Posted by Jim Erhardt on August 21, 2011 at 11:24 AM
Back in 2008, I purchased a new HP Pavilion dv4 laptop for Donna as a Christmas gift to her. Of course, she very much appreciated the new PC and immediately began using it every day for her personal use.
It was unfortunately encumbered with the MS Vista OS, and as usual with "big name" PCs, loaded with bloatware. It served well for about a year until the cooling fan began making a racket. After spending hours with HP tech support, we ended up shipping it off for a $300 repair. Long story short, that wasn't the last of the problems with this PC, all ending a few months ago when the display decided to cease functioning. At that point, we decided to cut our losses and get another PC.
Of course, we immediately went to the Puget Systems website to check out their laptops. It was then that I noticed their Echo micro-form PCs and after showing it to Donna, we decided to go with a desk top set up.
After a bit of research and email exchanges with Jon Bach, we settled on the Echo ll equipped with a Intel Core i5 2300 QUAD CORE 2.8GHz processor, 8 GB of RAM and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit operating system. We received the new, custom-built PC within 5 business days of placing the order.
With all of the components on-hand, I set the new system up for Donna on her desk. As was my experience with our previous Puget Systems PC, set up was fast and trouble-free. Best of all, the small form factor PC, small monitor and wireless assessories kept the desk top clean and uncluttered.
In terms of performance, there is simply no comparison to the old laptop; going from the Pavilion dv4 laptop to the Echo ll PC was a huge step up. The Pavilion dv4 had a Windows Experience Index of 3.2 versus an index of 5.2 for the Echo (our Puget Systems work station has a WEI of 5.9). Additonally, instead of using the built-in Wi-Fi, I hard-wired the Echo directly to our router to ensure I had no more complaints of slow Internet access.
The Puget Sysatems Echo ll is IMO all the computer most people will need, short of those who do heavy graphics or photo editing. Even then, it would not be woefully inadequate. As expected, build quality is nothing short of superb and the total absence of bloatware is hugely appreciated. Amazingly, the entire system cost with assessories was no more than the Pavilion dv4 once I included the money we wasted on repairs!
If you're looking for a PC that is small in size yet big in performance, the Puget Systems Echo is very much worth a look!
Thanks Jim! And for those that want even smaller, I post a teaser here that we plan to be offering an even smaller version in the next week. Some upcoming pictures can be seen at http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Product-Qualification-Gelid-Slim-Silence-I-Plus-99 . It will not have an internal DVDRW though -- it is too small for that, so that will be provided through a removable USB optical drive. That might make the Echo II to continue to be the most attractive choice to some.
Looks like a great setup for a home office/small office that doesn't need the punch of a more powerful machine.
Once again, I will put in a plug for Puget Systems. I absolutely love my Puget machine, and it continues to work flawlessly, and quietly, despite the heavy loads I place upon it.
Thanks again to Jon and the Puget crew!
--P
Posted by Donna Erhardt on August 21, 2011 at 1:13 PM
Love it!
Posted by Dave Reynell on August 21, 2011 at 1:29 PM
Jim, I just loved your comments. We bought an HP Laptop way back in 2007. It's actually my wife's (I hate it !), and by sheer good fortune it was loaded with XP, which I have found fairly stable.
I am not a fan of laptops so stick to my old, bits and pieces, desktop built up by one of my sons who is a Computer Science graduate.
Speaking of Microsoft, how is it that they ended up dominating the home computer market ? Both Excel and MS Word are frightful examples of "bossy" software ~ I still stick to Word Perfect (the best) and Lotus 123.
Dave
South Africa
Posted by Jim Erhardt on August 21, 2011 at 2:01 PM
Jon, the Echo l size is really cool, especially if you can stuff a "real processor" in there. From what I've read, the hit in performance from an "integrated processor" does not seem to justify the slightly smaller size vs. the Echo ll.
Plenty of external CD/DVD drives to choose from, and all are economical. Truth be told, we rarely use the drive and would have no issue plugging one in to a front USB port when needed - then putting back in a drawer the rest of the time.
Glad to see Puget Systems experimenting with this - the Echo l with a Intel Core i3 2100 DUAL CORE 3.1GHz 65W CPU would be a winner!
Discussion
5 repliesIt was unfortunately encumbered with the MS Vista OS, and as usual with "big name" PCs, loaded with bloatware. It served well for about a year until the cooling fan began making a racket. After spending hours with HP tech support, we ended up shipping it off for a $300 repair. Long story short, that wasn't the last of the problems with this PC, all ending a few months ago when the display decided to cease functioning. At that point, we decided to cut our losses and get another PC.
Of course, we immediately went to the Puget Systems website to check out their laptops. It was then that I noticed their Echo micro-form PCs and after showing it to Donna, we decided to go with a desk top set up.
After a bit of research and email exchanges with Jon Bach, we settled on the Echo ll equipped with a Intel Core i5 2300 QUAD CORE 2.8GHz processor, 8 GB of RAM and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit operating system. We received the new, custom-built PC within 5 business days of placing the order.
After placing our order with Puget Systems, we headed over to the B&H website and purchased a HP LA1905wg 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor, a Logitech K750 Wireless Solar Keyboard and a Logitech M310 Wireless Mouse. We already had a set of Bose Companion 2 Series II Multimedia Speakers that we were using with the self-destructed laptop.
With all of the components on-hand, I set the new system up for Donna on her desk. As was my experience with our previous Puget Systems PC, set up was fast and trouble-free. Best of all, the small form factor PC, small monitor and wireless assessories kept the desk top clean and uncluttered.
In terms of performance, there is simply no comparison to the old laptop; going from the Pavilion dv4 laptop to the Echo ll PC was a huge step up. The Pavilion dv4 had a Windows Experience Index of 3.2 versus an index of 5.2 for the Echo (our Puget Systems work station has a WEI of 5.9). Additonally, instead of using the built-in Wi-Fi, I hard-wired the Echo directly to our router to ensure I had no more complaints of slow Internet access.
The Puget Sysatems Echo ll is IMO all the computer most people will need, short of those who do heavy graphics or photo editing. Even then, it would not be woefully inadequate. As expected, build quality is nothing short of superb and the total absence of bloatware is hugely appreciated. Amazingly, the entire system cost with assessories was no more than the Pavilion dv4 once I included the money we wasted on repairs!
If you're looking for a PC that is small in size yet big in performance, the Puget Systems Echo is very much worth a look!
Jim's edit - make link live
Once again, I will put in a plug for Puget Systems. I absolutely love my Puget machine, and it continues to work flawlessly, and quietly, despite the heavy loads I place upon it.
Thanks again to Jon and the Puget crew!
--P
I am not a fan of laptops so stick to my old, bits and pieces, desktop built up by one of my sons who is a Computer Science graduate.
Speaking of Microsoft, how is it that they ended up dominating the home computer market ? Both Excel and MS Word are frightful examples of "bossy" software ~ I still stick to Word Perfect (the best) and Lotus 123.
Dave
South Africa
Plenty of external CD/DVD drives to choose from, and all are economical. Truth be told, we rarely use the drive and would have no issue plugging one in to a front USB port when needed - then putting back in a drawer the rest of the time.
Glad to see Puget Systems experimenting with this - the Echo l with a Intel Core i3 2100 DUAL CORE 3.1GHz 65W CPU would be a winner!