HP means business with energy efficient PCs

HP has released desktop PCs that will meet new energy ratings from the US Environmental Protection Agency.

The agency's Energy Star 4.0 regulations, which go into effect on 20 July 2007, require, among other things, that a PC's power supply converts 80 per cent of incoming electricity into usable computer power in order to be declared energy efficient.

Three new HP Compaq PCs can be configured to meet that goal, according to the company.

The power supply on the three machines, when used in conjunction with other Energy Star 4.0 hardware, could shave off between $6 and $58 in annual power costs, HP said in a statement.

The company's new business PCs are geared toward companies and government agencies, where power consumption cost is multiplied by the hundreds or thousands of computers used in one organisation.

The dc5700, which costs $800, and the dc7700, priced at $959, both include an Intel Core Duo processor, an 80GB hard drive, 1GB of memory, a DVD/CD-RW drive and Microsoft Windows XP Pro.

The dc5750, which goes for $609, has AMD's Athlon processor and 512MB of memory, as well as an 80GB hard drive, a DVD/CD-RW drive and Microsoft Windows XP Pro.

Candace Lombardi writes for CNET News.com