The PC world is an ever changing one and according to trends the All-in-one market is going to show a large growth in the year to come. In addition touch screen devices are steadily gaining in popularity. With the planned Metro Interface of the Windows 8 operating system the touch screen trend doesn’t seem to be slowing any time soon. HP’s TouchSmart Elite 7320 brings these facts together is a powerful and affordable package for your business, and I got to take one for a test drive.
We all know that these machines often lack the customization that would be found in a traditional tower, especially ones targeted at businesses, and the TouchSmart Elite 7320 is no different. If you are looking to have complete control over each component that goes into you PC then you should look else where. That being said this machine does have a place in today’s business world. With its powerful processors, space saving design and energy star 5.0 rating there are a lot of places where the TouchSmart Elite 7320 will fit in just fine.
On first removing the TouchSmart from the package the construction felt solid. There is a metal frame that secures the screen to the base. The screen tilts on the frame from 0° to 30° smoothly and held still once you set the angle. The silver and black design looks good on this machine, and it is one …
The HP TopShot LaserJet Pro M275 is a multi-function printer like no other. The printer portion of the TopShot is much like the HP LaserJet Pro 100 I reviewed before. What makes the TopShot different is the paper feeder and flatbed scanner on top has been replaced by a flat white platform, called the capture stage, and an arm that is positioned above the stage. On this arm there is a camera and 3 flashes. As the name suggests, it takes a picture of any 2D or 3D object you can fit onto the stage, under the arm. The end result is a mixed but, in the right environment could be a game changer for a business.
Whether connecting through a wireless network, a wired network or locally through USB the installation software is clear and easy to run. The printer does have HP’s ePrint features, so if you do connect your printer to the internet you can print from any internet connected device. A simple setup at the HP ePrint website and you can email what you want printed to the TopShot’s user configured email address. HP also offers an ePrint app for both Android and Apple devices.
Printing speed is about average for other laser printers at this price. Text comes in around 17 pages per minute, where as color was about 4 ppm. Granted, it’s not the fastest printer on the market the print quality …
When it comes to business machines no one makes them like HP. Combining form and function in the most elegant ways possible the HP EliteBook 8460p is no exception. Under the beautiful brushed aluminum case is a rigid magnesium-aluminum chassis. Designed to withstand impacts and pressure seen in a multitude of business environments while still weighing less than 5lbs. HP also added what they call the “FitTight” battery lock to prevent jostling or ejecting of the laptop battery due to any type of impact. Even the screen has an extra layer of protection in the DisplaySafe frame. This double-shot rubber frame prevents scratches and scuffs on the screen by buffering it from the base of the laptop while closed. This feature also prevents accidental keystrokes while reducing the gap between the top and bottom of the machine.
HP didn’t stop at physical features when considering safety for this laptop. The EliteBook series all sport a Fingerprint reader and can use the built-in webcam for facial recognition. Adding that extra layer of protection HP is known for. Concerned you will not know how to configure these features? The built in HP ProtectTools software, included with all HP Elite PCs, allows for easy setup and prompts a new user to configure them on first start-up.
The finger print reader only seems to have issues reading your prints if you stop and start during your finger swipe. As long as you use a …
We have all seen the commercials for the NeatDesk Scanner, promising to organize all of your old receipts, business cards and documents by making a searchable database of them. I personally am always skeptical of any “as seen on TV” product, but this is a product my wife has actually asked me for, so when I was told I was going to get to review it I was very excited to see what it could do, and see if it could change my mind.
Inside the orange and white box is a small, top-fed scanner. It looks a lot like a fax machine, but it only has 2 buttons, Scan and PDF. It connects to the computer using a USB connection, but it does require its own power source. The document feeder at the top will hold up to 50 pages at a time or, with the “input trey”, there are three different size openings that will hold 10 sheets each, making scanning receipts and business cards a lot easier.
To put the NeatDesk to the test I used a folder of old receipts dating back to 2005. Creases and all the NeatDesk was able to scan and read more than me on some of the receipts, at a very high rate of speed too. The Neat 5 Software then takes over, looking for key words and specific information indicating if the scan is a receipt, business card or document. During this process I …
The HP LaserJet Pro 100 is a very sleek looking printer. The compact design will fit into what ever corner you can find for it, and due to its easy to setup networking options you may never physically connect it to a computer. On the front left side of the printer you will find the controls and display. The top of the printer has a document feeder for the scanner, as well as a flat bed to scan with if needed. The paper tray is a separate piece that sticks out of the bottom on the front of the printer. The tray can hold up to 150 sheets of paper, but even full it feels like it may fall off if not supported by a flat surface. The back of the unit has an Ethernet jack, a USB-B port, and the power adaptor port. Unfortunately the LaserJet Pro 100 does not have a built in fax. HP also put the paper jam door on the back of the unit, meaning you may have to pull it out of the corner for another reason from time to time. I will say that in all the printing we did there was never a jam.
When setting up through a network or using the USB cable, HP made it easy to configure the printer and start printing. My first installation was tethered using the USB cable. After only a few minutes with the HP setup wizard from the …
The HP Compaq Elite series of business PCs has an extremely wide array of available towers all focused on delivering the computer power needed to run your business. After our recent review of the 8200 Elite Ultra-Slim PC we were excited to see what else the line had to offer. This time the box we unwrapped came with an HP Compaq 8200 Elite All-In-One desktop.
In addition to an attractive and compact design, there are a lot of nice additions HP put into this machine that sweetens the deal. Starting with the most obvious, the 23” LED Backlit display is one of the clearest monitors I have ever seen. Side by side with the traditional LCD screens in our office made it very clear how off white and dimly lit they really are. Under the monitor is a speaker bar. It is stereo sound, but without a subwoofer there is very little bass. Overall the sound quality is fine for most business applications, like watching presentations or video conferencing. On the topic of Video conferencing there is a built in webcam above the screen. Picture quality from the camera is clear and smooth, but it is fixed. I am about 5’7” and had to tilt the monitor almost all the way forward to frame myself well. 
Around the left side of the screen is a 6-in-1 media card reader, accepting the most common card types like SD, MS …
Weighing in at a mere 7 lbs and standing only 9.9” by 2.6” and only 10” deep this super small tower can be easily underestimated. But, in both form and function this Elite PC holds up to its name in many ways. On top of the great performance it offers it runs green through multiple hardware and software designs. For example it uses a small energy efficient external power supply, the Core i5 2500S in our machine uses less power than the Core i5 2500 counterpart without a significant loss in performance, and it includes the HP Power Assistant to monitor and control power usage through a simple interface. 
The tower comes in multiple models with your choice of 5 different Intel Multi-Core Processors, and up to 8GB of DDR3 SDRAM. Hard drive options include up to 300GB on a 7200RPM SATA Drive, up to 320GB on a 7200RPM SATA SED self-encrypting drive, or up to 160GB on a SATA Solid State Drive. It also has a Gigabit LAN card and a built in Wireless N Card. Multiple optical drives and video options are also available, adding to the versatility of this little tower. The model we tested, specifically XZ788UT, came with an i5 2500S processor, 4GB of RAM, a light scribe drive and Integrated Intel HD graphics with both a VGA and an HDMI port. It rings up at just over $900.00.The Nuts and Bolts
The first thing that stands out when you …
