HP Pavilion Media Center a1350n Desktop PC (AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+, 1 GB RAM,

by HP

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 17 x 7.2 x 15 inches ; 24 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 33 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000E3E0YK
• Item model number: EL472AA#ABA
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,194 in Computers & Accessories (See Top 100 in Computers & Accessories)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: January 15, 2006

Product Description

When speed, power, storage and performance are needed for today and tomorrow (while balancing your budget), the HP Pavilion a1350n Desktop PC delivers them all - and then some. 9-in-1 Mrdia Card Reader with 4 slots - Compact Flash I / Compact Flash II / SmartMedia / Memory Stick / Memory Stick Pro / MultiMediaCard / SD Secure Digital / Micro Drive / XD Picture Card RJ11 PCI K56Flex Data Fax Modem / RJ45 10/100 Ethernet Network Interface Connections - Front - Media Reader, 1 1394 Firewire, 2 USB, 1 Headphone, 1 Line In, 1 Mic / Back - PS/2 (keyboard, mouse) Two, VGA One, Parallel One, USB Four, IEEE1394 One, RJ45, RJ11, Audio (line-in, line-out, microphone) One each PCI Slots - PCI Three (Two available) / PCI Express x16 One (One available) Drive Bays - 5.25 external Two (None available) / 3.5 external Two (One available) / 3.5 internal One (None available) HP Keyboard and Mouse Operating System - Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 with Update Rollup 2 / Microsoft Service Pack 2 Suite of pre-installed software includes (partial list) - WinDVD 5 Player Basic (with optional 7.1 upgrade); Sonic DigitalMedia Plus 7.04; Adobe Reader; Microsoft Works 8.0; Microsoft Office 2003 Student Teacher Edition Trial; Microsoft Money 2005; Quicken New User Edition 2006; HP ImageZone 5; Norton Internet Security 2005 AntiSpyware Edition (60-day security update subscription); Norton Security Center; PC-Doctor 5 for Windows; Microsoft Internet Explorer HP US Warranty - Hardware parts and labor One Year from date of purchase; Technical telephone assistance One Year from date of purchase; Recovery CD's One Year (recommend use of CD Creator to make CD set) / Software media replacement 90 Days (on media shipped in box from factory); Software application support 90 Days Monitor is not included

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect PC for the Price, March 31, 2006

By 

Hey Its That Dude! (Detroit, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: HP Pavilion Media Center a1350n Desktop PC (AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+, 1 GB RAM, (Personal Computers)

For $850, this computer trumps all the others in it's price range.

I was originally planning on buying a Dell even though I'm fully capable of building a computer myself. The family doesn't "trust me" to build a computer and wants some type of warranty. This computer, the Pavilion a1350n, passes up most of the Dell's line-up due to the Dual-Core Athlon X2 processor. This processor flies. (Its amazing how you can have 70 processes going on and the CPU Usage doesn't even pass 60%, I'm not lying!) The computer starts up within 20 seconds, isn't noisy at all, and you never have to wait for anything.

The Pavilion a1350n comes with an LG Dual Layer CD/DVD Writer (HP DVD740i/b is the name in Windows XP) that works with tons of different DVD-/+R, DVD-/+RW, or DVD-/+RDL media. Never had any burn errors when making a DVD or CD.

If your one of those hardcore computer gamers, then you only need a video card, preferrably ATI, and your set. I upgraded to an ATI Radeon X850XT ($179 on the web) and now Im doing great. Mind you, the on-board graphics will work with all the games out now too so, adding a video card is only for the gamers.

The computer comes with a bunch of software from HP Photo editing, MS Office 2003, MS Works, Sonic DVD Creation, WinDVD to watch DVDs, and much more. Windows Media Center is great for the family but, the computer geeks will wanna throw on XP Professional.

There have been ZERO problems with this computer, it still hasn't froze on me yet, and it still hasn't slowed down on me. The computer is totally upgradable for the future (Plenty of space on the inside). HP's tech support is much more responisive and "able to handle problems" then people think, but the great thing about this computer is...You won't even need to call them...9.5/10 so far.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I'm mostly happy with it, March 30, 2006

By 

J. Schmidt (Philadelphia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: HP Pavilion Media Center a1350n Desktop PC (AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+, 1 GB RAM, (Personal Computers)

Pros:

This computer is very quiet. I have it set up on the desk right next to me - there is perhaps 3 feet distance between my ears and the back of the unit - and it hardly ever calls attention to itself. The two fans are quiet and unobtrusive, and the built-in hard disk is inaudible. I have to crane my head around and look at the drive-indicator light to tell if the hard disk is being used, because I can't hear it with the level of typical background noise in this room.

Everything works perfectly. The drives that came with it are fine, the hard disk is fine, the "fit and finish" of the tower itself is nice.

Cons:

The keyboard and mouse seem a bit cheaply-constructed. I'm using my old keyboard and mouse from a 7-year old Compaq computer, and they work and feel as good as the day I bought them. HPs keyboard/mouse feels weak and cheap and I have declined to use them - they're packed away as spares.

It is very difficult to find out exactly what HP gives you when you buy this thing. It comes with 2 512K memory cards, instead of a single 1 gig card, for instance. This means that you have 2 memory slots taken up with less-than-optimal sized memory cards.

There are no recovery disks. The OS and bundled software comes on the hard disk and is dearchived and installed the first time you power up the system. You will need to create a set of recovery disks in case you have a hard drive crash or other problem that would necessitate re-installing the OS. You'll need approx 20 CD-Rs to do this (or two DVD-Rs).

Notes:

The bundled software is less-than desirable. There is nothing included (except for Win XP itself, which is a wonderful OS) that is of any real use to anybody. All the included programs will need to be replaced by better programs if you plan to do any serious work.

HP bundles some junk with the system - special offers for internet providers, for instance. Norton anti virus that requires a subscription after a 60-day trial. Et cetera.

This does not come with a monitor or speakers. You'll have to buy them separately.

I have not tried the (free) telephone support service, or any of HPs other avenues of support, because I have had absolutely no problems. I also own an HP printer which has been trouble-free and has worked perfectly.

All in all, I like it.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Machine!, March 2, 2006

By 

Fred Rayworth (Las Vegas, NV United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: HP Pavilion Media Center a1350n Desktop PC (AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+, 1 GB RAM, (Personal Computers)

I've had this machine for two weeks now and it works great! I have not had any problems with it except once in a while it reverts from 32 bit graphics to 16 bit. But I consider this a minor complaint and it may not be the fault of the computer.

It has all the bells and whistles I'm interested in except for the on board sound but I can't really complain about that since I am not power using it for musical applications, at least not yet.

One reason I got it was to play certain games and with that dual core processor and an installed X700 video card, it works great. I am playing Morrowind for the third time just because the graphics look so good. I can't wait to see how it performs with Oblivion.

If you are a gamer, you MUST install a good video card because the on board graphics are just enough to get you by and not good for gaming. That is not really a complaint though since almost none of the production model computers come with video cards. Plus, it gives you the choice of which card will be best for you.

A great machine!