HP Pavilion Media Center m390-b Photosmart PC (3.20-GHz Pentium 4 (Hyper-Threading), 512 MB RAM, 200 GB Hard Drive, DVD+RW/CD-RW Drive)

by HP

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 78 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000E2GOH
• Item model number: DN138A#ABA
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,471 in Computers & Accessories (See Top 100 in Computers & Accessories)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 2, 2003

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The HP Media Center PC m390b is a full-fledged desktop PC--but it's also a television, a DVD player, an FM and Internet radio, and a personal video recorder. It's powered by the Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 operating system (compatible with cable, digital cable, satellite TV, and antenna), and it features a 3.2 GHz Pentium 4 processor (with Hyper Threading technology), 200 GB hard drive, and 512 MB of installed memory.

The Basics

• Hard Drive: Though it's not the largest on the market, the massive 200 GB Ultra IDE hard drive (7200 RPM) offers a wealth of storage for all your media storage--from digital audio to TV programs. This hard drive will store approximately 110 hours of archived video.
• Processor: The 3.2 GHz Pentium 4 processor with Hyper-Threading technology (which allows a single CPU system to behave in some aspects like a dual-CPU system--see more in Tech Talk section below) is one of the fastest processors currently available on the market.
• Memory: The m390b comes with a 512 MB built-in memory (2 x 256 MB DDR SDRAM)--a decent amount for starters, but you'll want to add more to take full advantage of the capabilities of Windows Media Center. The motherboard has four memory sockets for a maximum memory expansion of 4 GB.
• CD/DVD Drive: It is equipped with a DVD-ROM with 16x speed for movie playback and a 4x DVD+R/W writer (the DVD+RW format is one of two formats for rewriteable DVDs).
• Keyboard & Mouse: The m390b comes with HP's premium wireless optical scrolling mouse and wireless keyboard, as well as a remote control.

Sound and Graphics
The m390b's video is powered by a 128 MB, 8x AGP GeForce FX 5600 Ultra video/graphics card, which has strong 3-D performance, dual-display capability--supporting one analog (VGA) and one digital (DVI) connection--and TV-out capability (enabling to display the PC on your Television via S-Video).

Sound is delivered via a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 audio card, which delivers high-quality 6.1 channels of digital surround sound (or 5.1 channels of analog-out surround sound). It also supports DVD-Audio, a super-high-fidelity audio format compatible with DVDs.

The m390b comes with a Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 speaker system (200 watt, THX) with one subwoofer and two satellite speakers.

Connectivity and Expansion Slots
The m390b has three PCI expansion slots (two available), one AGP (accelerated graphics port) slot and the following external ports:

• 6 USB 2.0 ports (2 in front, 4 in rear) for connecting a wide range of peripherals--from digital cameras to MP3 players
• 2 FireWire (also known as IEEE 1394 or i.Link; 1 in front and 1 in back) ports for connecting digital video camcorders and other peripherals
• 1 parallel port for connecting older printers and scanners
• 2 PS/2 ports for connecting keyboards and mice
• 7-in-1 memory card reader (divided into two slots) that is compatible with CompactFlash, MicroDrive, Memory Stick (and Memory Stick Pro), MultiMediaCard (MMC), Secure Digital (SD) and Smaredia cards.

It also has an integrated 56K modem (V.92) and an on-board RealTek 8101L 10/100 Ethernet port (for connection to networks and DSL/cable modems).

Preloaded System and Software
The pre-installed Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 is essentially Windows XP Professional Edition with a variety of tools to help you to create, organize, and enjoy digital media ranging from music to home movies to photo slide shows. Additionally, it enables you to control your television with the included remote and record and pause programs (much like a DVR--or digital video recorder--such as Tivo or ReplayTV). You can even pause or rewind (up to 7 seconds) FM radio broadcasts.

Other software includes Microsoft Works 7.0 (for working with word processing and spreadsheet documents), Microsoft Money 2003, Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia Deluxe (with one-year trial subscription), Intuit Quicken Financial Center, Norton Antivirus 2003 (with 60 days of complimentary live updates), Adobe Acrobat Reader, RecordNow (for creating your own music or data CDs), MusicMatch Jukebox, Arcsoft ShowBiz DVD (for editing digital video), RealOne Player, and InterVideo WinDVD SE (for playing DVD movies). It also includes three months of AOL dial-up service.

What's in the Box
This package includes the HP Media Center PC m390b, remote control, wireless keyboard and mouse, and speakers.

Tech Talk
Hyper-Threading: A Hyper-Threading processor helps a PC to run multiple demanding applications at the same time. This technology enables the processor to execute two threads (a part of a program) in parallel, boosting performance during key high-drain procedures. This results in more efficient software performance (such as faster reaction times in gaming applications) and enhanced multitasking.

More About Microsoft Windows XP Media Center

What sets this PC apart is that it is powered by Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004, which offers the features, reliability, and power of Windows XP Professional, plus advanced digital entertainment capabilities. The Media Center interface offers you more types of entertainment to enjoy: TV, Personal Video Recording (PVR), Movies, Music, Photos, Videos, Radio, and DVD. Use the remote control to enjoy from anywhere in your room.

TV & Movies
Watch TV when and how you want, and never miss a moment of your favorite programs. Pause and rewind live TV. Record a TV episode, series, or category. Automatically record a personalized selection of TV programs using Keyword Record. Media Center downloads the latest program listings for you and even wakes up from power-saving standby mode to record programs, so you can watch shows on your schedule.
	Photos & Video
	Easily edit your digital pictures and digital videos, and then launch a dynamic slideshow complete with animated transitions and your favorite soundtrack. While viewing a picture, zoom in to see more detail. You can rotate, correct red-eye, and print your pictures using the remote. Play slide-shows straight from digital storage devices.
Music & Radio
All your music is stored in one digital jukebox and using the remote, shuffle your entire music collection according to artist or genre or listen to your tunes through playlists that learn what you like. Tune in FM stations and pause live radio. Full-screen visualizations pulse to the beat of the music. Cool on-screen effects show music information, such as track title, track time, and artist.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but definately not the best, January 5, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: HP Pavilion Media Center m390-b Photosmart PC (3.20-GHz Pentium 4 (Hyper-Threading), 512 MB RAM, 200 GB Hard Drive, DVD+RW/CD-RW Drive) (Personal Computers)

To the user reviewing this before me. This computer is by far not the best. It's GeForce FX5600 is definately a disappointment, a Radeon 9800 Xt/Pro or a GeForce FX5950 Ultra would make it alot better. 200 GB drive is nice, but I would replace it with 2 10,000 RPM WD Raptors in a Raid Array. 512 MB of SD RAM? What were they thinking? Clearly Double Data Rate memory is better, so why even bother with the Synchronous RAM, oh well. Good computer with the software bundles, but could use some help and fine tuning.

Good for the average gamer or video editor, but by no means a dream machine for a hardcore gamer.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Why do I do this to myself!, March 31, 2004

By 

"ondamtn" (Flagstaff AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: HP Pavilion Media Center m390-b Photosmart PC (3.20-GHz Pentium 4 (Hyper-Threading), 512 MB RAM, 200 GB Hard Drive, DVD+RW/CD-RW Drive) (Personal Computers)

Found what I thought to be a good deal online for a home PC... till I had to deal with HP tech support. I won't get into all the details... But I do buy several PCs a year for my business & dumped both Compaq & HP, due to their poor support, in favor of Dell years ago (evidently when two companies w/poor support merge the service gets even worse!). Let me just say this, HP is fantastic on their printer and scanner support. They seem to continually update drivers for new operating systems and while under warranty have fixed the very few problems I have had. On their PCs arrrrggghh it's like the PC division is the evil twin of the printer division! Tech support and warranty service is aggravating & I know from experience you will NEVER find updated drivers when the time comes to change your OS. It's no wonder that HP has given away their market share to Dell and Gateway .. when you make trash and don't support it that will happen. I guess every few years I need to relearn this lesson ...

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BEST COMPUTER EVER!, December 30, 2003

By 

G. C. Recipient "longhornguy09" (Houston, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: HP Pavilion Media Center m390-b Photosmart PC (3.20-GHz Pentium 4 (Hyper-Threading), 512 MB RAM, 200 GB Hard Drive, DVD+RW/CD-RW Drive) (Personal Computers)

THIS IS THE BESt COMPUTER ANYWERE! This is perfect for anyone who is into gaming, editing, music, etc. The tv out function and capture drive are extremely helpful. Automatically plays videos on your tv enev wen the video isnt maximized. The media center software is the best of the best. With the movie link, cable guide, and being abble to access your music, videos and pictures, all throught the media center, it cant get any better!
This is the perfect computer