Customer Reviews

HP Pavilion MS214 18.5-Inch Black All-in-One Desktop PC (Windows 7 Home Premium)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I bought this all-in-one because I could not afford the forbbiden fruit version. I am very happy with my decision.
My impteus in buying an all-in-one is that we have a smaller desk now and I needed something with compact profile & minimal external components.

The HP All-In-One serves all my home computing needs & I love the fact that it has built in wireless as we don't have our guest room/office hardwired. After carefully reading the product description, the periferals & monitor specs were noted. If I so choose, I can upgrade to wireless mouse in the future but so far, it has proved to be a non-issue for me. Also, I immediately upgraded to Microsoft Office Home & Student (I'm used to it but I suspect Microsoft Works is just as functional) I was able to justify the upgrade cost of MS Office given the price I paid for the computer. The monitor is a good size & functions as I need it to in addition to tilting horizontaly to whatever viewing preference I may have (though, my needs may be incredibly simple compared to some). It was super easy to set up and within 30 minutes, I had my desktop customized and I was computing. I like Windows 7; I have only used XP professional so I have no idea how it compares to Vista. I'm guessing 7 is head and shoulders above Vista though. I also made back up/install disks as well as a pasword rest jump drive. Beyond that, there was nothing left to do but compute.

Bottom line, the HP All In One PC is fast, functional & a great buy for someone looking for a compact profile desktop computer.

**Update**

I've now had this computer for approx. 8 mos. and I am still just as pleased with it as I was when I first set it up. It's been nothing short of perfect for my basic computing needs. I've not experienced any techinical difficults so far. I'll keep you posted.

I bought this computer and loved it-- this is my updated review--
I made my original review a day or 2 after I got it, I was so happy.
A little over a month later my computer that doesnt have a whole bunch of stuff going on in it nothing....
Blue screened, shut down gave a bunch of error messages,
I called HP support, it was after hours so I got some guy from another country thatI could barely understand but was polite and had me do a complete factory setting restore, I did that my computer worked fine for a day or so.
Then once again, blue screened. I called HP support again, this time was within normal business hours and got a guy that was extremely rude, and I explained my computer is too new to have these issues... he didnt want to listen to me, he had me do something to find my hard drive or something, it failed, he actually told me I did it wrong, so I told him lets do it again, we did and again failed, he said things happen and I have to call with the issue 3 times to get it sent in and fixed........ What is that?!?! Its a brand new computer!! Anyway, I then called Squaretrade thinking maybe they will help and they wont help because HP still warranties it. Needless to say, my computer will not open windows explorer now at all, it just blue screens and restarts over and over... I called HP once again, it is now after hours and the guy said this shouldnt be happening its too new of a computer... but I can send it in and 7-9 business days my computer may be fixed.
I am very unhappy about this.
I AM SO DISAPPOINTED! THIS COMPUTER IS CUTE AND SMALL -
But, this is my first and last HP




--------------------below is my original untouched review -----------








When I order things on Amazon I normally make sure I read the reviews. But at the time I purchased this there was one review and it was a 1 STAR... the person was just upset over a wire I guess...

Anyway,
I have went thru 5 computers in 3 years, each time I bought a new computer there was so many different things I had to do to get it going and it was a pain at times...

I was hesitant on buying an all in one... the thought kind of worried me, like what if there is a minor problem and it all broke or something.....
This is my first HP
I know nothing about computers...

I bought this, and as soon as I got it, I only had to connect 2 cords and the computer was ready to go.
Then about 5 minutes later after registering and getting the free norton trial set up, I was online.
It was so simple!

It comes with a keyboard and mouse
Its very attractive and its a huge monitor it looks great!
Takes up little space and dont have to worry about a big ugly computer tower!

Also this Windows 7 that comes installed is GREAT!
I had Vista and I hated Vista, I also used XP- which was ok, but Windows 7 is amazing!

I am so happy with this purchase!
I also bought the 3 year warranty for $50, hopefully I wont need it, but just in case!!!

I wasn't looking for a heavy duty PC, but something simple and to get the job done. I am a photographer and do minor editing to my works so I didn't need anything major. It has been almost 2 months now since I've had the computer and there hasn't been one issue. I can't say the same for the Dell laptop that replaced this. The first month I had the Dell laptop and there were issues right away. Then again, I take very good care of this computer, and make sure Norton security is always on. My only complaint is the adhesive sticker on the bottom left hand corner. Is it really necessary to have put a sticker there? No. If attempted to remove, it leaves a white residue. So I have left the sticker there. It is a tiny bit of an eyesore. Other then that, the monitor is fantastic. The system run smoothly. And I love Windows 7.

Shortly before Thanksgiving I helped a relative whose previous desktop was on its last legs to pick out a new computer, and we decided that an all-in-one would be good for her small desk and very modest computing needs. We had not tried the HP brand before, but she was not happy with her previous Gateway or Toshiba, so took a chance (as this was really the only all-in-one at a price point she was willing to consider). This one looked nice, was at a decent price, and seemed to have everything she would need. I volunteered to set it up for her, transfer her files over, etc. I don't know how long getting a new computer set up takes other people, but it takes me a couple of days, possibly because I am a perfectionist and not into the techie stuff... I don't know, but I do know that I don't want to do it more than once every couple of years. Therefore, I knew it would take me a while to get this HP customized for my relative, but what I didn't expect was that there would be trouble with the cd/dvd drive when it came to making the recommended back-up disks and the like. That feature wasn't working properly, and I tried it on my own for about 5 attempts over a couple of hours, then I called the HP help line. I ended up spending a total of 8 hours (!) on the phone with these people, 3 different support personnel, probably from 3 different countries, on very crackly phone lines, who each needed to go over the problem again with me from scratch, log in to take over the computer remotely, poke around, have me ruin 5-10 blank disks each time in getting me to attempt to backup various files, and finally admit that they could not solve the problem, before passing the buck and sending me to someone else. The second person said he was forced to take a 20 minute break, and thus had to end our call, and he promised to call me back, and told me to wait with the screen open where we had left his remote session on the desktop. Of course, he never called me back, and he shut down the remote session from his side. I waited an hour and then called the service number again (having been up all night long Thanksgiving night with this, and being at the end of my tether), and got a rude woman who obviously had a cold and was loudly sniffling and moany, who said it was not HP's problem and that it was a software issue that another company was responsible for (a malfunction in the DVD drive and with HP's own automated backup system was not HP's problem?) and she told me if I called them one more time about the issue that they'd charge me $59 an hour for giving me non-essential technical help. I told her that the computer had just been purchased and delivered the day before, and that it should be under warranty, and that the DVD drive was a part of the hardware, whereupon she got into a shouting match with me. I am a very calm person, and usually do not get into shouting matches with anyone, but I was beyond livid, and exhausted, and disappointed at HP's response to a new customer. Anyway, I ended the call, got some sleep, went on with setting up the other areas of the computer, and I managed to do what I was trying to do with the DVD backup in a different way. The DVD drive hasn't been used since (my relative mainly surfs the internet and uses email on her computer) and otherwise, in the 6 weeks or so that she's had it, my relative is happy with the computer. It turns on and shuts down much faster than her old Vista Gateway and is sleeker, simpler. One surprise was that the screen space was smaller than her old monitor - diagonally they are nearly the same, but the HP's actual useable screen is like an inch shorter vertically (much more rectangular than her old monitor, which used all the screen space it possibly could vertically), which really makes a difference visually, but again, she's a light user, so it's okay.

What a great buy. Great space saver. Comes fully loaded, all I had to do was plug it in. Easy! More manufacturers should build an all-in-one wireless that's not a laptop at such a very reasonable price.

Good computer. Easy to unpack and set up. I can run Napster, Explorer, Word, etc. at the same time without experiencing any slowdown. So far it's been fine for my pedestrian needs and it is an attractive computer.

I have been using now for about six weeks. Wanted to wait before posting a review. Easy set up and does the job without the tower. This is an in between type computer-not a laptop but no longer has the tower. HP advertises this product as such. In use in my office, so I have the space for a tower but this takes care of that with the all in one unit. I had to call HP service for one problem and it was handled to my satisfaction. Had to purchase a new printer-(brother 2140) because my old HP inkjet(too old) would not work with Windows 7. Purchased through Amazon and their price was more competitive than HP site. If you are looking for a good bang for the buck computer-give this one a try.

Well a year later I am thoroughly disgusted. Most of the software were trial periods and are now expired, I have a worthless computer with no usable software. HUGE PIECE OF CRAP. so much for my research.

I did quite a bit of research before I decided to buy this particular computer. It was wrapped and put under the tree so I had to wait almost a month to open it. I have to say that we are VERY happy with this computer. I love not having a bulkly tower lurking under the desk. It has everything we wanted.

I bought this computer and really enjoyed it at the beginning. I wanted the lightscribe for my photo dvds and thought that was cool. However I started to notice within 3 months or so my disc drive wasnt refreshing in the my computer section. I called them up a short time later and we went through some steps and for a while it worked normally. We went through this a few times over the first year, they told me some registry things or something of that nature were corrupted and needed fixing etc etc etc... Im no tech support genius so I had to take it as they knew what they were talking about... I even purchased the $15 recovery disc set as they said things may be corrupted and need to be redone.. It wouldnt read the recovery discs.. giving me the please insert a disc prompt.. I figured maybe I was inserting bad discs etc. So I ahd them send me replacement discs. Some discs worked some didn't. Finally it stopped reading most discs.. So I went to the support site and followed the support directions since it is now out of warranty.. I follow them all the way to step 8 at which point it tells me I more than likely have a bad disc drive.. I call support again.. hoping with the history of my support calls, that they will see, "Hey this guys drive has been dying the whole time we just never addressed the real problem..." Nope. But they did offer to sell me a new drive for $118. And the "we can diagnose the issue for you for $49.99 so you have piece of mind knowing what is wrong.." at this point I hung up.

Im only giving it 2 stars, and I realize part of that is my fault for not knowing enough about computers. Upon looking up that specific part it is obvious it has issues that they more than likely knew about. Im including the part so that people can look it up for themselves before buying.. I only burned maybe 10 dvd discs before it was no longer functional.. Buyer Beware.. of this computer and HP support staff.

-TSSTcorp-CDDVDW-TS-L633M DVD drive w/lightscribe will not read discs-

I bought this computer in December, and for the reasons I bought it I was worth the purchase. It fit the limited space I was using for the PC. A couple of months after use, the computer starting restarting on it's own, and became too persistent to be able to use the machine. At that point I called support. My experience with HP support is much like others have noted, many hours spent on the phone, and some what repetitive, individuals that were difficult to understand and crackling connections (yet not much different from other electronic support). The support process is frustrating if you have some PC experience. After reformatting the OS and replacing the hard drive, the machine went back. I will say I was very pleased with the turn around time of the repair, they replaced the cable to the hard drive and sent it back to me the same day. The machine worked good for another couple of months when the monitor went black, this time I spent only an hour with support to get them to agree that the machine had to be sent back. Since there are very few removable part, if repair/support is needed, it is likely the machine with have to got to HP for warranty work. I have used Compaq and HP desktops, servers , laptops and printers for many years and would not sway me away from their products, yet this machine was not one of their better devices and seems to need some improvement.