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Hardware

HP Workstation xw5000

28 Feb, 2003 By: Ron LaFon

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Hewlett-Packard

4.5 stars out of 5

The HP Workstation xw5000 shows remarkable attention to detail.

Housed in a wide, deep, but extremely stylish case, the HP Workstation xw5000 is one of the quietest of all the systems we tested in this roundup. The case shows remarkable attention to detail, much of which is hidden beneath the surface. Inside the case is a marvel of engineering, including one of the smoothest CD-drawer mechanisms I’ve seen, a hold-down bar to keep the AGP graphics card firmly seated in its slot, and a screwless hold-down bar for seating your add-in cards.

When you buy a Hewlett-Packard system, you’re not just buying a machine, you’re buying into a company that offers many benefits. Many Hewlett-Packard systems are sold into corporate situations where support, reliability, and certification are important considerations when purchasing a new computer system. Hewlett-Packard offers a broad range of support options, and frequently it sends personnel to major software vendors such as Autodesk to ensure that its systems are certified for the major applications.

The HP Workstation xw5000 arrived for testing with Windows 2000 Professional Workstation, Service Pack 3. We noted a mix of manuals for the various system components as evidence of the recent merger between Hewlett-Packard and Compaq.

The HP Workstation xw5000 includes the popular and speedy NVIDIA Quadro4 980XGL graphics card, a standard Hewlett-Packard keyboard, a three-button Logitech mouse rebranded by Hewlett-Packard, and a broad range of options.

The relatively low SPEC ViewPerf score was most likely a driver issue (OpenGL v1.2 support, rather than v1.4).

For the price, this is a rugged and well-made system that should provide years of use.