Breaking from its traditional notebook roots, Eurocom Corp. has joined the ranks of PC makers building a one-piece desktop computer.The Ottawa-based company’s new line of low power and small footprint All-in-One Portable LCD systems features AMD Athlon 64 Mobile and Sempron processors, and Intel Pentium 4 or Celeron processors, depending on the model. Displays come in 15-in., 17-in. and 17-in. widescreen versions.
“We decided to combine the best in mobile technology with the best in desktop technology and came up with the idea of a portable PC,”
said Iwona Osmolska, business development manager.
“So what you see is what you get,” she said, meaning the units don’t have a separate CPU tower. Instead what looks like just a flat screen monitor is actually a complete computer, housing the main components in the base and behind the screen.
Others in this market include Apple, Sony, NEC and Gateway.
Aside from its full portability, an essential feature of these units is their low energy consumption.
Less power
“A traditional desktop PC uses on average 500 to 600 watts, versus our portable PC which uses approximately 160 watts, so the difference is considerably less energy,” said Osmolska.
It equals a saving of $100 a year per user, according to Osmolska. So a company with 1,000 workstations will save approximately $100,000 per year in energy expenses related to IT equipment, she said.
In addition to this major financial benefit, Eurocom’s low power portable PC systems also contribute to what she said is “hazard-free disposal” because the monitor is a liquid crystal display and not a cathode ray tube. Its compact design means it will take up less space in landfills, she added.
The systems include a choice of hard drives, a floppy disk or media card reader, PCMCIA slots, a 1 Gb LAN, internal WLAN, four USB 2.0 ports and FireWire ports. There’s also an optional touch screen on some models as well as a thin client version.
Prices start at $1,399 and range up to $4,700 depending on options.
Eurocom sells this product to many different markets, like government, universities, corporations, doctor’s offices, medical labs and law offices.
“Portability is a very important feature and unlike the desktop system which you have to disassemble, here you have just one plug and within minutes you can move 20, 30 systems,” she said.
For Eurocom, low power has also been a crucial part of their research and development specifications, Osmolska added.
“Energy conservation has become not only part of the global conservation efforts embodied by the Kyoto Agreement and various local initiatives, but also a social issue.”