A Product Review of the HP Pavilion Elite M9160F Desktop PC

The market for top of the line multimedia desktops has reached an all time high fuels by the price reductions of larger high definition televisions. These PC's can do just about anything if you're paying the right price. HP's lines of Elite desktops fall into this category but I have noticed a large range of functionality, and in this review we're going to take a look at the HP Pavilion Elite M9160F. I'm going to let you know how it performs for me and what sort of consumer will get the most out of purchasing this top of the line desktop. First let me start with a few of the basics.

Hardware:

Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6700

Operating System: 64 bit Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium

Storage Space: two 360GB hard drives (generating a total of 720 GB of storage space)

RAM: 4GB of RAM

Optical Drive: CD R / RW with integrated lightscribe DVD +/- burner and HD DVD ROM

Graphics Accelerator: NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT (512 MB of Video Ram)

Tuner: ATSC HD TV Tuner with FM antenna

As one of HP's high end desktops I expected to see top of the line performance and this thing delivered. It certainly is "elite". The M9160F is a great option because it isn't outrageously priced but has plenty of the bells and whistles you expect from high end multimedia PC's. The 64 bit quad core processor from Intel has plenty of get up and the decent graphics card has games like Medal of Honor purring effortlessly. I like the 4GB of RAM, more than adequate, and I love that this PC comes complete with an HD tuner allowing for this HP to become the backbone of your home's entertainment center.

Connectivity:

Integrated Wireless

1 Ethernet port

15 in 1 card reader (so you can pull out your solid state memory from your mobile devices and insert them directly into your PC)

1 Firewire (for high speed data transfer either between your digital camcorder and PC or between two PC's)

6 2.0 USB ports (gold standard of computer connectivity which can be used to connect any number of peripherals like digital cameras, MP3 players, and printers)

1 set of Composite Video ports

1 mic in / 1 audio out

The connectivity is fairly standard. I like that it comes complete with the composite video ports, especially considering it has the integrated HD tuner and HD DVD ROM. It is a great option for both the gamer, the student and the home entertainment enthusiast. My only qualm is that the HD DVD ROM is already a bit antiquated. If you weren't already aware Sony's format Blu-Ray has won the HD media format war. This means that you'll see fewer and fewer HD DVD movie releases. Other than that this is a great option at $1400. One piece of good news is that we may see a drastic price reduction soon thanks to the inclusion of the HD DVD Rom on this model. Look for price reductions during the summer market slow down, and new flow of government rebate checks.