ALKHOBAR, 10 June 2008 ­— In the next month or so local consumers and businesses will be overwhelmed as most major hardware vendors bring in new models in both the desktop and laptop computer sectors. The Middle East is a market that’s still growing across all price points and verticals, as many other world markets face slowdowns or worse.

Dell is introducing its green, small business machine. This is its first Energy Smart Vostro desktop, that combines performance and expandability in a system designed exclusively for small businesses. The latest in a series of energy-efficient products, the Vostro 410 starts at $600 and saves up to 47 percent in annual energy costs.

“Small businesses are increasingly concerned about rising energy costs,” said Sameh El-Deeb, client product manager, Dell Middle East. “With the Energy Smart Vostro desktop, we’re able to save our customers money and collectively cut down on CO2 emissions, while delivering the features and functionality they require — especially high-performance processing power, graphics technology, fast networking and maximum expandability.”

Direct customer feedback guided Dell to design and deliver the Vostro 410 desktop six months earlier in the product cycle than originally planned. Customer-driven enhancements include:

•Intel Core2 Quad processors, 512MB graphics cards and 800MHz system memory;

•A larger “tower” design to allow the desktop to grow according to business needs with space for up to four hard drives vs. two in the Vostro 400 and up to 3TB of local storage and memory;

•More expansion slots (six vs. standard four) and bays (four vs. standard three), holding up to six PCIe/PCI graphics cards to increase configuration flexibility; and

•Gigabit Ethernet for fast wired network access.

In addition, Vostro customers can take advantage of Dell’s new services portfolio, ProSupport, which gives them the ability to customize and tailor services to fit their technical expertise and business needs. With growing demand for mobile technology among small businesses, Dell also recently announced its refreshed line of Vostro laptops. For more information, visit http://www.dell.com/me/vostro-notebook, and share your feedback on the new small-business blog.

HP has also joined the “green team,” introducing a new business desktop designed with the environment in mind to help companies increase the reliability and reduce the environmental impact of their PCs. The HP Compaq dc5800 Business PC provides power and flexibility, as well as a variety of environmental features that allows it to meet the most stringent environmental requirements of the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) Gold registry. HP currently tops the industry in the number of Gold-listed products in the EPEAT registry. The EPEAT registry (www.epeat.net) helps businesses evaluate, compare and select technology products based on their environmental attributes.

“HP’s ongoing efforts to design for the environment has spanned decades,” said Louay Helaby, business desktops category manager, HP Middle East. “HP leverages the expertise built from this longstanding commitment to continually develop smart ideas for its desktop and other product lines that can help business customers not only be more productive, but also reduce both operating costs and their effect on the environment.”

The new HP Compaq dc5800 Business Desktop PC, is available in both a redesigned small form factor and a microtower PC design. It comes with energy efficient features, including the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors, a preloaded Verdiem SURVEYOR remote power management software agent and an 80PLUS Power Supply delivering maximum energy efficiency to help dc5800 customers reduce processor heat and energy costs, as well as manage power and sleep settings more efficiently to increase the useful life of the PC.

The HP Compaq dc5800 Business PC is also now equipped to with additional manageability and security features to help better protect IT investments. Available features include access to a suite of client management tools from a single integrated console, a minimum 12-month product lifecycle, a single software image designed for use across the entire platform, regardless of model or configuration, and worldwide configurations for consistent deployment for global corporations.

The dc5800 security options include embedded TPM 1.2 to help provide enhanced data protection and limit system access through hardware-based encryption. Optional HP ProtectTools security software further enhances an IT infrastructure’s first line of defense.

While HP and Dell focus on business, Fujitsu Siemens Computers (FSC) is pushing forward with its new consumer product line: AMILO 3000. FSC calls its response to the challenges in the IT consumer market “Smart Differentiation.” Herbert Schonebeck, senior vice president consumer & devices at Fujitsu Siemens Computers, presented the concept at a press conference in Frankfurt. The company is focusing on improving trade cooperation processes and providing a broader based service offering combining technical innovations with a completely new, uniform design language. The first products in the new AMILO 3000 series were unveiled in Frankfurt.

“The design and other improvements in the AMILO 3000 line are not trendy gimmicks or short-term fads. Our investments are long-term and will enable us to strengthen and develop our position as the largest European provider in the consumer market,” said Schonebeck. “We also benefit from our proximity to the customer. Our Research & Development plus quality laboratories in Augsburg and Smmerda enable us to react swiftly to customer feedback.”

The AMILO 3000 line — from the entry-level model to the USB stick — is uniformly designed in contrasting black and white. The new FSC desktop PCs will be available in several formats ranging from the sleek entry-level PC to the high performance gaming machine. The new notebooks, depending on the model, will include a high-resolution camera for web conferencing, BrilliantView widescreen format and a Blu-ray drive for DVD home cinema. A main attraction for power gamers and multimedia fans in the notebooks is the stylish GraphicBooster. Its small, square design easily turns the notebook into a powerful graphics station. Each notebook comes with a special FSC spill-proof keyboard that makes light work of any spilled drinks. All the notebooks and PCs are equipped with interfaces designed for fast and easy working, such as card readers and ports at the front.

Along with the AMILO 3000 line, FSC also announced that it will be relocating an additional part of its production to Asia, thus combining the advantages of German engineering quality with those of Asian cost efficiency. Production in Germany is still possible though when high levels of flexibility and short reaction times are required.