HP dc7600 Series - Convertible Minitower review

Compared to the Dell OptiPlex GX620 MT, HP's version is a rather sober-looking desktop PC, fronted with chunky plastic. It's also the largest of HP's business offerings, around the same size as a standard ATX case.

The comparisons with standard PCs end there though, as the Minitower is much quieter than most consumer systems and far easier to work on. Again, everything about the chassis is tool-less. A catch releases the side panel, and adding or removing a drive is no more involved than sliding it into the robust plastic holder. The only thing not to be held in with a clever mechanism is the variable-voltage PSU.

The advantage of this system is its expandability. There are two spare 5.25in external drive bays, one 3.5in external bay and another 3.5in internal. The full-height PCI slots are a plus, and the Minitower is the only machine here that can be configured as a graphics workstation. 1x and 16x PCI Express slots are joined by a pair of PCI slots, and there's an optional riser that adds more.

While most people won't need a machine that can be upgraded, or require workstation graphics cards or extra hard disks, the Minitower demonstrates the versatility of the range.

HP dc7600 Series

If IT managers had their way, every PC would be precisely the same. With each new configuration, the time it takes to update software, install new applications and keep Windows up to date increases exponentially.

In the real world, of course, a single configuration isn't practical - employees have vastly contrasting needs, and under- or over-specifying on expensive hardware is a great way to haemorrhage your budget. Fortunately, Intel has an answer to the problem in the form of its Stable Image Platform Program (SIPP). Based around a single core component - the Intel 945G chipset in this case - it can be used as a common foundation to build upon.

SPECIFICATIONS

There are no fewer than 23 configurations of HP's dc7600 available, with differences as significant as processor series and as small as the optical drive. The key advantage is that a single disk image will work on all of them, so deploying 40 PCs will be far less painless than needing to keep a dozen disk images available for different platforms. HP can install a custom disk image on a dc7600 for around £12 per unit.

The dc7600 range varies in size from the diminutive Ultra Slim Desktop to the full-size Convertible Minitower unit. Internally, they vary in specification from a 2.8GHz Celeron 336 to the high-end 3.2GHz Pentium 4 640, although other options may be available through your chosen reseller.

The Small Form Factor and Ultra Slim Desktop machines have an ATX-style motherboard, albeit with a corner 'cut off' to allow it to fit the smaller case, while the Convertible Minitower machine is more of a standard desktop unit, complete with a full-size ATX motherboard. Each machine has two 512MB sticks running in dual-channel mode for a total of 1GB of RAM - plenty for most tasks. The hard disks are SATA units with a standard capacity of 80GB. However, you can specify a larger disk if you want.

SUPPORT

The dc7600 range has a three-year worldwide on-site warranty. It's next-business-day to minimise potentially costly downtime, but note that telephone support is provided for the warranty period only. For in-house maintenance, however, each machine is virtually screw-free, so opening them up to replace or upgrade components is incredibly simple.

HP is also taking a commendable approach to the environment. Each of these machines is virtually lead-free (the hard disks and optical drives are exceptions), and depending on the quantities involved, HP will recycle your old PCs when you buy new ones (www.hp.co.uk).