Great Business Computer
Written: Aug 03 '01
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Pros: Inexpensive Workstation, Decent Feature Set
Cons: Not their fault, but it uses RDRAM
The Bottom Line: For the components they give you, the XUU800 is a great value. SCSI, dual processor capability, and that little LCD display...heavenly...
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| shushi's Full Review: HP Kayak XU800 |
With the P4's going mainstream, a lot of the PIII class computers can be had for cheap.
I picked up 2 XU800's for work, and so far they have surpassed my expectations (relative to price).
If you own a small business and are on a budget, I would highly recommend these. As a comparison, a decently equipped Dell 4100 ran only $100 less; the $100 price premium pays for dual processor capabilities, a SCSI 3 controller (for newbies, I will explain below the benefits) and drive, a better case design, and that little LCD status screen on the front of the case (doesn't really do much, but it looks cool). You also get the Matrox G400 dual monitor card, which does come in handy. You don't truly get to appreciate the benefit of two monitors until you actually have them in front of you.
As for SCSI drives: SCSI drives generally costs 50% to 100% more for the equivalent standard IDE drive; so getting them for roughly the same price is like getting a free supersize at McD's. The benefits can be seen when multiple users are accessing data from one hard drive, as there is virtually no slow-down. In my experience, SCSI drives also tend to last longer. This could easily be used as a low end server for a small biz.
Unfortunately, much the same as most other early PIII computer manufacturers, this machine uses the expensive RDRAM. This may become a cost issue when upgrading later on -- however it is pretty much the same with every other first generation PIII computer.
The case design incorporates three fans: one small one on the power supply, and two huge ones on the front and back of the case. This is always an added plus, possibly even extending the life of your computer and hard drives by cooling off the system better.
With everything added up, and factoring in the cost (I paid $1000 for a PIII 866 model and $1100 for a PIII 1 Ghz model), I would highly recommend these systems.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1100
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium III
Processor speed: 801-900
RAM: 256
Internal Storage: CD-ROM
Hard Drive (GB): 13-20
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shushi
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Reviews written: 11
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