A Product Review of HP's Desktop the Pavilion A6230N

Several years ago AMD came out with a 64Bit processor. Now that some time has passed and Intel has given them some competition we're seeing decent price reductions in PCs sporting these next generation processors. I've managed to get my hands on one with HP's Pavilion A6230N. I'm going to let you know how this desktop performs for me and what kind of consumer is going to get the most out of this thing. First let's start with some of the basics.

Hardware:

Processor: a 2.8 GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ dual-core

Storage Space: a 400GB hard drive

RAM: 3 GB of RAM (which can be upgraded to an 8 GB maximum)

Optical Drive: a 16x dual-layer DVD +/- with integrated CD R/RW burner

Expandability: Open bay for an optional HP external hard drive

Graphics Accelerator: an Nvidia GeForce 6150 graphics card (utilizing 128 MB of dedicated memory with the option to partition over additional system RAM)

This computer has plenty of memory space with the 400GB hard drive and RAM to spare (if there is such a thing with the 3GB of RAM that HP has included. Vista runs with no lag during while performing typical operations (multiple tabbed browsers and an office program). The boot time is fast although improved after you remove the trail-ware that comes preinstalled from HP, many of these programs are unneeded as Windows Vista includes the majority of the features that they offer. The graphics card is on the higher end of average and is capable of playing most games at a graphically intense setting.

Connectivity:

6 2.0 USB ports (these are the standard connections for peripherals such as printers, thumb drives and mp3 players)

2 FireWire ports (these are designed for high speed transfer and can be between digital camcorders or even other compatible PCs)

2 PS/2 ports (old school ports for mice and keyboards)

1 VGA port (a typical monitor connection)

2 audio outputs / 1 microphone input

1 coaxial audio input 1 output

Standard sound 3 speaker outputs

15 in 1 media card reader (these slots allow the consumer to directly insert memory from their mobile devices into the PC)

1 Ethernet port (this is used to connect to a wired network)

1 56K modem port (this allows the computer to dial up a connection)

The connectivity on this HP desktop is about average. I like how the ports are placed with several USB inputs in the front for easy access. With the average online retail price arriving at just under $900 this desktop is a great deal. This is perfect for just about any setting and will please the business professional and casual gamer student alike. While we will see price reductions in the beginning of August I doubt we'll see this one fluctuate much although I would keep my eyes on it.