Fully Loaded Speedster
Written: Oct 03 '00 (Updated Oct 03 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Packed to the gills, price reduced, fast
Cons: Works best with new hardware & software
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| DrHom's Full Review: Hewlett Packard HP Pavilion 9790C (P1338A#ABA) PC ... |
HP Pavilion 8785C Review:
After years of patiently waiting, I finally found a replacement for my seven year old PC (a Pentium 60). My plan was to buy a new top of the line machine to avoid premature obsolescence. This model has it all and then some. I was looking for a 1GHz Pentium III with a 133MHz front side bus, 133MHz SDRAM, DVD, CD read write, large hard drive, and a good video card in an AGP slot. The machine had to be powerful and also upgradable. It also had to cost less than $2,000. Similar machines cost about $900 more just a few months ago. This model dropped $400 in price two weeks ago and currently costs $1,999.
I chose the Pentium over the Athlon because I read that the Intel CPU runs cooler and has better cache. The Thunderbird Athlon has improved cache, but I am not sure that these are available yet. Pentium motherboards also have a better overall reputation. Avoid Pentium motherboards with only a 100MHz front side bus, which are now obsolete. A 133 motherboard will run faster RAM, have better AGP support, etc. This computer has 128 MB of 133MHz SDRAM. Some top of the line 1G systems use RDRAM which is only slightly faster, yet is several times more expensive, and proprietary to Intel. Therefore adding more SRAM in the future will be hundreds of dollars less costly.
The video card was a key point in my decision. The 8785C comes with an Nvidia TNT2 Pro 32MB 2D/3D card in an AGP slot. This card was state of the art one year ago, so it is now very affordable and has broad software compatibility. If you play computer games, you know that video cards are constantly being improved. The top video cards cost $300 to $500, yet always go down in price after one year. Therefore, you do not want to pay full price and you want a card that you can swap out in the future. Too many HP computers have integrated video cards. Go for one with a AGP slot. The easiest way to tell is to look at the back of the computer. The monitor cable should connect to a port in an AGP slot that parallels the PCI slots. An integrated video port will be closer to the mouse and keyboard ports.
Speaking of ports, this machine has ample USB and 1394 ports. Two occupied USB ports are in the back for the keyboard and mouse. Two free USB ports are on the sides of the keyboard. Two more USB ports are on the front of the machine. USB ports can be used with scanners, digital cameras, joysticks, etc. All of the USB devices I have tried have been truly plug and play and a snap to install. There are two 1394 ports in the back and one in the front. The 1394 ports allow even faster data transmission for streaming from a video camera for example. There are many more USB devices however. The single parallel port recognized my HP 4L printer and installed the correct drivers without problem. I used a little known Windows feature called Direct Cable Connection to connect my old computer to my new one with a parallel port data transfer cable. This let me transfer all of my old files to my new machine without having to install a network card on my old machine or buy a ZIP drive. I was also able to perform the Direct Cable Connection via the serial ports but this was painfully slow.
This computer has a 10/100Base-T networking interface card, so it is ready for fast cable internet access (which I do not have yet). The standard phone modem functions very well, but has some minuses. The modem, sound card and game port are integrated on the same PCI card. This could be a problem if either the modem or sound go bad. On the other hand, this card only takes up one PCI slot, not two. I had slow, unstable AOL access when I first hooked up my new computer. The problem turned out to be static from a shorted, unused phone line in my house. After the phone company found and disconnected this line, the modem has had a stable, fast connection.
Setting up this machine was fairly easy. I was a bit confused with the USB keyboard and mouse ports which I was not familiar with. The machine has the standard PS2 ports as well, so at first I thought I was missing an adapter. Also, the serial gameport would not recognize my SideWinder 3D Pro joystick, even after I downloaded the latest drivers. I bought a new USB ported joystick which was recognized right away and works great. I could only get one speaker to work, until I figured out that each speaker wire plug must be inserted until it "clicks" into the speaker wire "Y" cable.
The key board is nice, but quite large and it takes up too much desk space. The mouse is a quality item with a scroll wheel, but I replaced it with a USB three button mouse. I like having the middle button set to double click.
The hard drive is a whooping 60GB! I have not opened the case, but I think it is a Maxtor at 5,400 rpm. I loaded all of the software I have and barely put a dent into its capacity. I recommend Norton Utilities 2001 which will keep your drive in good health. The Defrag program and diagnostic programs are better than the Windows supplied utilities. The 60GB drive had zero surface errors.
The performance is sometimes astounding. Some programs are executed in the blink of an eye. 3D games such as NHL 2000 and SuperBike 2001 run so fast and smoothly that they seem eerily real. Unfortunately, one of my favorite games, Commandos, runs too fast. The soldiers run around at full sprint, funny but unplayable. I have not found a game patch for this yet.
DVD movies are awesome. The first one I tried was "Ronin" which has some of the best car chase scenes every filmed. I can play the movie with the director's comments or even in French (the film was shot in Paris). The system is set up for video editing if you have a digital video camera.
I am very pleased with the speed, capacity, specs, game playing, and DVD movie capability. It is ready for upgrading, yet lacks nothing as is. The down sides are that there is only one free PCI slot, but this machine has everything I need already. You may have to update your old devices to USB compatible devices. It is not an inexpensive system, but the price has come down. Considering that I paid more for my Pentium 60 just seven years ago, this fully loaded machine is a bargain.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1,999
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium III
Processor speed: over 1000
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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Epinions.com ID:
DrHom
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Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 2 members
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