Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Impressive!, November 12, 2004
I reviewed the z545, but the z540 is basically the same, just with a little less storage and only one built-in tuner instead of two.
I'm extremely impressed with what HP came up with here. I'd been searching for something to centralize all my media (music, video, photos, etc) and for a PC that would be at home in my living room. This is both!
It complements my Onkyo components just fine and doesn't look at all out of place. Now I can keep everything in one unit, time shift my favorite shows, and even surf the web or play games on the big screen. Once I get a couple extenders I'll be able to access all the content from my other two TVs, and additional removable drives should allow for unlimited storage. The z545 is almost perfect. I say almost because it has nearly everything I could ask for. No-subscription PVR functions, integrated wireless, lots of storage, good integration, and full PC functionality to boot. One shortcoming: The PVR functionality does _not_ yet support HDTV. I've heard that won't be available until next year's models. Also it controls cable/satellite boxes via infrared so be careful if you have a satellite box with an RF remote instead of IR. Even so, I'd highly recommend it.
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2.0 out of 5 stars
Great concept. Poor execution. Poor support., October 26, 2005
I bought my z540 in November 2004. It NEVER really workd: I had some problems with the DVD player, with the TV tuner, etc. HP Support has this great online chat feature but decisions are hard to get. They had me replace the DVD reader (they sent me wrong instructions, applying to another type of machines...), they then wanted ME to re-install the operating system. They were not happy when I mentioned I could not transform myself in an IT guru. I asked for a replacement or a refund. Got none of these. Had to ship the computer for repair, per HP under 6 to 9 business days. It's been a month now and HP Support just called me pushing the delivery date by 5 to 7 more business days (totaling about a month...).
Conclusion: I don't know what you will do, but if I personally had to do it again, I would not re-do it... Not with HP... I love the concept of a PC being my radio, TV, CD, DVD, etc. all into one box... not with HP...
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Slick Looking - Components are older technology - Keyboard sucks!, August 12, 2005
Picked one of these up the other day, mostly for the slick design and for the wireless keyboard with trackball type mouse controller. But that's all it has, is looks...
After using the keyboard, it quickly became tedious to use, since not only are the keys hard to push down, they are in a tight proximity of each other and not in the usual places, and the wireless is hit and miss, possibly because it runs at only 49MHz frequency. It will miss keys here and there, so you have to type very slooow, and check your work very often, and with passwords where you can't see what you are typing, good luck! It quickly becomes a tire... There is no number pad and the trackball mouse is skippy and lacks a scroll feature...
The processor is 2 "generations" older than the current dual core intel processors and the RAM is standard DDR instead of DDR2...
Unless HP updates the components and the keyboard, this is a terrible value and a POS.
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