Dell Pushes Energy Efficient PCs

The PC manufacturer's latest desktops are Energy Star 4.0 compliant, and more are on the way.

Ten years ago, when PC makers battled for the most megahertz, it was almost inconceivable that energy efficiency would ever sell a computer. Speed was the order of the day, and it wasn’t of any concern how much electricity it took to get there. Times have changed, though, and now that clock speeds have hit a wall, manufacturers and consumers are starting to pay attention to how much wattage their boxes actually suck up. Dell is getting in the game with two new corporate desktops that meet the stringent Energy Star 4.0 standards for efficiency.

The OptiPlex 745 and 740 come with power supplies that Dell claims are 80 percent efficient in their power conversion. When combined with LCD displays and tight power management settings, the new computers are supposed to be 77 percent more efficient than previous generations of OptiPlexes (an OptiPlex GX620 with a CRT monitor was used in the comparison).

"Dell is committed to delivering the most energy-efficient products in the industry and we see Energy Star 4.0 as a new minimum requirement," said Margaret Franco, director, Dell Product Group, in a statement. “Our mission is to deliver the most energy efficient products, along with software and power management tools. This combination, which we call Dell Energy Smart, is where we will help customers cut energy consumption and save millions per year in their overall computing environments.”

To round out their offerings of energy efficient products, Dell will also offer Precision workstations that meet the newest Energy Star requirements in the coming weeks, and the D830, D630 and D531 notebooks can already be configured to comply. The company also offers an online calculator that lets consumers select a Dell product and assess its energy consumption based on usage.