

2 GB RAM - 250 GB HDD - nVidia 256 MB - Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 - MPN: EX276AA
Strengths: Good speed, excellent memory capacity, big hard drive
Weakness: Not the fasted memory out there. Not much included software. Included keyboard and mouse are cheap.
I've had this machine for about 3 months. It's performing very well. It boots fast and all the components work well with the exception of a little bit of trouble I've had with the speaker ports. When a headphone is plugged in on the front panel, the rear speaker jack doesn't work after headphone is removed. I haven't called HP about this yet. I have worked around it by plugging the speakers in the front jack.
I think this machine is an excellent value. I paid about $600 from J&R Music.
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TopStrengths: Fast and efficient AMD processor, plain of space on HDD
Weakness: None found until now.
I bought this desktop at Circuit City, and I have tested it in the last days and I am totally satisfied with its performance.
I think AMD processors are better than Intel ones processing Windows. This HP unit uses only 350 MB after loading the O.S. (I have an Intel-based HP laptop, Centrino Duo, that uses over 450 MB just loading Windows XP), and I have never used its 2 GB RAM.
I installed a Hauppauge 950 USB HDTV tuner, and it has performed ok watching and recording HD movies (even with Media Center), reading my e-mails with Outlook 2007 and writing a document with MS Word, and with 10 Internet Explorer windows opened simultaneously.
I loaded a lot of pictures, music files, and some movies, and I still have lots of space on its 250 GB HDD. I started to record High Definition movies using the Media Center, and I don't think that I will need an additional hard disk, as I can record these videos using its DVD-RW drive.
I have not completely tested its sound card, as I have just used stereo active speakers. Its configuration application looks impressive. I will upgrade my sound devices with an active 5.1 speaker system, so I can exploit all its sound potential.
I bought an HP 20.1" w2007 LCD monitor, and its video performance has been also impressive (so the monitor).
I think this machine, or its most recent equivalent ones, is ideal for entertainment and multimedia use.
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HP Pavilion A1540n receives an overall TopTenREVIEWS score of 3.12 out of 4.00. It is ranked the #14 multimedia computer of all time. The overall rating represents an intelligent balance of features, value as a function of price to features, and a summary of reviews from a variety of sources. The TopTen REVIEWS' formula gives a picture of important consumer features, market value, and a product's...
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nice power desktop
Strengths: 2gb ddr2 memory, x2 4200+ dual core cpu, windows vista capable. media card reader, usb and firewire on the front panel
Weakness: a little bit noisy and too many preinstalled junk software
Have had this machine for about two months, and so far liked it a lot. Everything has worked perfect. I like multi-tasking and this machine makes it so much more smooth than my previous pentium D pc. 2gb memory definitely makes a difference when I play games and do some computation. The only complain is that I had to uninstall a lot of junk software when I started it up the first time, which took me quite a while.
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