good value for money when compared to cheaper, faster and fully featured machines like the Systemax A1500JP (see Reviews, issue 87, p152). However, HP has put a lot of work into security and support to justify its asking price. HP's TopTools software provides advanced password administration, control over booting options as well as remote and central inventory management. Meanwhile, e-diagtools provides Web-enabled hardware troubleshooting and pre-boot hardware diagnostics, so a diagnosis can be made even if the machine fails to boot. Lastly, HP's Instant Support provides online solutions to any issues such as driver fixes. This means that, while the supplied three-year next-business-day on-site warranty is there if you need it, you can reduce waiting and system downtime by sorting out the problems yourself.

The best thing about the Vectra, however, is its design. Unlike many proprietary corporate machines, HP has opted for a standard microATX form factor, which in this case utilises an Asus P4B-MX motherboard. This provides a reasonable upgrade path, with three full-height PCI slots and the chance to upgrade your graphics card with a full-height AGP slot. There's also a spare DIMM socket on the motherboard, which supports up to 1.5Gb of SDRAM.

Even accessing the insides is made easy - just lift up the back handle and pull off the top. All the essential drives are already inside - a 20.5Gb IBM Deskstar 60GXP hard disk and an HP CD-RW that can write CDs at up to 16-speed, but there's space for another 3.5in internal drive and a second 5.25in front-opening drive, so you could add a DVD-ROM easily. All the legacy functionality is also left intact, including a floppy drive, two serial ports, two PS/2 ports and a parallel port, combining the latest technology with upgradability and backward compatibility. The ports are rounded off with four USB ports, two of which are handily front-mounted, and an RJ-45 connector for the integrated Intel PRO/100 VE Ethernet adaptor.