Customer Reviews

HP Pavilion A6230N Desktop PC (AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor 5600+, 3 GB RAM, 400 GB Hard Drive, Vista Premium)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The HP Pavilion a6230n is an impressive desktop as of this writing (October, 2007). The AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ dual-core processor is a fast processor giving similar performance to the Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 processor for much less money. In fact, the only Intel processors that perform much better than the 5600+ are the Intel Quad-core processors ... and the "cheapest" quad-core desktops cost $400 more than this desktop.

3GB of RAM and a 400GB SATA hard drive certainly help with performance in Vista, but Vista performance would be even better with a dedicated video card. Speaking of which, the a6230n has plenty of internal space for expansion. There is an open 5-inch drive bay and an open 3.5-inch drive bay, two PCI slots (one is used by the dial-up modem but I removed it and replaced it with a sound card since I don't use dial-up), one PCI-E x1 card slot and one PCI-E x16 card slot.

Of course, you can also add a pocket media drive to the front bay ... nice for transporting large files.

The only minor flaw with this desktop is that the a6230n only comes with a 300 watt power supply unit. You really need to replace it with a 500 watt (or larger) power supply if you plan to add more drives, expansion cards, or a good dedicated graphics card. If you only plan to use the computer "as-is" then the 300 watt power supply is more than enough.

And one last thing ... Windows Vista is NOT as bad as many people say. Yes, you have to spend at least one full day changing default settings if you want it to run better than a machine with Windows XP, but Vista is a much better operating system once you change the default settings.

Unfortunately, Microsoft selected a lot of stupid default settings in order to "protect" people who don't understand computers. If you are one of those people (someone who doesn't understand computers) then you will be very well protected by all of the default settings in Vista. However, if you are a "power user" (someone who knows what "msconfig" or "disk defragmentation" means) then you can easily change the default settings in Vista to make things fast and enjoyable.

If you want to learn about improving Vista performance just do a Google search for "Vista tweaks."

Anyway, back to the a6230n ... it's a GREAT desktop. Buy one. I did.

The good: Blazing fast, quiet, well-made, ton of disk space, great price, $50 rebate.

The so-so: Room inside of case is non-existent (difficult to add additional DVD/CD ROM drive), not enough PCI slots, no wireless keyboard/mouse, Windows Vista.

I just received it a few weeks ago, and for the money, it was the best deal out there. I originally wanted to purchase the a6130n from Best Buy, and they jerked me around, plus it was in short supply. The salesperson told me that the a6230n would be available at the end of September for about the same price, so I decided to 1) wait, and 2) try Amazon, as I was not going to give BB a dime of my money. The PC arrived 4 days before it was scheduled, and I had no issues with it out of the box. I had it up and running in no time (added an extra SATA DVD ROM drive and wireless keyboard/mouse and network card). The onboard video card is average, but for most folks who aren't PC gamers, it should suffice. I looked at Gateway (more expensive), Dell and Sony (even more expensive, less power), Compaq and IBM (underpowered and few features) and Acer (yeah, right) and the a6230n is the best bang for the buck available.

This is a lot of computer for the money. HP seems to be the most generous company with their computer configurations. You can find a cheaper Dell but would spend hundreds to increase the RAM, hard drive, etc.

This system would be great for games, with an updated graphics card of course. Just note, as several reviews do, that will need to replace the power supply to support any modern video card. It is not difficult, although it can be a pain to get to without removing cards. It is a shame that all the big names cheap out on the power supply. It is kind of disingenuous to have all that potential expandability without the available power.

Just got this machine, in my third day using it. Lots of speed and capacity, and nice and quiet. Vista takes some getting used to but that's not HP's fault. I wish it came with system recovery disks, you have to make your own. The only notable faults I see right now are (1) the keyboard and (mechanical, not optical) mouse are real cheap, and the graphics card is exceptionally low performance, all not in keeping with the high caliber of the rest of this system.

The rest remains to be seen. My last desktop, also an HP, had some big hardware failures and incurred lots of expense, plus it is immensely frustrating dealing with HP technical support on the phone; some of them mumble and whisper in a thick foreign accent and then get mad or impatient when you can't understand them. Unfortunately the alternative brands are worse.

Generally I'm happy with this machine right now, and the price is reasonable.

I purchased on 10.22.07. Computer runs well and I have not had any problems with VISTA.

However, the DVD may be defective/scratch discs/need replacement.

Go to HP.COM and type "TS-H653N" in Search field and you will see:

"HP has recently discovered that some TSST TS-H653N DVDRW SuperMulti drives may scratch discs.

"Only certain serial numbers of PC models listed below are potentially affected. PC models with TSST TS-H653N DVDRW SuperMulti drives..."

The A6230N is one of the models listed (there are others).

Got this the day after I ordered it.
This computer is fast and does what I need for it to do.
I did change the power supply to a 535w and also added a video card so I could use the DVI input on my monitor.
So far Vista hasn't been bad like I was expecting. A little getting used to, but runs fine.
You can't go wrong with this computer for the price. You seem to get more bang for your buck with an HP.

I would highly recommend this product. Performance is very good for everyday tasks as e-mail, word processing, spreadsheets, etc. However, if you are planning to use it for games, I recommend you buy a better video card.
Finally, everything you have heard about Windows Vista does not begin to accurately describe the experience. I guess the pressure to put the product in the market after such a long wait was overwhelming, and it shows. If you can, I suggest you "downgrade" to Windows XP. Less learning curve, much better performance and you will be happier.

I bought this computer from a store in November of 2007 and have been very happy with it. It is fast and at a good price (though it was discounted more in November).
Although I might have preferred xp, vista is not that bad. I have had very little compatibility issues, and it seems reasonably fast. (vista)

I added another optical drive to this computer and the power supply handles it fine.

This has an integrated Nvidia GeForce 6150SE nForce 430 graphics chip.

Pros:
-Good front ports and memory card reader

-Quiet, especially the dvd burner which is excellent

-Good looking case, with a well designed inside. (only inside)

-Runs games well. However, if you are looking to run a game like Battlefield 2 and a medium to high setting, a graphics card and a better power supply is recommended.

Cons: Nothing big but there are a few things that hp could have fixed easily, mostly with the case.

-The power button is on top and easy to hit, so if you have it set to turn off it is easy to bump while plugging something in and helplessly watch your computer shut down.

-If you don't use the keyboard they give you, then there is no way to close the dvd drive after opening it because the flap that covers the drive is pushed open, which has the button on it. Since I don't like to push it shut, I downloaded a program called CD eject tool which creates and icon in the taskbar that opens and shuts the drive.

-Underpowered. I added a dvd drive with no trouble, but the power supply is not weak enough for real expansion.

Bottom line:
This is a great computer, but it could have been made better. It really deserves a four and a half.

Glad to listen to the expert advise in getting more Ram with this unit to run on Windows Vista Home Premium,so far all went well with plenty of speed and memory.Good unit, better price then a simular Dell unit,very quiet good performer.

I don't know which is faster: this computer or your service. I used the Super Saver delivery option and the machine was still delivered only 2 days after I placed the order. As for the speed of the computer, I'm amazed. I won't get into technical stuff. I'll just say that software that used to take at least half an hour to load was ready to go in about a quarter of that time...or less. Unless there are unforseen problems, I can't imagine replacing this HP for a long, long time.