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At just 3 inches high (or wide, when sitting on its side), the HP Compaq Dc7100 Ultra-Slim Desktop is surpassed only by the Mac Mini in its thinness. However, the HP is considerably larger than the Mac in other dimensions, at 13.5 inches wide and just over 12 inches deep. Usually a thin "pizza-box" style case like this reflects a lack of expandability, but the Dc7100 retains some. There's a single free PCI card slot, mounted on a riser card that positions the PCI card in parallel with the motherboard. But there are no vacant drive bays: A single 80GB SATA occupies the only internal drive bay. The optical drive is a hot-swappable 8X DVD/24X CD-RW combo drive that fits into the MultiBay slot. That's the same style of slot as used on Compaq notebooks, so it would be easy to upgrade or share a drive between systems.
Other expansion options are provided by a slew of USB 2.0 ports, six on the back and two on the front. There are also microphone and headphone ports on the front of this svelte box. Opening the case is easy: A single latch at the back holds the lid in place, and you don't need tools to remove any of the drives or add memory. The review system shipped with 512MB of DDR400 RAM on a single DIMM, leaving two vacant slots--a nice touch that makes adding memory less expensive because you don't need to replace the existing memory.
With a 3.2-GHz Pentium 4, our $1502 test system achieved a very reasonable WorldBench 5 score of 86--one of the highest scores in our tests of small PCs. Although the integrated Intel 915GV graphics is more than adequate for general use, it didn't score well in our tests with a variety of 3D games, offering below-average frame rates. And, because there is no AGP or PCI Express slot, there's no way to upgrade the graphics. There's also no DVI connector; you have to use the analog VGA connection.
The HP L1740 17-inch LCD that came with our system produced less than stellar images: The text was readable but not especially sharp, and colors looked flat and unappealing. On the upside, though, adding the DL6414B Integrated Work Center Stand (which costs $99) turns the Dc7100 into an all-on-one machine by mounting the case behind the monitor. That's a nice solution, but as with Dell's OptiPlex SX280, it still leaves some cables dangling. It does make the system easy to carry, however; a flip-out handle on the top lets you easily carry the system in one hand into meeting rooms or onto the dining room table.
Upshot: This ultraslim model provides a good balance of small size and expandability, and the optional monitor stand that holds the system case is a nice option for workers who need to regularly move systems around.
Richard Baguley
