Slowly, but surely, Windows 8 and touch screens are making it to business desktops. The HP EliteOne 800 ($2,173 direct) is one of the latest, and it's definitely a move in the right direction. It solves many of the problems that IT managers had with all-in-one desktops, and its speed will wow your workers. It's got the stuff to claw its way in as our next Editors' Choice for all-in-one business desktops, and here's why.
Design and Features
The EliteOne 800 is a high-end business all-in-one desktop, and the system certainly looks the part. It is corporate black, not consumer silver, so it will fit in among your firm's corporate-style monitors and desktop PCs. The 23-inch 1,920-by-1,080 resolution IPS display dominates the design, and the edge-to-edge glass shows that the system has a 10-point touch screen built in. The system can be equipped with a $99 articulated arm and stand can be adjusted for tilt, height, and pivot into portrait mode. That way you can adjust the system to be comfortable for virtually any sitting or standing position, plus it works well if you work on vertically oriented data (like Websites and news page layout). This is an improvement over the stand on our current Editors' Choice for business systems, the Dell Optiplex 9010 AIO ($2,592), which tilts and has a height adjustment, but doesn't pivot.
Above the screen there is a 2-megapixel webcam, which is optimized for Microsoft's Lync video conferencing system. You can order the EliteOne 800 without one, but if your business has specific privacy concerns then your user can close a manual shutter over the camera for privacy. There is also a manual shutoff for the system's built-in microphone in the row of touch sensitive buttons below the screen. The EliteOne 800 we reviewed came with a top-end Intel Core i7-4770S processor, 8GB of memory, 2GB AMD Radeon HD 7650A discrete graphics, DVD burner, and a 256GB solid-state drive (SSD). This review system is configured with faster components than the base EliteOne 800 with touch screen that goes for $1,299. The EliteOne 800 we reviewed comes with a Windows 8 Pro license, which allows you or your IT folks to downgrade to Windows 7 Professional instead. This is a good fit for the mixed office or development department, where you may be running both operating systems in the same location.
The EliteOne 800 is well connected, with Gigabit Ethernet and 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi networking. The system can be connected with plenty of peripherals like hard drives via the six USB 3.0 ports. Other I/O ports include a DisplayPort (for external multi-monitor support), a serial port (for older peripherals like cash register drawers), audio, and a pair of PS/2 ports in case your business still uses PS/2 mice and keyboards. The system we reviewed came with a HP wireless keyboard and mouse set with a USB dongle.
The front panel has a NFC (near-field communications) sensor, in case your business is starting to roll out NFC-enabled devices like smartphones or access cards. The back panel of the system is particularly IT friendly, since it lifts off after pushing a pair of simple switches. The back panel can be locked with a Kensington-compatible lock, which also keeps the system from walking away from users' desks. Once inside, IT service personnel can swap out hard drives, memory, and the optical drive. The stand can be removed so the EliteOne 800 can be mounted with a VESA mount on a wall or on an arm. Particularly determined techs can also install mini PCIe cards in the free slot. Upgrades to the processor or AMD Radeon MXM graphics card are best left to a service depot. The system comes with a standard three-year warranty.
Performance
The EliteOne 800's SSD and Intel Core i7-4770S processor combine to give the system excellent performance at the day-to-day PCMark 7 test. It beat out systems with the previous high end Core i7-3770S like the Lenovo ThinkCentre M92z and was in a dead heat with the Dell XPS 27 all-in-one Touch (2720), which has the same processor as the EliteOne 800. The Dell XPS 27 had better 3D performance on account of its consumer/enthusiast graphics card, but the rest of the benchmark tests were comparable. The EliteOne 800 edged out the Dell Optiplex 9010 AIO, and was also competitive with the Apple iMac 27-inch (Intel Core i5-4670) on the multimedia benchmark tests.
The HP EliteOne 800 bests the previous Editors' Choice Dell Optiplex 9010 AIO in terms of features (IT friendliness, SSD capacity, discrete graphics, NFC) and in speed. It fits in to the corporate look, rather than standing out like a consumer-grade system would. It's fast, serviceable, and works as a Windows 8 touch system or as a Windows 7 Pro system if your organization isn't ready for Win8 yet. That's the recipe for our latest Editors' Choice for business all-in-one desktops.
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