Business-Grade Recommended Desktops and Laptops

February 1, 2019

If you’ve been following along, our last article discussed the sad news about Windows 7 going end of life. Today, we are providing some hand-picked selections of units that we recommend, with a price range, so that you can have an idea of hardware pricing. Here’s a couple blanket requirements that each of these units will have;

  • These are all Business-Grade computers. What does that mean, you ask? I’m glad you asked 🙂
    • They have a professional operating system (not a home operating system) – Windows 10 Pro.
    • You can’t buy these at Best Buy, Costco, Micro Center, or Frys (or any other Big Box store)
    • These are all NEW – which means no remarketed products or refurbished products (talk to us about remarketed, we can save some serious moolah).
    • These are all HP computers. Can we provided other brand computers? Yes, but we have much better experience with HP Business-grade PCs and Laptops (not consumer grade).
    • These all come with a 3-year warranty (one of the signs of business-grade)
    • Everything has a minimum of 8 GB RAM!

OK, here we go, lets start with Desktops

  • The General – This PC would be what we call a workbench PC. This is what a company would procure for a general operations employee who does not need a ton of power and only uses browser-based activities, with light Microsoft office documentation. The HP ProDesk 600 G4 Desktop Mini PC. This particular unit has a really small footprint, and takes up very little space, but is just as powerful as it’s larger counterpart. General new pricing is about $790.
  • The Middle Weight – This is a standard tower computer that has the traditional chassis that allows for expansion of extra hardware – if needed. These computers also come with the DVD-writer, although we are seeing the need for this less and less these days. This computer would serve an employee that has a bit more on their plate than the general, but don’t use this machine to render graphics. The HP EliteDesk 800 G4 Tower PC. General new pricing is about $1000.
  • Large Marge sent me – The semi-truck of desktops isn’t even called a desktop, it is called a workstation. If you have heavy graphic/video rendering needs, start here (you’ll end up adding more). The HP Z8 G4 Workstation. General new pricing starts around $2600.

Laptops are next! This list will follow the same employees type above, only with the mobile capabilities of a laptop.

  • The General – The HP ProBook 450 G6 Notebook PC is a great day-to-day laptop for our general users. General new pricing is around $850.
  • The Middle Weight – The HP EliteBook 850 G5 Notebook PC will give your power users more push than the General, and prices new around $1250.
  • The Mobile Workstation – Just like it sounds. Need to render on the move? Need heavy hitting mobile computing? This is the answer. The HP ZBook 17 G5 Mobile Workstation. Pricing starts around $2500 for appropriately sized laptops.

Keep in mind that these examples are our picks of units that work great. Business needs may be more or less than these general selections – and the nice thing about computers is there are several options! We can help you sort through the options, so call us, and get on the schedule for refreshing to Windows 10.