Desktop Computers for Business Basics - The HP Compaq dc5800 Review

Desktop Computers for Business Basics - The HP Compaq dc5800

While the dc5850 (reviewed earlier) does a decent job of fitting all that you need into its minitower, as well as leaving ample room for further improvement and expanding, I was a little disappointed when reviewing to its little cousin, the dc5800. While you would expect a little more power and speed from the dual core P4 that is included in this kit, desktop computers with the AMD processor did not take much of a performance hit when compared to this configuration. The difference between these kissing cousins is not really related to performance boosting, but mainly consists of a few parts being swapped out for others, for better or worse. It seems to be a pretty even give and take. I like the fact that the 5800 offers 160 GB (some now ship with 250GB) of hard drive space as compared to the 5850, but that is where I seemed to loose my enthusiasm. The Intel Pentium family of chips has always been reliable, and dual core duos have been no different, but the choice of Intel graphics chips and CPU choice over AMD and ATI seems to have made little difference in performance scores, when you factor in that it separates the cost of these two closely related PC by almost $200.

The performance of the HP Compaq dc5800 is not sub par, in fact it performs quite well. If it were not for HP outdoing itself, when compared to the competition, very few desktop PCs with the same price tag and intended consumer audience can even come close. With plenty of room to expand on its current features, this desktop business PC is destined to be a winner in the office, allowing for successive upgrades of the years, ans reliable use for almost any business related task. While many competitors are focusing on trying to get as much as they can into as little space as possible, I would have to conclude that HP is doing themselves a favor by sticking to what they know works, creating a desktop computer for business use that not only performs well today, but has ample capability to keep up with the latest technology through expansion tomorrow.

If you are in the market for desktop computers for business use, then the dc5800 is a well rounded utility machine with a bright future. If you intend on buying several boxes, or saving a little cash is a top priority, then I would opt for its closest cousin the dc5850, and save your self a few hundred dollars on each one you buy.

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