Why Buy a Business PC?

Most business PC’s won’t win any “best gaming PC” awards, but are powerful enough to handle having more than a few applications open at one time. For the sake of simplicity, we’ve divided business PC users into three categories, based on their needs and usage: Typical, Advanced, and Expert. We’ll define their usage patterns and needs, and highlight some of the hardware needed to help them complete their jobs.

For the Typical PC Users

Typically spends most of their time with emails, managing contacts and appointments, doing word processing, and even some light number crunching. They don’t need a heavy-lifting PC, but they need something more than economy or bargain basement class in terms of power and storage. Make it easier for your employees to do their jobs: Don’t make them squint at a tiny screen, and make sure they can transfer files to and fro with a flash drive, CDs, DVDs, and over the network.

For the Advanced PC Users

These are the experienced semi-pros of the office, often tasked with doing research, writing a little code, crunching account data, or editing proposals. This type of user needs more power for multitasking and more space for storage.

Expert PC Users

This is your IT guy, programmer or graphic designer who needs a lot of PC muscle. He may or may not have that condescending, derisive tone when he describes how to edit that graphic, or how he sanitized the database inputs. This could be someone you rely on to make your marketing material, design and code your website, or create a help system for your software, and they need a heavy-hitter of a system: something with a lot of memory and processing power, lots more storage, and in some cases, dual monitor support.

We haven’t covered every scenario, but this is a starting point to get you thinking about what kind of users you have, and what kind of business PC’s they’ll need when buying time rolls around.

In this site, you'll find articles on buying economy computers, news stories and comprehensive reviews on business PCs that will help you make an informed decision on which desktop is right for you. At TopTenREVIEWS - We do the research so you don't have to™.

 

What to Look for in a Business PC

Typical PC User

These computers should have at least:

  • 512 MB of RAM, with the capacity for upgrades
  • A 1.5 GHz processor, or CPU, but preferably 2 GHz
  • 80 GB of hard drive space
  • 17” LCD monitor
  • CD/DVD burner and frontal USB ports to move your presentations via CD, DVD, or flash drive

Advanced PC User

More power is necessary here. With multiple browser windows, spreadsheets, word documents, and maybe some graphics editing going on here, don’t make this person wait for their computer to think. A good baseline is:

  • 1-2 GB of RAM, again with upgrade capacity
  • 2-3 GHz processor
  • 120 GB of hard drive space
  • 19” LCD monitor
  • CD/DVD burner
  • Consider an extra hard drive, internal or external, for backups

Expert PC User

They might not go out and get new accounts, or sell your products to the masses, but these people keep your servers running, your websites up-to-date and flashy, and your data secure. See to it they can get their jobs done with the right systems. Start with:

  • 3 GB of RAM, always with the capacity for more
  • Either an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.x GHz, or an AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3.0 GHz Dual-Core
  • 2 or more internal hard drives, mirrored for fault tolerance, and an external for further backups
  • 21” Wide-screen LCD monitor, or two 19” LCD monitors (make sure the video card will support two monitors!)
  • Speaking of video cards, if this person is rendering illustrations or 3D animations, make sure the card has at least 256 MB of RAM
  • CD/DVD burner
 
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Business Computer Review

Workstation or Workhorse?

Today’s business computers allow the simultaneous operation of a variety of applications, making businesses more productive than ever before. Let us be your guide in the quest for the perfect PC for your business needs.

Rank #1#2#3#4#5#6#7#8#9#10
Excellent score   Excellent
Very good score   Very Good
Good score   Good
Fair score   Fair
Poor score   Poor
Dell OptiPlex 960 Dell OptiPlex 760 HP Compaq DC5850 Dell OptiPlex 780 Dell Precision T3400 Dell Precision T3500 Dell Precision T5500 Dell Vostro 220 HP Compaq DC7800 HP Workstation XW6400
Dell OptiPlex 960 Dell OptiPlex 760 HP Compaq DC5850 Dell OptiPlex 780 Dell Precision T3400 Dell Precision T3500 Dell Precision T5500 Dell Vostro 220 HP Compaq DC7800 HP Workstation XW6400
Reviewer Comments Read Review
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Lowest Price Buy Dell OptiPlex 960
$635.00
Buy Dell OptiPlex 760 760
$428.00
N/A Buy Dell OptiPlex 780 780
$544.00
Buy Dell Precision T3400 T3400
$769.00
Buy Dell Precision T3500 T3500
$769.00
Buy Dell Precision T5500 T5500
$1,296.00
Buy Dell Vostro 220 220
$299.00
HP Compaq DC7800 RU011UT#ABA
FREE
N/A
 
Overall Rating Excellent Excellent Very Good Very Good Very Good Very Good Very Good Very Good Very Good Very Good
Ratings
Features Excellent Excellent Very Good Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Very Good Very Good
Expert Reviews Very Good Very Good Excellent Poor Poor Poor Poor Poor Very Good Very Good
User Reviews Poor Poor Excellent Poor Poor Poor Poor Poor Excellent Excellent
View Specifications Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!
View Screenshots           
Features
Memory 2 GB 2 GB 2 GB 2 GB 2 GB 3 GB 4 GB 2 GB 2 GB 4 GB
Processor Intel Core 2 Duo Intel Core 2 Duo 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Intel Core 2 Duo Intel Core 2 Duo Intel Core 2 Duo Intel Core 2 Duo 2.66 GHz 2.66 GHz
64 Bit Processor Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark    
Hard Drive 250 GB 160 GB 160 GB 160 GB 320 BG 320 BG 250 GB 250 GB 500 GB 73 GB
Warranty 3 Years 3 Years 1 Year 3 Years 3 Years 3 Years 3 Years 1 Year 3 Years 3 Years
Audio Integrated Integrated Integrated Integrated Integrated Integrated Integrated Integrated Integrated Integrated
Operating System Windows 7 Pro Windows 7 Pro Windows Vista Business Windows 7 Pro Windows 7 Pro Windows 7 Pro Windows 7 Pro Windows 7 Pro - Windows XP Pro
Optical Drive DVD+RW DVD+RW DVD-ROM - Serial ATA DVD+RW DVD+RW DVD+RW DVD+RW DVD+RW DVD+RW DL DVD-ROM
Depth 16.9 in 17.0 in   17.0 in 18.4 in 18.4 in 18.4 in 16.8 in 17.8 in 17.3 in
Height 16.1 in 16.1 in   16.1 in 17.6in 17.6in 17.6in 13.9 in 17.6 in 17.4 in
Network Check Mark Check Mark   Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Weight 25.3 lbs 27.2 lbs   27.2 lbs 39.0 lbs 39.0 lbs 39.0 lbs 22.0 lbs 26.2 lbs 32.2 lbs
Width 7.3 in 7.4 in   7.4 in 6.8 in 6.8 in 6.8 in 6.6 in 7 in 6.5 in
 
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Lowest Price Buy Dell OptiPlex 960
$635.00
Buy Dell OptiPlex 760 760
$428.00
N/A Buy Dell OptiPlex 780 780
$544.00
Buy Dell Precision T3400 T3400
$769.00
Buy Dell Precision T3500 T3500
$769.00
Buy Dell Precision T5500 T5500
$1,296.00
Buy Dell Vostro 220 220
$299.00
HP Compaq DC7800 RU011UT#ABA
FREE
N/A
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