HP ProLiant ML150 Gen9 review

A compact but powerful tower that’s ideal for SMBs and remote offices

IT Pro Verdict

A low starting price and plenty of room to expand makes this tower server a top choice for growing businesses

Pros

  • +

    Good internal design and expansion potential; E5-2600 v3 Xeon support; Generous storage capacity; Top value

Cons

  • -

    Huge and confusing range of storage options

SMBs looking to upgrade to a purpose-built tower server will find HP's new ProLiant ML150 Gen9 has everything they could possibly want and at a price that'll suit their budget. Measuring a modest 200 x 630 x 432mm (WDH), it supports dual Xeon E5-2600 v3 CPUs, can handle up to 512GB of fast DDR4 memory and has room for 64TB of storage.

Of course, all that doesn't come as standard. HP's Gen9 mantra is buy now, upgrade later so you can add extra components as the need arises.

We review the most basic preconfigured system which costs a shade over 900. This includes a single 1.6GHz E5-2603 v3 Xeon, 4GB of memory and one unpopulated quad LFF cold-swap drive bay.

The ML150 Gen9 offers plenty of room inside for essential upgrades and easy access for maintenance

Dave Mitchell

Dave is an IT consultant and freelance journalist specialising in hands-on reviews of computer networking products covering all market sectors from small businesses to enterprises. Founder of Binary Testing Ltd – the UK’s premier independent network testing laboratory - Dave has over 45 years of experience in the IT industry.

Dave has produced many thousands of in-depth business networking product reviews from his lab which have been reproduced globally. Writing for ITPro and its sister title, PC Pro, he covers all areas of business IT infrastructure, including servers, storage, network security, data protection, cloud, infrastructure and services.