Why This Year's Desktop Refresh Will Be The Most Important Yet

For starters, the world is still trying to recover from the worst economic meltdown of our lifetime. The meltdown forced most enterprises to either cancel or postpone what had already been overdue IT projects and upgrades.

Then there is the awaited resurgence of the Windows platform on the desktop -- a resurgence made necessary by the flop that was known as Windows Vista. If you recall, Windows Vista was long delayed itself and, when it was launched, proved to be such a nightmare for business migration that businesses didn't migrate. Solution providers and PC makers all but demanded that Microsoft continue providing Windows XP for business. To this day, solution providers and their customers are opting to buy PCs and downgrade to Windows XP rather than opt for Windows Vista or even Windows 7.

Think about it: In what other industry has the customer base clamored to downgrade their purchases? The auto industry? Nope. Aerospace? No. Fast food? Don't even go there.

But while Microsoft was licking its wounds and trying to push Windows 7 out to the market -- which it did late last year -- the PC hardware ecosystem never stopped upgrading. Intel and Advanced Micro Devices moved from single-core CPUs to dual-core, tri-core and quad-core PCs. They began providing the most solid foundation yet to support the world's move from 32-bit computing to 64-bit computing. Nvidia and AMD's ATI graphics unit also continued pushing the envelope to provide in low-cost, industry-standard hardware what it once took proprietary components and many thousands of dollars to provide: powerful 3-D and rendering capabilities in lower-cost systems.

The business world itself has also changed. Out: big, thundering PCs that ate who-cares-how-much power, 24x7. In: ultra-energy-efficient desktops that consume 20 watts or less while providing reliability and productivity.

This will also be the first, major desktop upgrade cycle, really, since Apple's resurgence in Mac OS X market share. Why is this such a big deal? The Apple ecosystem itself is transforming the industry: iPhone, iPad, iTunes and, significantly, the App Store. As Microsoft did in the 1980s with developer support and a clear path to profitability with third-party applications, Apple has opened the door to low-overhead software development with its iPhone SDK. That will feed into the forthcoming launch of the iPad tablet, and app development surrounding that. Hundreds of thousands of applications will pour into the market; developers building for it will find themselves moving to the Mac platform for their work. Five years into its market-share resurgence on the desktop, and Apple's just getting warmed up.

And then there's the Linux space. While it's still not ready to eat that much market share out of Microsoft or Apple, in many ways it's just getting started as well. The Ubuntu community, in fact, has taken major leaps forward toward "instant-on" boot-up times. That plays into advances we've seen in the hardware space and will drive Microsoft and Apple to deliver more efficient software as well.

For this month's cover story, we're looking at both the new rules that apply to this desktop refresh cycle as well as the new products and technology. We've had the chance to examine new desktops from Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Acer, as well as raw components from AMD and Intel. We're looking at how each integrates Windows 7 and we're taking a look at how Apple will continue to compete.

Even though more mobile PCs (notebooks, tablets, netbooks and smartphones) sell into the market than desktops, the desktop is still a bedrock part of the IT chain. That may change between now and the next refresh cycle, as use patterns and business requirements continue to evolve. But our analysis shows that the desktop still brings very specific and tangible value.

The upshot: There are many more than just the traditional reasons for enterprise IT customers to refresh. There are more than just the traditional factors for solution providers to consider. Each PC maker brings a unique approach that provides value, and each makes a compelling case for the entire IT space to move forward and once again begin mapping out upgrades, while throwing away -- once and for all -- the strategy of downgrading PCs.

Here is our look at new and noteworthy PCs, and why each provides compelling reasons for VARs to make the case for aggressive upgrades right now.

Next: Lenovo's ThinkCentre A70z

Lenovo's ThinkCentre A70z

If we've learned anything from Lenovo since it bought IBM's PC business, it's that the Raleigh, N.C.-based company has put itself on one of the most aggressive product upgrade cycles. While the ThinkPad was and remains its flagship product line, Lenovo engineers have managed to take some of the strongest elements of that notebook design-- including reliability and ease of use for business -- and deliver them into a newly energized desktop lineup under the ThinkCentre moniker.

With its ThinkCentre A70z, Lenovo has delivered its first all-in-one desktop for business. What we like about all-in-one PCs is that they eliminate a lot of wires, a lot of complexity and are getting better and better. Many enterprises, which have just come off investments in energy-saving, or productivity-enhancing LCDs, will eschew the all-in-ones. That's valid. However, those enterprises that have put off LCD upgrades could find significant upsides to the AIO approach, and that means they'd want to give Lenovo's ThinkCentre A70z a look-see.

The A70z does a nice job of eliminating complexity on the desktop. Out of the box, all it took to get up and running was pulling out the chrome PC stand on the back, plugging in the power cord and the Ethernet cable, and pressing the "on" switch. The optional Bluetooth mouse and keyboard (which will push the acquisition price up by about another $200 above the $499 list price of the system) are elegant and, as well, eliminate additional desktop wiring.

The system itself measures 18.5 by 14 by 3.5 inches. Weighing in on the CRN Test Center scales, it hit 15 pounds, 9 ounces. The system was built with an Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 at 2.94GHz and 4 GB of RAM. When we ran Primate Labs' Geekbench 2.1 benchmarking software, the A70z registered an impressive mark of 3,216 -- one of the highest measurements we've seen for a PC with a single dual-core CPU and one of the highest measurements we've seen for a Windows PC with less than 4 GB of memory. It's likely the high-performance measurements came from a combination of new efficiencies built into Windows 7 Professional (which was preloaded), as well as the proprietary motherboard Lenovo used to build the system.

When we took a look at its power consumption using our Kill-a-Watt meter, the A70z ate just a bit less than 60 watts. Yes, we've seen new desktops of late that can run on fewer than 20 watts, but consider that the Lenovo All-in-One is combining both the PC and LCD, and the combined system consumes about one-third the power of older-generation PC-and-LCD combinations. The six USB ports and VGA input provide flexibility with peripherals; Lenovo's ThinkVantage Toolbox (created by PC-Doctor) provides streamlined client management and system diagnostics.

The 19-inch LCD screen, built in, looks much bigger than it is and is easy on the eyes. Sound from the built-in sound bar is crisp and clear.

A bonus we like: Lenovo continues to whittle down the amount of bloatware and unnecessary software in its systems.

The PC maker contends that the A70z provides so much efficiency that it can save $65 per year in running costs over previous Lenovo monitor-and-PC solutions. Based on power efficiency alone, it comes close to that, but we would also consider additional efficiencies based on what should be lower maintenance costs, easier asset management and fewer complexity costs.

Lenovo is moving in a nice direction with its engineering and value proposition with its All-in-One lineup, and we think it's a good starting point in the conversation about desktop upgrades.

Next: HP Compaq 8000f Elite Business PC and Acer AspireRevo 3610

HP Compaq 8000f Elite Business PC

The CRN Test Center has been paying attention to Hewlett-Packard's ultra-small-form-factor desktops for several years; the Palo Alto, Calif.-based computer giant was among the first to provide top-performing PCs in ever-smaller desktop footprints and leaned heavily on its engineering expertise to make it all work right. The company follows through nicely with its HP Compaq 8000f Elite Business PC.

Taking up a small amount of desktop real estate (10 by 10 by 2.5 inches), the PC can also mount onto a wall or the back of an LCD.

The 8000f we saw was built with an Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 at 3.07GHz and 4 GB of RAM. Like the A70z, it was preloaded with Windows 7 Professional.

Here's what jumped out at us: On Geekbench 2.1, the system rang up a score of 3,504, putting it on par with previous quad-core systems we've evaluated that ran with Windows Vista. Once it booted up, the PC consumed 25 watts of power, which allowed it to live up to HP's boast that it provides 30 percent power efficiency over older generations. We tend to disagree with HP, but believe that even without activating the energy-efficiency settings, it provides much more power efficiency over PCs that were available during the last, major PC refresh.

In addition, HP has built the PCs with environmentally friendly materials. The company says it has reduced "substances of concern;" it's free of brominated flame retardants and Polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The power cord is not an industry-standard desktop PC power cord, which we're not happy about. However, the trade-off is a plus for those with environmental concerns: It's also PVC-free, HP says. In all, the system is small so there is less to recycle at the end of its life, and almost all of the materials are recyclable, HP says.

HP's opportunity with the desktop refresh in 2010 is huge. The company does have a wide product line in both the commercial and consumer spaces. At press time, the 8000f had not yet been priced but, given the company's pricing conventions, we think it will be very competitive. The form factor will allow it to slip onto existing desktops and work well with peripherals already deployed. It is one of the more workmanlike Windows 7-based systems we've seen since the Microsoft OS launched last year.

The combination of performance and efficiency means that a workforce will reap immediate productivity gains, immediate savings in power consumption (HP's Power Assistant application, preloaded, calculates that the PC will cost $4.61 in energy costs per year to run) and keep complexity to a minimum. The 8000f will be a good fit for businesses that want to upgrade quickly without ditching their existing desktop infrastructure of peripherals.

Acer AspireRevo 3610

The CRN Test Center has reviewed many of the desktops in San Jose, Calif.-based Acer America's business lineup of Veritons and has found them to be solid, reliable and noncomplex. We've seen both ultra-small-form-factor desktops as well as standard tower PCs, so this time around we examined the AspireRevo 3610.

Acer bills it as a "nettop" -- a phrase we think is just awful. The system is built with an Intel Atom Processor N330 at 1.60GHz. That makes it capable of doing much more than simply accessing the Internet. Make no mistake, this is not a performance desktop. But it's fine for standard office productivity applications or other functions.

The company does sell the AspireRevo as a consumer PC, and preloads the system with Windows 7 Home Premium. It's built with Nvidia ION graphics, support for HD audio, six USB ports and support for a wireless keyboard and mouse.

Since the middle of last year, when Intel and its ecosystem partners began launching a number of different components aimed at making the Intel Atom platform more accessible to more corners of the channel, we've become impressed by the care the chip maker has shown in building out a processing platform that can handle essential productivity tasks while providing all the benefits of energy efficiency and small-form-factor desktop construction. So it's no surprise to us that Acer, which has taken a leading role in the market (along with Asus) in leveraging the platform, could deliver an ultra-price-competitive, ultra-small-form-factor PC for desktops.

With street pricing in the $200 ballpark, it's noteworthy that Acer ships the system with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit and support for HD video (1,080p) using Nvidia's ION graphics technology. Consider that during the last desktop refresh cycle, only higher-performing systems, for the most part, offered strong support for 64-bit applications or HD audio or video. Certainly, no PC the last time around offered them with a price point in the $200 ballpark.

The AspireRevo is Exhibit A in the argument that the world will, sooner than you may have thought, be moving steadfastly into the 64-bit world for client computing (Microsoft has already begun pushing data centers there with its Windows Server 2008). If PC makers can deliver a 64-bit environment on a low-cost desktop like the AspireRevo -- yet keep the performance at pleasing levels -- it's only a matter of time before the switch moves full speed ahead.

The move to 64-bit computing is another hallmark unique to this desktop refresh cycle, and one that VARs should keep in mind as they address customer road maps. This move has the ability to either speed up or slow down business adoption of Windows 7. Global economic conditions and IT budgets, to a large degree, will determine which way that plays out.

The bottom line with Acer's AspireRevo: Smaller organizations could consider deploying this in customer-facing scenarios, like insurance agencies or retail shops. It will do the trick. But more important to consider: If Acer can make 64-bit computing work well on a low-cost, Intel Atom-based system, it's time to start thinking in a real way of 64-bit computing road maps for the enterprise. This desktop refresh, many believe, will be slower and take a longer amount of time than previous refresh cycles. That means by the time it's done, not only will enterprises have to finally start considering getting off Windows XP as a business platform, they'll have to entertain the notion of moving to a 64-bit world. There is still time before the 64-bit conversation takes on a life-or-death sense of urgency (Windows 7 isn't even taking on that sort of urgency). But business IT road maps may need some adjusting.

Next: Dell OptiPlex 780 and Apple's Mac Mini

Dell OptiPlex 780 Ultra Small Form Factor (USFF)

We've already evaluated many of the systems in Dell's Vostro lineup for small business, so we decided to look at another lineup produced by the Round Rock, Texas-based PC maker.

We opted to evaluate the Dell OptiPlex 780, a small-form-factor desktop that looks similar to the HP Compaq 8000f. The biggest difference: The OptiPlex 780 came preloaded with Windows 7 Home Premium rather than Windows Professional.

A few things to keep in mind about Dell: This year marks the first major PC refresh cycle since the company decided to create and build a channel program and sell its systems through reseller partners. It also has done a fairly interesting job of streamlining its desktop lineup since then, with Vostro systems aimed at small and midsize businesses, XPS systems focused at power users and OptiPlex for both consumers or, judging by its specs and pricing, somewhere in between.

The system that we looked at in the CRN Test Center lab was built with an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 at 3.00GHz and 4 GB of RAM. It was built with six USB ports. Sized at 9.5 by 11 by 3 inches, the system is similar in appearance to the HP Compaq 8000f. It, too, can sit alone on a desktop or be mounted to an LCD.

Tested with Geekbench 2.1, it ran up a score of 3,493 and consumed about 35 watts of power, again also similar to the HP Compaq system.

We like that Dell has chosen in recent years to really minimize the amount of bloatware and unnecessary applications that are preinstalled before it ships, and the OptiPlex 780 continues that strength. The OptiPlex 780, too, provides the performance of early quad-core desktops with the energy efficiency of newer systems.

Dell built this desktop PC with support for Wi-Fi connectivity -- a feature we think all PC makers should build into desktops.

The system comes with a starting price of $624; Dell's online discounts at the time we evaluated the unit bring it down to $488 (although that changes sometimes hour by hour). The configuration we tested was priced at $747 after discounts. So Dell isn't hammering the market on a lowest-price play, but it does provide for ample flexibility up and down the value scale.

The characteristics Dell is now providing in the OptiPlex 780 USFF are characteristics we hope, and frankly expect, the company will begin to introduce throughout its lineup, namely: energy efficiency, space efficiency, price flexibility. In particular, we'd like to see the company develop an ultra-small-form-factor Vostro desktop that could offer many of these strong points to its channel-focused, SMB-focused partners.

Apple's Mac Mini

When was the last time Apple was a real factor in corporate IT thinking? Think back to the Reagan administration. Yes, that long ago.

So why, after all this time, are we including Apple in a discussion on business desktop refresh? Because, even as this is being written, Apple is dramatically changing the platform landscape and the software development ecosystem.

Late last month, Steve Jobs, CEO and co-founder of Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple, unveiled the forthcoming Apple iPad. A tablet based on a new processor -- Apple's proprietary A4 " the iPad's first public demonstration showed it to be a significant multimedia computing device. The iPad has strong potential, just as the iPhone did in 2007, to dramatically alter use patterns for how people communicate and how content is accessed over the Internet.

But the iPad won't reach the market in a vacuum. Apple is also set to build out its iTunes App Store to provide new software applications that take advantage of the iPad platform -- with functions including video, audio, geolocation, videoconferencing and even some content creation. The iPad won't likely be able to do everything a full-blown PC can do. It will likely become a powerful extension of the Apple Mac ecosystem that will include Mac OS X systems, the iPhone and iPod touch.

The Mac will sit at the center. In fact, to use Apple's iPhone SDK, a Mac OS X-based system is required. Immediately, thousands of software developers who want to write for iPhone or iPad platforms will need to migrate if they aren't already there.

IT industry veterans will recall that, at the beginning of the PC industry, IBM, Apple and Microsoft all offered compelling desktop operating systems. IBM's OS/2 Warp desktop was considered by many VARs and analysts to be at least equal to, if not better than, Windows or the Macintosh OS. But Microsoft won the day (really, it won an era in computing) by winning the hearts and minds of third-party software developers who loaded the Windows platform with many of the key and killer apps of the day. Apple, which has always maintained a hardcore legion of supporters, didn't die but has never hit double digits in market share since. IBM eventually just gave up. It pulled the plug on OS/2 Warp and got out of the PC business altogether.

Depending on what we see when iPad is launched, businesses that were developing applications for either Windows or the Web may have to stop what they're doing and rearrange their priorities.

We like how the Mac Mini is positioned (even though rumors persist Apple will discontinue the product). Its $599-priced offering, with an Intel processor at 2.26GHz and 2 GB of RAM, Nvidia GeForce 9400M Graphics and Mac OS X Snow Leopard is on par from a price-performance basis with the HP Compaq 8000f, the Dell OptiPlex 780 USFF and the Lenovo A70z. From a form-factor perspective, it's similar in size to the Dell and the HP models and, like the Dell, it has built in Wi-Fi connectivity. It consumes about 35 watts of power.

There will be difficult-to-pin-down costs of migration, though, as those weaned on a lifetime of Windows will have a small learning curve, but a learning curve nonetheless. Network administration will require some changes as well, and Apple's channel programs are nowhere near as friendly to mainstream VARs as most other PC makers. (Apple VARs famously admit that they mostly receive information on Apple's new products at the same time as the general public -- meaning they don't get much, if any, chance to get ahead of the curve before customers start asking questions.)

What we do like about the Mac Mini is its utter reliability, its status as less of a target for malicious hackers than Windows systems and, importantly, it's stunning reliability. In two years, the CRN Test Center lab has never had a single technical issue with its Mac systems, certainly not a statement we can make about all of our Windows-based desktops.

When it comes to the 2010 desktop refresh, we think it becomes more important than ever for VARs to get a sense of whether their customers will need to integrate any part of their business with Apple's new, emerging and growth platforms -- whether the Mac, the iPhone or the iPad. And along those lines, the Mac Mini (which, by the way, can run Windows in either dual-boot or virtualized scenarios) makes a strong case for consideration in corporate IT.

Next: Windows 7 Windows 7

In the consumer space, Microsoft is now reporting that Windows 7 was the runaway hit of the fourth quarter of 2009. That's not surprising since it has been preloaded onto consumer PCs and is pretty much the default choice offered to people off the street.

However, nothing we have seen in the market indicates a change to expectations for Windows 7 in the commercial space: namely, much slower adoption. Businesses are still clinging to the option for XP downgrades, with the idea that they will simply migrate to Windows 7 at some nebulous later date in the future.

The CRN Test Center still believes, as we did last year, that XP-to-Windows 7 upgrades could become a maddening test of patience for VARs. But we also believe that it's really the only choice -- good or bad -- for enterprises that need to continue operating in a Windows environment but need significant upgrades for security and efficiency. Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Acer all provide compelling hardware-based reasons to refresh desktops now, rather than waiting.

Apple and the Linux community, too, provide strong reasons to consider migrating desktops sooner rather than later. Ubuntu, for example, is on track to provide a free version of its desktop OS with "instant on" capabilities. "Instant on" is huge and will make it much easier for businesses to see employees power down at the end of the day rather than leaving systems up and running so they don't have to waste time getting started the next day. Not only that, but Ubuntu is a nice, intuitive and very functional desktop OS in its own right.

Any more blips in the global economy could throw a monkey wrench into a desktop refresh in 2010. But we're optimistic. We believe these PC manufacturers have gotten it right in each desktop that we've reviewed here, and that there is such great economic value in moving forward that enterprises that do, earlier rather than later, could gain big competitive advantages. All things being equal, this will be the most dramatic and arguably the most important desktop refresh in the history of the IT industry. There will be more choices. And VARs will be needed more than ever to guide customers through the mazes and minefields to a better, more profitable IT environment.

COMMUNITY: Get involved and voice your opinion on all things technical. E-mail Edward F. Moltzen at [email protected].