I Review the HP Pavilion S3330F Slimline Desktop PC: A Space Saving Desktop

The HP Pavilion S3330F desktop is a space saving desktop from their "slim line" series. It has an impressive low profile but does it come at the cost of performance? In this review I'll let you know what you can expect, and who will get the most from this type of desktop. First I'm going to start with a few of the basics.

Hardware:

Tuner: NTSC / ATSC

Processor: 2.6 GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ dual-core processor

RAM: 2GB of RAM (not expandable beyond 2GB)

Optical Drive: Blu-ray / HD DVD playback CD R RW with integrated dual layer DVD +/-

Storage Space: 500GB hard drive

Graphics Accelerator: Nvidia GeForce Go 6150 (that uses a small amount of shared memory)

Operating system: Windows Home Vista Premium

In The Box: Remote Control, Mouse, and Keyboard

At first glance I'm impressed. It has many of the perks of the HP multimedia systems. It looks like this is a great option for integration into the entertainment center (the remote control is a great addition). With this desktop it will fit right in with the low profile. I love it's high definition options, as well as the integrated television tuner. You can use this as a replacement for your digital video recorder, and with 500GB of hard drive space you've got plenty of room.

It looks like they just cut the fat when they trimmed this down. It is missing the largely unused HP portable hard drive expansion ports which is fine. It's motherboard has clearly reduced in size because the expansion opportunities are slim to none (not even RAM, 2GB is the maximum). The limit of 2GB of RAM is unfortunate because it is so strong in every other area it's sad that you can beef it up there as well, but nothing is perfect.

Connectivity:

WiFi (wirelessly connect to your LAN)

1 Ethernet port (to wire yourself into your LAN)

5 2.0 USB (golden standard connection to be used to connect things like printers and mp3 players)

1 FireWire port (to connect to digital camcorders or for data transfer between PC's)

1 VGA output (to be used with a typical computer monitor)

1 audio output / 1 mic in

1 HDMI (to connect to a high definition television)

1 DVI (to connect to some televisions or some monitors)

1 S-Video (normally used to connect to projectors but could be used for some compatible TV's)

15 in 1 memory card reader (to read the solid state memory from devices like digital cameras)

The connectivity is great. With the video out options like HDMI you really can easily integrate this little desktop into your home entertainment center. The HP Pavilion S3330F Slimline Desktop can pretty much do it all. It plays graphically intensive games with ease, as well as handling HD video and photo editing with Photoshop or whatever. This should make about any consumer happy.