Good deal, depending on your needs
Written: Aug 22 '01
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Pros: Can be a good deal if purchased at the right place
Cons: May cost more in upgrades than custom-building, depending on your uses
The Bottom Line: Good for everyday use, may not be cost effective if you like gaming performance or the ability to upgrade.
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| Ergoboy's Full Review: Hewlett Packard Pavilion 8860 (P2941AR#ABA) PC Des... |
I recently purchased this computer as an additional computer for the home. I looked at the specs, the price, and what it would cost to upgrade my old computer with what this machine has. It turns out that buying a refurbished model of this PC at PCmall.com was more cost effective than trying to build a machine with the same components. The cost at PCMall is $699 + shipping.
So how does it work? Well, it works like any other computer should. It is plenty fast with a 1.0 GHz Athlon chip and 128 mb of RAM. It also comes with a 60 GB hard drive, a built in NIC card, a modem, a CD, DVD, onboard audio, and a 16 MB video card.
This machine is ideal for someone that does the average home or home office type of stuff.
If you are a gamer, however, you should seriously weigh your options prior to purchasing this machine. I bought my machine thinking it would handle online games like Half-Life with ease. Once I did get online (using an ethernet connection), I realized that there was more to be desired. In order to get good game performance I needed to upgrade the RAM ($20), disable the onboard audio and install a Soundblaster Live Value card ($50), and purchase a new video card ($100). So for about $900 I have a decent machine for gaming. $900 is a bit more than I expected when I initially purchased a machine for $699.
This machine is good for everyday, all around use. I would truly recommend it for that. If you are a hard core gamer, and would like to tweak all your settings, or have a multitude of upgrade options, you may be better off custom building a machine.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 699
Operating System: Windows
Processor: AMD Athlon (K7)
Processor speed: over 1000
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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Epinions.com ID:
Ergoboy
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Location: Southwest Virginia
Reviews written: 49
Trusted by: 5 members
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