The HP Pavilion is a Great Home Computer for the average user!
Written: Jul 19 '03 (Updated May 09 '04)
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Pros: Fast and easy set up, fast operation, smaller box
Cons: Way too many ads pre-installed and difficult to remove
The Bottom Line: This HP Pavilion would have gotten five stars but I had to deduct one for all of the annoying ads.
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| modernmarvel's Full Review: Hewlett Packard HP Pavilion 754n (DA193a) PC Deskt... |
Well, my old computer finally died. It was only 4 so we were feeling pretty sad . . . until a recent trip to Best Buy to see what replacements cost. If you haven't bought a computer recently, it is quite amazing how the technology prices drop so significantly over time.
WHAT YOU GET - HARDWARE
You get the box that contains the brains of the computer. The box itself is much smaller than my 4 year old version and it pretty stylish in a purple grey. The on button glows blue when the computer is on.
Drives: The Pavilion comes with a CD-RW drive and a DVD drive. You can also burn CDs if you so desire. The drives have automatic doors that open and close when you push a button on the face of the hardware box. Their operation is very smooth although the doors consist of flimsy plastic bits that look doomed to fall off.
Keyboard: The keyboard is a bit smaller than most but functional. It is also a stylish grey.
Mouse: The mouse matches the computer in color. It has two buttons and a scroll wheel. The mouse is fairly generic.
WHAT YOU DO NOT GET - HARDWARE
You do not get a printer, speakers or a monitor with the basic package. Also, since you will have to plug in your monitor, the box and the printer, you may need a power strip unless you have access to at least three outlets.
I bought a HP deskjet 3420 printer to go with this computer. The printer did not come with a USB cable to attach the printer to the computer. If you buy a printer, you may also need to buy this cable. I bought a USB cable through hpshopping.com for $19.99 plus 4.99 shipping.
WHAT YOU GET - SOFTWARE
Windows is preloaded on the computer. There is even an annoying "helper" that pops up in the form of an old man and attempts to converse in a unnatural manner.
Word Processing: You get Wordperfect for word processing. Although it claims to be compatible with Word, I was unable to open Word documents with the Wordperfect program. If you need Word, consider that this will be an extra expense.
E-Mail: The computer is jammed with tons of internet offers and ads when it arrives. If you are looking for an internet provider, you will have many choices in these ads. It took a huge effort to hunt down all of the offers and delete them. I have high-speed access through my cable company so I simply use the internet explorer which is preloaded.
Photos: There is some additional software from HP to manage photos.
Weatherbug: This is free and it posts the temperature in the bottom part of your screen near the time.
Annoying pop-ups: I keep getting an annoying pop-up from HP thanking me for my purchase and offering to sell me things. It took a while to figure out how to make it go away.
Lots of other ads: There are lots of other icons when you first turn on the computer that appear to be software you can use. However, most require you to go to the Internet and pay a fee to use them. Quicken, for example, appears to be loaded, but it is really just a 5 minute video ad. If you want to use it, you have to go to their web site and pay $30. If you don't want it, there is no obvious way to delete it.
WHAT YOU DO NOT GET: SOFTWARE
You don't get the Microsoft products commonly in use: Word, Excel or Powerpoint. I know there are free alternatives out there, however I teach a college course and wanted the standard stuff everyone was using. I got the Education package of Microsoft Office XP which included Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook for $116 at Amazon.com which was significantly cheaper than other packages of Microsoft (its a good thing I am teaching that course!).
You don't get any other useful software either. There isn't even a calculator and how much could that cost HP to include? If there is a software program that you want, you will have to buy it.
SET UP
Set up was super easy, even for me and I have pretty limited experience in technical matters. There is a glossy two page set-up guide that is mostly pictures.
Basically, you plug the mouse and keyboard into the box. Then you take the cable and plug it into the box and then an outlet. You also have to attach your monitor, speakers and printer. The back slots are all labeled with little pictures and the mouse and keyboard cables are color-coded.
After that, you turn it on and IT WORKS. There is a 20 minute process where it asks you a few questions. After that, you are done.
The only annoying feature is that the computer quickly prompts you to select an internet provider. I deleted most of the annoying software but can't seem to get the AOL software off.
HOW IT WORKS
Except for the ads, I love this machine. I had my old clunker for too long. I added high speed internet (there was a convenient ethernet port in the back) and every site loads and processes quickly. My other word processing tasks also proceed quickly. I haven't had any system crashes or even any slow periods even with many programs running.
PRICE
I paid $680 plus tax at Best Buy for the box, keyboard and mouse.
PRODUCT MUMBO-JUMBO
AMD Anthlon XP 2600+ Processor
512 MB Ram memory
120 gigabyte hard drive
DVD and CD-RW drives
PRINTERS
I already owned a Brother 5-in-1 Office Machine but I had mixed results using it as a printer so I purchased an additional HP deskjet 3420. The HP Pavilion has 4 USB ports (meaning general ports to plug other hardware items into) plus the old standard printer port. The computer was able to identify that I added hardware and led me through the process of installing it. I still have two more ports if I need them.
FINAL RECOMMENDATION
This is a great machine. It is fast and handles programs well. The lack of software and the huge amount of ads loaded on this machine seriously detract from its initial use. However, once they are gone, it is really a great experience, especially considering the price.
OTHER HP PRODUCTS
In April 2004, I bought a HP Pavilion Notebook.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 680
Operating System: Windows
Processor: AMD Athlon (K7)
Processor speed: Don't Know
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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