Compaq Presario SR5030NX Desktop PC (Intel Pentium 4 Processor 360, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, SuperMulti DVD Drive, Vista Basic) | List Price: $660.00
Discount Price: $589.87
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Brand: Hewlett-Packard
Binding: Personal Computers
Features: - Affordable family multimedia desktop PC with 3.0 GHz Intel Pentium 4 631 hyper-threading processor
- 160 GB hard drive, 1 GB installed RAM (2 GB max), multi-format/dual-layer LightScribe DVD drive
- Connectivity: 4 USB, 1 VGA, 1 headphone, 1 microphone, 2 PS/2
- 10/100 Ethernet, Intel GMA 950 video card with up to 224 MB shared memory
- Pre-installed with Windows Vista Home Basic
The surprises go on and on [Posted on 2007-08-18]
Even knowing what I know now, I would probably buy this computer because it is worth the money even with all the surprises. But the surprises seem to go on forever. I am not the greatest with computers and HP has sent me a lot of stuff I do not want and do not need. Moreover, Vista often tells me that some of the programs I have struggled to learn to use in the past are not compatible with Vista but they will tell me if they ever come accross a solution to the incompatibility problem. For example, Microsoft Picture It cannot be installed on my Vista driven model. It is not compatible. Both Vista and the programs that came from HP are loaded with all sorts of things that I have no use for and which only make my processor run slower. I am in my eightieth year and I need something to live for. If I keep at it every day for the next ten years, I will still have much left to fix.
Performs well with a few upgrades [Posted on 2007-11-26]
I bought this PC as a package from Best Buy (included a monitor, mouse, keyboard, and Windows Vista Basic) for around $500.
I would not recommend this to anyone who just wants a good PC right out of the box...I was unimpressed when I first turned it on and started messing with it.
I upgraded the ram from 1Gb to 2Gb for an extra $90 (two sticks of 1Gb Kingston memory also on sale at Best Buy for $45 each). Unfortunately, there are only two ram banks, so this is the main limiting factor. But once the ram was installed and unnecessary hp/compaq "bloatware" was uninstalled, the performance greatly improved. My Vista configuration loads and sets up in under 30 seconds and has been trouble free so far.
This PC has one PCI-express graphics card slot (recommended upgrade). I used an old GeForce 6800 that my friend had lying around. Note that you will need to replace the stock power supply (which is only 250W) if you intend on installing an after-market graphics card.
So besides having only two ram banks and a weak power supply, with a few tweaks this budget PC can be made into a relatively solid performer for relatively little cash. Overall I was quite pleased with my purchase, and I spent less than $600.
Barely useful [Posted on 2008-02-29]
I am less than pleased with the performance of this computer. One gigabyte, even with Windows Home basic, is simply not enough. The system takes an eternity to boot, power down or go to sleep. Programs also take a while to load. As a result I try not to have more than 2 programs running at once. I tried tweaking with the settings on Vista to get the machine to run faster but it still seems to be very slow. I was also astonished to learn that it not only has only 2 memory slots, but that it is not rated for more than one gigabyte. Fortunately, others have indicated that they have had success in upgrading the memory and I am considering that route to see if I can get it to go faster.
Not as stated or requested [Posted on 2008-05-18]
I went to Best Buy looking for a computer for games. I was directed to this unit and told it would play "anything out there" ... well... ha! Yes, it has a 3.2 Gig processor, a 160 Gig HD, and a Gig of RAM. That is as far as it goes. It came with a nice Light Scribe Drive and Windows Vista Home, which is garbage. I bought an exact duplicate HD and loaded it with my XP Pro, better. Too bad Compaq forgot to install some video and sound capability. The on board proprietary video will not run most of my games on either operating system, in fact they won't even try to run. Call Of Duty - Nope! Need for Speed - Nope! Company of Heroes - Nope! Flight Sim 10 - Nope! Fire Team Bravo - Nope! A 250 Watt power supply and 1 slot will not tolerate much of an upgrade. The highly touted modem has no voice, it won't even answer the phone! When I contacted Tech Support over in the sand box, they couldn't find the right specs. Of course they could sell you something else! - NOPE! My advice, Walk away from this thing and buy a real computer.
Review for advanced users [Posted on 2008-06-04]
Vista runs horribly slow for this computer. I don't understand how HP/Compaq think you're getting a great deal for this system since the devices are low par and the OS won't go beyond booting. Anywho, I figured this system would be a great test platform to see if I can run XP within Linux using VMware. I installed Suse linux 10.2 and the install went fine with the exception of the network adapter since even though it was detected, it just would not work. The modem was not detected at all. I disabled the onboard network and replaced the modem with a 3com net adapter since I don't plan to use dial up anyway. Suse installed and everything worked as normal. Then I installed VMware server (free edition) and after configuring it, I installed XP. After XP finished setting up, I pushed the VMtools to the virtual XP and everything worked. I can browse the web, use media player, burn cd's within both OSes and the system runs way faster than Vista ever did by itself. Anyone curious about running Linux and a virtual windows, this system will do the job.
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