Should HP support S.M.A.R.T. for consumer systems?

While wanting to get more bang for the buck, I handsomely configured online a HP Pavilion Elite HPE-410t for $908.99.

 

An HP sales rep suggested a "Smart Buy" system called a HP Pro 3130 MT for $859.00.  Without getting into the specs of each system, let's just say the HPE-410t had better/faster everything. 

 

The trick is the HP rep said the Elite is a consumer-grade product which doesn't support S.M.A.R.T. technology.
"NO SMART HDD TECHNOLOGY", he says and supplied a powerpoint slideshow to compare Commercial vs. Consumer.  I haven't been able to find a url for this .ppt online. Not a surprise.

 

While reading the list of Commercial benefits (ie. Legacy OS Support XP Pro, 5 yr warranties available, longer life cycles, TAA compliant, SMART HDD Technology, etc.), everything seemed reasonable that the Consumer grade product would not necessarily need those added values - everything except for one important thing: Data Integrity!

 

To me, by not supporting S.M.A.R.T. for consumers, HP is admitting that the ubiquitous S.M.A.R.T. technology of today is not important to enable for non-commercial users.  Is data integrity not important for Granny and Pappy?  HummPpf!!

 

I don't know if HP is deliberately disabling (crippling) their BIOS to not support S.M.A.R.T.  Perhaps they are only supporting a subset of the features and market the systems as completely unsupported.  Or HP could be installing pre-crippled OEM hard drives (I really hope Western Digital isn't playing this game). 

 

I am disheartened with HP as I thought they were getting smart.  Shame.  This is 2010, not 2000.  Support S.M.A.R.T. already!