Don’t worry worker bees, your office computer could be getting some Intel Haswell love soon. HP just announced it’s upgrading both lines of enterprise-ready Series 800 EliteOne all-in-ones and EliteDesktop desktops, as well as Series 600 ProOnes AiOs and ProDesk towers, to the next-generation Intel chip. This follows last week’s flurry of news that new HP laptops, all-in-ones, and desktops for consumers will be refreshed with the latest generation of processors from both AMD and Intel.
Both the Elite and Pro series of business computers are designed to free up some valuable desk space for working; in fact, the EliteOne and ProOne AiOs can be mounted on walls with HP’s VESA mounting kit. They can also be preloaded with any operating system from Linux for Enterprise (Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11) to Windows 8 Pro. Large enterprises should be more interested in the Elite line as it supports Intel vPro, which means sensitive company data and access to networks can be managed remotely, and is eligible for Elite Premium tech support. Pro products, on the other hand, are more budget-friendly but not available in as many form factors as the Elite ones.
EliteOne 800 All-in-One
The EliteOne 800 all-in-one (pictured right) has a 23-inch IPS widescreen WLED dislay that is available in both non-touch and touchscreen flavors. As mentioned, the entire machine can be mounted on a wall rather than take up desk space, so it’s a particularly good choice for tiny offices or even restaurants that want to offer customers an interactive menu to place their orders. Powering that large screen is the fourth-gen Intel Core i5 or i7 processor. The EliteOne 800 can be configured with up to 16GB RAM, a 1TB solid-state hybrid drive, a combo DVD and Blu-ray drive, as well as with the option to add AMD Radeon HD 7650A discrete graphics.
In addition to using a new processor, the EliteOne AiO also supports the new Gigabit Wi-Fi protocol 802.11 AC, and can come with a built-in NFC chip for simple file sharing (like on smartphones) or user authentication. The base model of the non-touch EliteOne 800 starts at $1,100, or $1,300 for the AiO with touchscreen.
EliteDesk 800 G1 Series: Tower, Small Form Factor, and Ultra-slim Desktop
Depending on the desk space available, you can squeeze everything inside the EliteOne 800 all-in-one, into one of the three EliteDesk desktops from HP – minus the 23-inch screen and webcam, of course. The Tower is better suited to a big office that needs the extra computer power, the Small Form Factor can fit both under and on top of the desk, and the Ultra-slim Desktop design can even be tucked behind the monitor. Four USB ports (two USB 2.0s and two USB 3.0s), and audio and microphone jacks are conveniently located on the front panel to make it easy to plug in your smartphone and headset, while six more USB ports and other connectors like the Ethernet jack and DisplayPort are accessible from the back.
Like the EliteOne, all three desktops use the same Haswell Core i5 or i7 processor (Intel Q87 chipset), support Gigabit Wi-Fi, can include a combo DVD and Blu-ray drive, can have up to a 500GB hard drive, but has no option to add a NFC chip like with the all-in-one. The advantage of the bulkier boxes is that they can pack more components inside. For example, both the Small Form Factor and Tower offer four slots for RAM, which means they can fit up to 32GB RAM. The UltraSlim, on the other hand, maxes out at 16GB RAM and only has two slots for expansion.
According to HP’s press release, the base model of the EliteDesk 800 desktop has a starting sticker price of $815 (but didn’t specify the form factor).
ProOne 600 All-in-One
Unlike its big brother the EliteOne 800, the ProOne 600 all-in-one (pictured left) has a smaller 21.5-inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution IPS display that doesn’t recognize touch controls – and there’s no option for a touch model. The smaller display probably helps keep the starting price of the entry model ProOne $100 less than the EliteOne. Beyond the difference in screen size, the two AiOs share pretty much the same parts. They’re available with the same Haswell Core i5 or i7 chip, up to 16GB RAM, up to 1TB solid-state hybrid drive, NFC, Gigabit Wi-Fi, and have the option for the same discrete graphics processor from AMD (AMD Radeon HD 7650A). The base configuration of the ProOne 600 starts at $1,000.
ProDesk 600 G1 Series Desktop PCs: Tower and Small Form Factor
With a starting price tag of $760 (though HP once again did not specify which box this price refers to), the ProDesk 600 desktops are only available as a full-sized Tower or as a mini-PC Small Form Factor. Although they use a slightly different Intel chipset than the EliteDesk 800, the ProDesk 600 desktops are still powered by the fourth-gen Haswell processor (Intel Q85 chipset), up to 32GB of RAM (thanks to its 4 slots), up to 500GB hard drive, Gigabit Wi-Fi, and option for up to the NVIDIA GeForce GT630 discrete graphics for the Tower. With the ProOne 600 desktop, you even get the same convenient case design as the EliteDesk, where the ports you need most – USB, microphone and audio jacks – are facing you instead of being all crammed together in the back.
HP didn’t give us exact dates for availability, but the company did tell us June, so we should be seeing these new PCs within the next few weeks.
