Customer Reviews

HP Pavilion A1700N Desktop PC (AMD Athlon Processor 3800 Plus, 1 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, SuperMulti DVD Drive, Vista Premium)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Good value for the price I paid. I bought it for use on office work and internet surfing. It's not too flashy, but it could use another Gig of RAM. All complaints I have about it so far stem from the Vista operating system, not the PC itself.

Examples of my troubles:
I had to hunt to find out how to create a system restore disk (my last few PC's were annoyingly in my face telling me to make one... I miss that).
It often won't stay in sleep mode.
It took me almost 2 hours to get my usb connected printer working because I as the administrator didn't have the authority to print.

Also, I expected the 64 bit version of Vista to come pre loaded (since it has a 64 bit processor) but it didn't. I don't know whether to blame Microsoft or HP for that.

For an after rebate price of just a little more than 3x the price of Windows Vista Premium itself, you can get this fine speedy computer in your home.

I did upgrade the computer to 2GB of RAM and added a stand-alone video card and this runs Vista with Aero interface flawlessly. Although the AMD Athlon 64 X2 cpus trail Intel Core 2 counterparts in performance, the difference would be unnoticable.

The case of the computer is very neatly designed for trouble free upgrades, the bundled software is useful and support from HP is excellent. I'd highly recommend it for anyone looking for a real fast computer for a budget price.

And as always Amazon had it at my door in a few days without charging for shipping.

I admit, I've been spoiled for the last couple years by my HP Media Center PC (XP), model number m1070n. It's an electronics nerd's dream come true. It's got all kinds of inputs and outputs for RCA plugs and every other plug you could ever imagine. It even has USB receptacles for computer geeks. It does just about anything pertaining to movies, music, and photography. When I first received it, I was as happy as the time I got my first reel-to-reel (mono) tape deck back in 1965!

So, when I wanted an additional computer, I did some on-line researching and discovered the A1700n. It sounded like a great deal: Does everything my HP Media Center does, and at a great price. And, it's that new Windows Vista everyone's talking about. So I bought an A1700n and a new printer.

I figured that Vista was just XP done better. Boy was I wrong. Vista is difficult for me to figure out. It seems unnecessarily complicated. And it doesn't come with an instruction book. It's sort of like placing XP into a 1964 Rambler, smashing it at 70 miles per hour into a brick wall, pouring the contents out into a new computer carcass, and calling it Vista.

Not a one of my three printers and two scanners are compatible with Vista.
As a matter of fact, the new printer I bought when I obtained the A1700n disabled the DVD/CD drive. So, I had to do the recovery process on the A1700n almost immediately after taking it out of the box. Now all of my printers and scanners are rigged up to, you guessed it, my good ol' HP Media Center XP PC.

Additionally I was told at my local computer store, that they have no software or equipment in yet that is compatible with Vista, with the exception of some income tax software, --maybe.

As for all the A1700n's bells and whistles, let me say this. Almost every "feature" included with it (except for Windows Media Player) is just a minimal "taste test" version, with an offering of a download enhancement available for a fee.

Additionally, forget trying to hook up your old VCR or camcorder to the A1700n. There are no RCA jacks for doing so. You can only transfer video from a digital video camera by use of a firewire or USB port. It is suggested that old VCRs can be routed through some digital camcorders, which in turn are connected to the A1700n. That's "some" digital camcorders.

I strongly suggest that anyone who may be interested in the A1700n (or Vista for that matter) go check it out at his or her local computer store before making a purchase.

Thank you for reading this, and have a good day.

I bought the computer for gaming, mainly Flightsims, and for a basic computer for the price it is excellent.

The memory can be up graded to 4 gig, It is 2 core, has Vista premium, which stand alone can cost 200 dollars.

I have put a new video card in it (Nvidea 7600, 256) in the PC express slot. It about doubled, the speed from 3.0 to 5.5. They shipped mine with a 4200+ processor, which was a added suprise. The rebate takes about 8 weeks, but I did get it.

It should have a higher power Power supply, which is 300watt, and I am up gradeing it to 550watt, this can make a big difference, because the more you add on the more power it takes to run. At the present time there is not a cheap video card for Vista or Direct X 10. About the cheapest is [...] dollars,

The real nice thing about this computer, you can up grade it, without a problem. I figure 2 more gig of memory will cost me 100 dollars, power supply 59 dollars, and it will run anything on Vista. The machine runs very cool, I alway take off one side of the case, for better cooling.

I searched all over before I bought this computer and for the price and features, plus free shipping and no taxes,[...] dollar rebate, and support of Amazon, it just couldn't be beat!

The HP Pavilion A1700N Desktop PC (AMD Athlon Processor 3800 Plus, 1 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, SuperMulti DVD Drive, Vista Premium) was an excellent buy for the buck. Right at $600, I couldn't have asked for a better computer. The only complaint, as with most packaged factory computers, there isn't enough RAM for the operating system. Vista runs alright with 1GB, but I think everything would load and run much more faster and smooth with another gig in it.

Originally intended to build my machine, but this was cheaper. The A1700 runs the best features of Vista; Aero, 3d Flip straight from the box. Intial boot and Set up is lenghty and broadband is recommended for the updates.
For a Micro-Tower PC the internal case & component layout is well thought out, the Motherboards is a custom ASUS build. The DDR2 memory is fast and the integrated graphics GeForce 6150 LE chipset (128mb) has a heatsink (no fan) but still runs very fast and comps very well with most basic graphics cards. You can upgrade the video card, but if you aren't going to buy a card with at least 512mb or more, your Windows Performance Index score won't move much. A ram upgrade would probably give you the same boost. Being DDR2 you should probably upgrade the ram in matched pairs, which explains why HP installed 2x512mb chips instead of 1x1gb chip.
The HP performance care installed is a bit annoying, and being new to Vista I find it distracting on startup. The sleep mode seems to be buggy, but it maybe the software I transfered over from my old computer & not the Motherboard / Vista interaction.
Overall, the HP compared favorably over a similar Dell build and was slightly cheaper with rebate, but Dell often bundles Monitors, so price them out.
If I do upgrade my video card, the 300 watt power supply will have to changed as well, but haven't run into a program that has given me a reason to do so yet, I don't play games.
Keyboard controls for the DVD / CD combo are nice. Mouse is cheap but functional.
My major issues have been with Vista and the Easy Transfer process which took 3 times & 9 hours to complete. I used my router to create a home network between my old xp system and the HP a1700n pc via ethernet and the data & settings finally came over but I had to reinstall all my software and my 6 month old printer still doesn't work but, that's a lexmark / vista driver issue not HP. If this is still available, and you need a fast midrange system, with a big hard drive I would recommend this.

I am sure the components of this HP computer are ok. However, overshadowing this possible capability is the fact that VISTA is not ready for primetime! Multiple hassles from HP internet sign up boxes that NEVER GO AWAY, to invalid Microsoft Vista key registration nightmares, to intolerable and ever apologetic customer support from overseas make this experience NOT WORTH IT. I am very capable with tech, having wired my house and created a network with a 16 hub switch and network printer with 8 computers, BUT I HAD TO RELY ON HP paid support 'SMART FRIEND' @ $69 for 45 minutes (which was not enough) to get this newest addition onto the Network ( it still does not see the printer, which is HP as well, and i refused to "recharge" my minutes for another $69). I gave this computer to my five year old instead of searching for drivers for the rest of my life!! I am shopping for a used XP machine before they disappear!!

Folks,
I've been quite happy with my HP a1700n overall, BUT I have had a problem with the sleep mode. I.e., I put it to sleep, and when I click on the mouse to bring it back, the screen goes black and I have to reboot.
After a lot of reading tech blogs and posts, I have finally figured it out--the problem is with a recent update to the driver for the Nvidia GeForce 6150 LE graphics card (which comes standard with the computer). It gets updated automatically, through either the Windows or HP updater.
Nvidia posts old versions of the drivers, and the one you need is here: [...]
Download the old driver, use Device Manager to choose it, and Sleep works again.
So I'm back to 4 stars, and on a good day, 5 stars.

I really like it when I bought it. I also like the color silver on the computer. It runs great!! I would recommend anyone wanting a new computer and for a great price.

We purchased the computer about a year ago and have been very satisfied. Yes, you get what you pay for and it is very BASIC. Switching from XP to Vista was OK - actually, we like Vista more and more! We added RAM a few months ago and it runs everything much faster - of course. Overall, we are satisfied... though HP Help could be a little better. For an inexpensive computer, it does everything we purchased it for. No problems so far...