Customer Reviews

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

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

 

 

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.

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.

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!

I did a lot of research on this PC, and it's proving to be everything I thought it would. Fast, quiet, lots of features. Amazon offered a great price, minus the sales tax and shipping, so even "comparision shopping" with local stores, there simply was no comparision, especially when you know what you wanted, and I did.

I've had this computer for a few months now and haven't had any problems with it. It performs nicely and is very quiet, though I haven't really stressed it that much. But it has no issues whatsoever with normal usage, and is consistently snappy. I tried running Ubuntu Linux on top of Windows XP using VMWare, and it continued to perform just fine.

The AMD dual-core processor has a low-power mode that you can activate by choosing "Max Battery" under the Power Options control panel, and that will keep your CPU speed down and the fan extra quite when the CPU is not being used much (which is really most of the time).

The CD/DVD writer works just fine and is quite fast. Ripping CDs on iTunes is very fast, 20-25x, since iTunes uses both processor cores.

One big red flag for some people is that the included media reader (which has slots for 5 or 6 types of card) for some incomprehensible reason is NOT USB 2.0 compatible; even though there's a true USB 2.0 port right on it. So you'll be much better off connecting devices like digital cameras through their USB cable than using the memory cards directly on the computer. I don't know why HP would do this, I've seen posts from some angry customers about it.

The built-in video card is probably fine for most people for normal usage, but if you want to play games or do anything very nice you'll be better of installing a nice PCI-Express video card yourself.

The construction itself is somewhat cheap; I noticed that inside some components were slightly misaliagned, and even the hp logo on the front was a bit crooked. You can tell that they were cutting costs during manufacturing to keep the price down, so don't expect a perfectly constructed box.

Finally, as someone mentioned already, the bundled software is pretty useless and bloated. I wiped the hard-drive upon arrival and installed a copy of Windows XP Pro I had from the old computer that this one replaced. The only issue was that finding all the drivers wasn't that simple. HP only provides drivers for Windows XP Media Center (which it comes with), and the motherboard is by Asus, but a custom-made one that has no support or drivers through their website. I had to dig through the specs and so forth to find drivers.

All in all I think it's a great value for the low cost, especially given the fact that you are getting a very snappy dual-core processor.

I set out a few weeks ago to build a cheap computer, so I went over to newegg and priced out a basic case, Asus motherboard, 250GB hard drive, an AMD 64bit processor (in order to be able to run Microsoft Vista when it is launched next year), the DVD burner, 1 gb memory, and of course the operating system. It totaled well over $700, and fell short of this model by HP in the list of features, so I figured I would go ahead and buy this one. I'm pretty savvy on the computer, and don't care much for the HP brand (they do make excellent printers..), but figured the guts of this machine are pretty good components. Within a year, I will probably have added other components and swapped out still others, but it serves as a good starting point for this. I paired it with the Acer AL2216W screen - for which the onboard graphics from the Asus MB are just fine.

It came with Media Center (which I really don't need, but some of the added features are ok). What really drives me crazy is all the crap HP installs on the machine - I almost re-formatted it right out of the box to get rid of it all. This machine is probably great for everyday use and the Internet, Word applications, etc., however when I try to run AutoCAD or Photoshop, I find it rather slow, and it tends to crash too frequently for a brand new machine - like once or twice a week (granted some of this is a Microsoft Windows problem). I will add a separate graphics card, and another gig of RAM, and this may clear up some problems.

I used to be an Intel fan, and my last 6 or 7 machines have been Intel based, but this go around, I figured I'd give AMD a shot - 64 bit processor was a must and the AMD was a whole lot cheaper than the Intel equivalent. While I don't claim to say this machine is the best on the market, I gave it 4 stars because it was only $500 and change, and I feel I got almost exactly what I paid for. If you have a little more money to spend, I would have to look at some of the Alienware systems or Dell, but I would buy this again at the same price point.

I bought this machine almost new in the box. It had been at a Discount Electronics Warehouse and was only a few months old. I won't ask why or where it came from (wink, wink).

Anyway, the specs on it were just what I needed, and I was planning to put XP64 on it anyway, so I really didn't care that it had XPMCE on it.

To my surprise, I was actually able to load both on the same partition and it rarely gripes at me. I replaced 512 of the RAM with 1 gb and will eventually get the rest up to 4gb, but for now, I have 3gb onboard.

MCE runs about like most computers in its class, and it does a fair job on most games, though you'll want to upgrade your video card if you plan on doing much heavy gaming.

The most amazing thing happens, though, when you load XP Pro 64 on the same partition as the existing MCE version. You essentially get 2 computers that don't bother one another, and you get access to all the data from either version, AND you get an amazing jump in performance. I'm talking light speed jumps, not baby steps.

I use audio production software and have used a 64 bit app for the past 3 years (you know the one...it's the ONLY one that has had 64 bit for that long). It used to bog down on my single Athlon 64 system, but not on this puppy...I can load it up with the program, up to 20 VST's and the CPU usage still never goes above 45%.

It dual boots so you can choose which OS you want to use. I boot to MCE when I'm using it to check email, or any of the other things you might use an MCE computer for, then reboot to XP64 for my audio apps and it takes very little time. The system is light, the footprint small and I've had zero issues with it.

By today's standards, 2.2ghz is a bit slow, but as a dual core 2.2 AMD 64, it blows away my Intel machines. It might not do everything you want it to, but it does everything I want it to..

Oh, I'm an IT support professional, too. My other machines are Dells, Compaqs and Gateways. This is my only HP, but I won't hesitate to go there again.

I've owned this machine for almost a year and have had no major issues. It's fast and realible, and provides great value for it's price. Customer service is free for a year, and I have found them quite amazing. Early on I called with a question and was given an answer which I said I would try later. They called me back the next day to see if it worked. They left a message since I wasn't home, then called me back again a couple days later since they hadn't heard from me. There is one drawback, and that is it has Media Center Edition loaded. Not every product/app works on MCE even though it's build on XP. I own a family of HP products, and my network printer won't fully function with this PC because there is no driver for MCE.

I bought this computer and 15 days later came in to see the blue screen of death for no reason.... sent it back to hp who fixed it and mailed it back to me ... one week later, I got the same crash. Don't know why.

I bought this computer for its AMD 64 bit dual core. After I installed XP 64 bit OS I discovered that 64 bit drivers were not available from HP. Eventually I located a web site with needed drivers but I had topay for them.
After a while I had to go back to the 32 bit OS because 64 bit drivers for my printers could not be found, not even for the price.
1. After 30 days my computer stopped working. It would run for about 30 seconds and then shut itself off. Turns out that the CPU fan came loose. The clip that was supposed to keep it in place broke - apparently from vibrations caused by the fan.
2. I sent this computer for repairs and 6 days later gor it back. When I turned it on I discovered that some moron at HP had reformatted by hard drive. All of mysoftware, personal files, pictures, etc were GONE. Not to mention several days of work to set everything up.
3. I called HP to speak to their supervisor. He told me that reformatting the hard drive was part of the standard procedure because, listen to this, the drive had to be reformatted so that it would work with the new motherboard. When someone gives you an answer like that you know the conversation is over.
Anyway, think really hard whether you really want to buy this junk or have to deal with HP.