THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS "DIVA"

Someone was asking me what computer I got that supported dual monitors.

The machine I purchased was an HPxw4600. 

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF25a/12454-12454-296719-307907-296721-3429268.html?jumpid=re_R295_prodexp/busproducts/computing/hp-xw4600-workstation&psn=desktops_workstations/workstation

As you can see, every single machine on that page comes with Vista Business with XP downgrade rights.  That means that every one of them ships with XP and then when you want to take them to Vista, you have the media and support to do so.

I got 4 gigs of ram because I plan on these machines being in the office for several years and they will be slid down the food chain over the years.  These models are also cool as the sound card is inside the machine and there's no need for external speaker wires all over the place.

Now then here's where the way I bought these really worked out well.  I needed one of the computers to support dual monitors, the other three monitors.  The card bay on these machines have several open PCI slots.  To do the best for three and four monitors (and this is true for both Vista and XP), the best thing to do is get two dual monitor cards that are the same brand.  So what I did was to steal the NVIDIA Quadro NVS290 256MB PCIe out of the one unit and put it in the other unit.  This is a dual monitor card.  So by stealing the card from the one unit, sticking it in the other, I matched up the two video cards exactly.  Then I just purchased another dual Nvidia card for the other machine.  That NVS290 is the default card in those units.  Initially I thought I was going to just buy new cards period for the machine that I wanted three monitors on, but once the machines arrived I realized that I could take the default graphics card and do exactly what I wanted to do.

The card comes with a "pigtail" that you then connect the digital monitors to. 

HPxw4600 workstation

250gig sata (IMHO too big for workstations, but it's what they come with)

16x DVD+/-

Intel Core 2 Due E6550 2.33 4MS/1333

Nvidia Quadro NVS290 256MB PCIe

4 gig ram

I also bought the floppy drive kit because there are rare rare occasions that we need it.

XP will still be there after 6/30 for those that really need it... but I'd strongly recommend that you get a unit with Vista with XP in the downgrade right bundle as it makes for a nice bundle.

P.S. read this article on how the vendors will be offering this after 6/30:

http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/operatingsystems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207402111