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New Workstation Technology
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 | | 1394 and USB 2.0 input-output is available on the front of the machine, as well as headphone and microphone jacks. |
But there's more to this machine than just the benchmarks. With its snappy graphics card and Gigabit Ethernet, it feels more responsive than any computer that has graced our Midwest Test Facility. Nice touches like the excellent HP keyboard with just the right feel (not too clickety-clackety, but not too mushy, either), the internal DVD+RW drive, and the case's tool-less chassis make this product easy to live with. Also adding to the high performance was the Maxtor ATA/100 7200RPM 80GB disk, which raced along to a sprightly 44MB/second read rate, writing at 45MB/second. Sheesh, I can remember when you couldn't get that kind of speed even with the fastest RAID array. I also was impressed with the quick boot-up time of this machine, which was ready to go in 50 seconds. Even better was its speed of shutting down, which on some machines can be frustratingly long -- the HP signs off in just 8 seconds.
Summing up, I was disappointed that this new 800MHz front-side bus technology didn't make a huge difference in the speed of the HP Workstation XW4100. But it did make a slight speed difference, and the machine is filled with quality components and is well-built. HP's excellent workstation now takes the crown as the fastest computer we've ever tested. At a price of only $2520 for all this power, it's a remarkable value. I really liked this piece of equipment and would highly recommend it for any content creation work. Strong buy!
HP Workstation XW4100
Price as tested: $2520
Pentium 4 C 3GHz
800MHZ FSB
Intel 875p chipset
1GB PC 2700 DDR-333 RAM (2- 512MB sticks)
Maximum RAM: 4GB
NVidia Quadro4 980 XGL, 128MB, (+$424 option)
Maxtor 80GB ATA/100 7200RPM
DVD+RW
Broadcom Gigabit Ethernet
Windows XP Professional SP1 (or choose Windows 2000)
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 Digital Media Net Executive Producer Charlie White has been writing about new media and digital video since it was the laughingstock of the television industry. A technology journalist and columnist since 1994, White is also an Emmy-winning producer, video editor, broadcast industry consultant and shot-calling television director who has worked in broadcasting since 1974. Talk back -- Send Chazz a note at cwhite@digitalmedianet.com.
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