The 8000f’s graphics performance was poor, too, but that much is expected on business systems armed with only integrated graphics. The Veriton X480G and the Compaq 6005 Pro achieved slightly better scores of 120 and 128, respectively another competitor, the Dell Optiplex 780 USFF, delivered a score of 116. In our WorldBench 6 test suite, the 8000f Elite earned a score of 113, placing around the middle of the pack among budget desktops. As far as business machines go, the Acer Veriton X480G offers 280GB, and HP’s own Compaq 6005 Pro has 400GB of storage space. We generally like to see at least 320GB hard drives in the budget PC category. The 8000f we reviewed also offers 2GB of DDR3 SDRAM, and Windows 7 Professional resides on the paltry 160GB hard drive. While that processor is a few years old, it is a reliable platform that supports Intel’s vPro technology–a must for many businesses that require elevated security on their systems. Powering the machine is a 3GHz Core 2 Duo E8400.
Priced at $829 (as configured, as of May 1, 2010), the Compaq 8000f Elite falls at the higher end of the budget PC category. Aimed at a market segment with particular maintenance and security needs, they tend to offer improved hardware and software functionality, while sacrificing elements of usability we’ve come to expect in consumer-oriented desktop PCs. Business-class computers like the HP Compaq 8000f Elite are a complicated bunch.
