HP Compaq Business Desktop D530

HP has committed to deliver the same spec for up to 15 months following introduction of all its its business desktop products, including the newest member of the Compaq Business Desktop family, the ultra-slim d530. Add in a common software image across all implementations of the d530, bundled management tools and a three-year on-site warranty and you have a solution tailor made for ease of deployment on enterprise networks. The d530 also features HP's Protect Tools Embedded Security chip which will be of interest to organisations looking to protect network resources using PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) and VPN (Virtual Private Network) technologies.

Also available in mini-tower and standard desktop formats, another of the attractions of the ultra-slim d530 is its size. The main processing unit is like a rather thick notebook which can stand upright alongside the monitor, flat on the desk or mounted underneath. There are no legacy interfaces, just four USB ports at the back plus network, video and audio connectors. Two more USB ports are on the front and the audio connectors are duplicated here.

There's no floppy disk drive - you get a lockable, notebook style, Multibay slot which can take a range of CD-Rom and DVD devices. Alternatively you can specify the d530 with no optical drive at all, although an internal hard disk is required. The only option is for ATA/100 devices and there's a choice of capacity from 40GB to 160GB.

The compact HP motherboard can be equipped with a range of Celeron and Pentium 4 processors with 400, 533 and 800MHz front-side bus (FSB) support. Up to 2GB of DDR memory can also be specified in two Dimm slots, while just about everything else you need in a business PC is integrated onto the motherboard, including a Broadcom Gigabit Ethernet interface.

Video too is handled by an onboard controller, an Intel 865G chipset, which includes an Intel Extreme 2 graphics controller. The Intel silicon falls short of providing the kind of accelerated 2D/3D facilities required of Cad and other video-intensive apps. However, it's more than good enough for desktop productivity tools such as Microsoft's Office, and there's a PCI expansion slot so you can add an Nvidia Quadro4 adaptor. Our review PC came without a monitor, but there's a choice of conventional CRT and flat-screen displays.

Other features include physical security points, power-on and setup passwords. There's intrusion detection, and Wake-on-Lan support, plus Bios settings can be saved to disk. There's full support for PXE (the Pre-boot Execution Environment) to allow for remote network booting. HP's Insight Manager and Altiris management client are pre-installed and the system ships with a 30-day evaluation copy of the Altiris Express desktop deployment and management tool.

HP's Protect Tools Embedded Security chip was developed by HP and Infineon. Unique to each system, this operates independently of other system components and uses a root key in the silicon to enhance OS file and folder encryption. It also integrates with popular email applications such as Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes, to help with message encryption.

With its far from state-of-the-art specification and limited expansion facilities, you wouldn't buy the d530 as a power workstation. However, it is a very good business workhorse. All the basics are there and it will appeal particularly to organisations looking for a desktop for large-scale rollout. Plus it's important not to underestimate the value of the HP support package and its commitment to the stability of the product, all of which serve to commend it to enterprise customers.

Contact: HP 0845 270 4222
www.hp.com

Specifications:

• 2.6GHz Pentium 4 processor
• 256MB DDR PC2100 Ram
• 40GB ATA/100, 7,200rpm hard disk
• Integrated Broadcom Netxtreme Gigabit Ethernet interface
• Integrated Intel Extreme 2 graphics controller
• Multibay for optional optical storage device
• Single PCI expansion slot
• Windows XP Pro pre-installed