Technology giant Hewlett-Packard announced the release of the
HP Pro 3130 Minitower Business PC, aimed at small and midsize
businesses and carrying a starting price of $569. The desktop
unit features a glossy black finish, Intel Core i7, Core i5, and Core
i3 processors, storage with hard drives up to 1TB, the full Windows 7
operating system, dual monitor support, and RAID support.
Options include the ability to transfer files with a 22-in-1 Media Card
Reader, burn labels directly onto discs with a SuperMulti Lightscribe
Drive or enhance disc storage potential with a Blu-ray Writer Drive.
Also included is a USB 3.0 SuperSpeed PCIe x1 card and graphics cards
with DirectX 11 support. In addition, there is a PCIe x16 card slot
free for upgraded graphics and four Dimm slots, as well as a one-year
warranty.
The debut of the Pro 3130 comes as IT research firm Gartner singled out
HP for excellence in another technology market—printers and
MFPs (multifunction printers). According to Gartner’s report,
“software, vertical solutions and service integration are playing a
bigger role in the purchasing decisions of office printers and
multifunction products. The traditional speeds and feeds for
typical office printing … have given way to the hardware’s ability to
integrate and deploy software applications that connect them to the
company’s document management systems. Remote monitoring capabilities,
diagnostics, security and other factors are becoming the true
differentiators.”
HP was recognized for recently introducing solutions that not only
leverage Web, mobile and security technologies, but also offer
customers new ways to print and manage their information. HP recently
announced the first Web-enabled printer that allows users to print from
anywhere without a PC, as well as HP ePrint Enterprise Solution, which
enables users to print from a BlackBerry device.
“The traditional office MFP is an indispensible tool to most office
environments … [and] many of today’s MFPs can be called smart MFPs,
because they can be used to capture and render paper-based information
directly into enterprise content management, records management, ERP
systems and document management systems,” the Gartner report noted.
Hewlett-Packard 
