Customer Reviews

HP Pavilion a730n Desktop PC (Intel Pentium 4 Processor 530 with HT Technology, 512 MB RAM, 200 GB Hard Drive, DVD+RW Drive, CD-ROM Drive)

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

 

 

This machine was a total nightmare from 3 months after I bought it. I started it up one day and just got a black screen. I brought it to numerous technical people who got it started again, but told me they couldn't replicate the problem. I brought it home thinking it was just a virus, but it did it again. Unfortunately instead of throwing it away then, I made the huge mistake of thinking it was another virus, only to have it happen again. My 'platinum' membership at CompUSA was worthless because they told me that since they couldn't replicate the problem, they weren't going to do anything for me. So much for paying a 25% premium for insurance... Bye, bye HP and CompUSA. You just lost someone who wanted to be a loyal customer.

I got the HP Pavilion a730n for Christmas a couple of years ago, and it seems to be holding up. Over the past year or two, I have run into problems, however, most notably with the graphics. The graphics adapter in the system is integrated into the motherboard, and therefore shares memory with the main memory. When running intensive applications such as games and photo editing applications, it can slow to a halt, especially since there's only 512MB of RAM. Getting a dedicated graphics card would fix al of this. It also wouldn't hurt to get some more RAM.

I've heard some people voicing complaints about the f1703 monitor, but so far for me it's holding up quite well. My only gripe is that there are no ports on the back of the monitor, as there are on some monitors.

Regarding the fan issues, the fan does kick on quite often, and I would assume that's because of the processor, which I've heard can run incredibly hot. However, as one of the other reviewers said, it can easily be alleviated by cracking open the case and dusting it out.

Overall, the system is a great system for those who just want to surf the internet, transfer pictures to a PC and upload them to the internet, and other daily tasks.

I bought this computer a little less than 18 months ago, and it's been good to me. I get very very frequent use out of my computer for school, watching DVD's, playing games, e-mail, basic word processing and some light movie editing. So I wanted something with a little oomph.

The only complaint is the video card. It's an integrated 128 MB video accelerator, and while it's gotten the job done there is a significant amount of lag when I'm editing video or playing a graphically intensive game. (Mind you, I don't play the extremely graphic, 'cutting-edge' games that would require a new video card altogether.)

I've read several complaints of overheating and the fan kicking on too often. This happened to me a few months after purchasing, and eventually I became content to let it kick on once an hour or so. Then one day I cracked open the case and found a significant amount of dust clogging up the fan over the cpu. I simply unscrewed the fan (Can't miss it. It's the spiral shaped black box laying flat against the wide left side of the computer case, secured by 4 screws.) and blew the dust out. I suppose a can of air would've done the job better, but my lungs did just fine. (Just make sure you don't spit all over it.)

If you're very intent on ridding your computer of dust, q-tips work well. It's only cleaning the plastic fan, so it won't hurt it. I don't know if this voids your warranty, but it's solved my overheating and fan noise problem 100%. This is coming from someone who frequently has their computer on for over 24 hours at a time. I've only had to clean out my fan thrice now, and I live in a dusty old house. This doesn't seem like much work at all to me, but I can understand how some people might become squeemish at the thought of performing surgery on their computer.

One thing to watch out for is, ABSOLUTELY do not buy the HP Pavilion F1703 monitor that frequently comes paired with this desktop. I've had it for the same amount of time as the desktop, and it has begun malfunctioning. This is a product defect that has been recognized by Hewlett-Packard, and they offer an extended warranty for the monitor. If you persist and badger your way through service reps and tech support, they will send you a new monitor, or at the very least try to fix your old one. I've heard that the newest model of the F1703 has fixed this problem, but it's buyer beware!

I do agree about the overheating issue though,I tried playing guild wars and it overheats in less than 15. dont try to play games on the integrated graphics, im getting a 6600gt and it should run much smoother. I like that it has a pci express slot and some room for ram.

I felt that the A730n was a good buy. The fan kicks into high gear a little too often for my liking, but still an excellent machine

I own this model and I must say its a great PC. I dont understand what the other reviewer is talking about on (overheating) I run multiple programs on this thing daily and NO problems. I am also an intensive PC gamer and I play on this thing for hours with my newly installed 256mb PCIexpress card and NO problems. Maybe this person just happen to pick up the lemon of this models series. But I do agree 100% on the tech support issue, it can be Frustrating as Hell talking to some of these non-english speaking so called techs!!!

I had this computer for 3 months. At first I was satisfied with the preformance aside from the endless built in pop-up. Then the cd writer started malfunctioning so I was unable to save many files. Then it overheated and destroyed the hard drive (and unsaved files). Technical support was a joke unless you enjoy calling India and trying to understand or being understood by the ESL boys. HP refused to replace this lemon, only offered to repair it if I wanted to take it to a delivery pick up, wait 2 weeks then be waiting at home whenever it was returned so I could sign for it.
I'm embarrased to say this is my second purchase from hp and I had enless problems with the first computer I bought. But their
technical support was much better 7 years ago.