HP is giving its ProDesk line of business-class desktops a Skylake upgrade, outfitting new models with Intel’s 6th-gen Core processors.
The smallest model is the HP ProDesk 400 G2 Mini, which is a new mini PC with the same sort of small form-factor case HP has used in the EliteDesk and ProDesk families since last year.
In addition to upgrading the processor, Intel has made a few other changes. The ProDesk 400 G2 Mini features DisplayPort, VGA, and Serial ports, while the original ProDesk 400 Mini had HDMI and VGA ports but no Serial port.
The new model also has four USB 3.0 ports and two USB 2.0 ports. The older model also had six USB ports, but only two of them offered USB 3.0 speeds.
Other features include mic and headphone jacks, an Ethernet port, and support for DDR4 memory.
The HP ProDesk 400 G2 Mini should be available in October.
Its like these companies are deliberately trying to make these PCs useless as HTPCs.
No HDMI, and no audio output on the rear.
The Dell Optiplex Micro is the same.
The ProDesk and Optiplex both come from the business divisions of their respective companies, so this isn’t a huge surprise.
For sure, I was just being deliberately unreasonable. I was really interested in buying one of those refurb Optiplex Micros you posted yesterday. But the audio situation was a bit of an impasse.
I looked it up, and the Displayport does not output audio. USB audio out is the only option, if you don’t want a headphone wire sticking out of the front of the PC.
But they would make great headless-servers, for anyone who wants a low-wattage solution.
Yeah, love the form factor, wish they would just standardize on this for ALL mainstream desktop systems. Give the biz types these stone age serial ports etc, and give the HTPC types twin HDMI and optical audio etc., give the general home and SMB types slightly different port setups.
For that matter you could make all that easy – offer a swap out back panel with the port array of your choice.
Have stackable add on modules for various optical drive, combo optical/hdd, etc. Done.
Serial port? Is there some need for that in business? I don’t even remember the last time I used a non-USB serial port.
Yep theres a fairly big need, lots of systems, both legacy and new still use good old rs232. Usb to serial converters are notoriously unreliable for always on applications and often fail for a few seconds periodically. Including a serial port is a smart move as these PCs are ideal for embedded locations in kisoks, big machines and other hidey holes.
Companies who actually care about their systems should spend a few afternoons rewriting their RS232 ports for USB. There is nothing that RS232 does that USB can’t do.
Sometimes you’re running legacy software. RS232 runs can be 3000ft if you knock the baud rate down to 2400. USB can’t touch that
Very interesting. I never considered distance. In that case RS232 has my blessing.
No, there’s more CPU overhead with USB. Anyway factories with precision design/fabrication equipment or hospitals don’t care if serial ports are old, they’ve already spent millions more on the industrial equipment that needs the interface than they would on some shop-floor Wintel client that’ll probably be obsolete by 2018
For companies RS232 is a must. This pc is meant for business – and like said by NSA Janitorial – Espacially for Lab equipment and stuff that costs thousands and millions to get got RS232 is the standard – and therefore a must.
I agree with you, but the reality of today is serial ports are extremely simple, and dependable. USB for all its greatness, is plagued with diversity – different standards, different connectors, various drivers. Its just not as simple nor reliable as a straight serial port.
Rs232 will be around for another while, usb is a fantastic standard, but in industrial situations its a pain, it doesnt do long runs, it needs relatively complex drivers and it is hard to debug. Rs232 on the otherhand is very easy to debug, and anything from an atari to a i7 can communicate with it with just hyper terminal and see whata going on. You can learn to wire it in minutes It has sister standards that can be run for miles. Any programming language worth its salt will have serial drivers and you can put a bit of software together in an hour to talk with a serial device if you know the commands.
Dont get me wrong, its slow as hell and an old standard, but if you need to send a small amount of data serial is perfectly fine and often easier to work with for bespoke or complex systems.
Hardware is what is keeping things back. Some retail POS machines still use barcode scanners with RS232. Also some industrial/manufacturing hardware still uses it.
im a network guy. i use serial ports every day to access console ports. so do alot of unix guys, and SCADA guys. the usb deals are nice, but they get lost all the time and your COMPORT always moves around, their a bit of a pain.