HP Media Center M8040N Desktop PC (Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 2 GB RAM, 640 GB Hard Drive, SuperMulti DVD Drive, Vista Ultimate) | List Price: $1,959.00
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Brand: Hewlett-Packard
Binding: Personal Computers
Features: - Powerful multimedia desktop with TV tuner (NTSC/ATSC), personal video recording functionality, and programming guide
- 2.13 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 dual-core processor, dual 320 GB hard drives (640 GB total), 2 GB RAM (8 GB max), HD DVD drive, 16x LightScribe DVD drive
- Connectivity: 6 USB, 2 FireWire, 1 VGA, 1 S-Video, 1 composite A/V digital audio output, surround sound speaker output, 15-in-1 memory card reader
- 54g Wi-Fi (802.11b/g), 10/100 Ethernet, NVIDIA GeForce 7600GT video card (with 256 MB of video memory)
- Pre-installed with Windows Vista Home Ultimate (with Premium and Business capabilities)
Easy Setup [Posted on 2007-06-04]
I purchased this directly from Amazon. Out of the box setup was a cinch. I used the quick start guide which is basically plug it in, turn it on, and follow the directions on the screen which could not have been simpler. I removed or uninstalled the "crapware" that came preloaded before I installed the additional hardware or software.
I have been using Win XP for 5 years and the switch to Vista was easier than the switch from Win 2000 or Win 98 to Win XP.
No problems with the wireless keyboard or mouse. The TV tuner works like a champ. Vista easily, and surprisingly, recognized my old Epson 900 printer and, likewise, my Viewsonic 900X LCD monitor, which has built-in speakers (not an audiophile's dream).
The reasons I did not give it 5 stars were that one of the preloaded programs was Acrobat Reader 7.0 and version 8.0 has been available since last fall! Tacky for a machine built in March 2007! Are there other things inside the box that are nonstandard or obsolete? It came with Vista Ultimate 32 bit and should have come with Vista Ultimate 64 bit (as my HP laptop did) which limits ram upgrade, particularly since the OS itself takes up almost 1GB of RAM.
The biggest complaint is the recovery partition even if recovery disks are made. Once I plugged in the machine and connected to the Internet, there were a total of 43 critical updates in three days. That makes the recovery information obsolete. If it is necessary to contact tech support, they most likely will tell you to use the recovery drive/disks and the more time that passes the more obsolete. Oh, Pleez! At least provide an OS DVD.
Vista issues, No BluRay support, otherwise excellent value [Posted on 2007-06-25]
Performance Features:
1. WEI = 5.1 (CPU lowest, all other categories higher)
2. System Memory = 2GB DDR2-PC2-5300, expandable via four memory slots to 8GB (only 3.25GB useable with 32bit Vista Ultimate)
3. HDD = Dual 320GB SATAs, for a total of ~596GB (useable) storage space
4. Plug-in Graphics Card = nVidia 7600GT with 256MB DDR2 RAM
Special Features:
1. Vista Ultimate (32bit edition)
2. Dual HDDs supports RAID (0 or 1) technology
3. Media Center PC TV with remote and dual TV tuners (NTSC-analog and ATSC-digital)
4. HD DVD drive in addition to standard DVD/CD-ROM drive
5. 8 channel sound card built-in with surround sound audio outputs plus coaxial digital I/O
6. Remote (wireless) keyboard and mouse
7. 6 USB 2.0 ports (2 front + 4 rear)
8. PMD storage bay for portable HDD up to 500GB (sold separately by HP)
Weaknesses:
1. Inadequate PSU of only 300 Watts, not enough for any serious H/W upgrade - like a better graphics card - and questionable for "as shipped" configuration once you start loading up USB devices and PMD optional HDD.
2. 64bit Vista Ultimate not provided, although if you buy Ultimate in the store, it comes with BOTH 32 and 64 bit versions
3. Motherboard = No spare adapter slots, ie. can't upgrade graphics card to more powerful or dual cards via nVidia's "SLI" technology
4. No built-in speaker(s), not even a simple built-in audio "beeper" or keyboard/mouse clicker.
5. Dual tuners do not share a single over-the-air antenna input, thus you must connect TWO OTA (over the air) signal inputs, one for analog and another for digital.
6. Only "8" series (not 7600GT) nVidia graphics card will support DrectX version 10 in a Vista "Ultimate" machine.
7. No BluRay DVD support.
Since owning this PC several months now, I have experience MAJOR problems with the HD DVD and HP DVD HD DVD Player (V2.3) software, and RAID0 formatting on the HDDs. A year ago, the HD DVD vs. BluRay format wars were just getting started, but in 2008 it is becoming clear(er) that a BluRay player would have been a wiser choice to have in a PC.
o be blunt my HD DVD did not work (initially). I found a loose internal power supply harness wire connection that when I wiggled it, the HD DVD player would intermitently lose power. Also, the drive apparently lacked a necessary firmware upgrade important to insure compatibility with all currently available HD DVD movie titles. There was no mention of this in any of the user documentation provided, and only by pure coincidence did I discover the need for an available upgrade download, but not from HP's Support website. Go figure! Lastly, the HD (and regular) DVD Player you can use standalone or within the Media Center seems quite buggy. I believe the "as shipped" version of HP DVD HD DVD Player (V2.3) is not 100% compatibility with the video card's DVI interface even with a Vista "certified" HDCP compliant LCD monitor. However, it works reliably using the ANALOG VGA port connector, but not what I paid for and expected to work.
Since I will probably ever need more than a few 100GB of storage space, I reconfigured (very cautiously) the dual 320GB HDDs to RAID-0 format. I noticed an immediate speed up in overall machine performance, but BEWARE. If something happens to your filesystem, you'll have to do a complete system restore from CD, which are not provided by HP!
I also upgraded to 4GB total system memory (4 x 1GB sticks) and was pleasantly surprised to find the memory speed ran at 667Mhz, not 533Mhz as advertised by HP. No problems with this upgrade, but accessibility to spare memory card slots on the Motherboard for this machine, is not for the uninitiated or large extremities. Keep in mind that with a 32 bit operating system, (although Vista Ultimate - if purchased separatedly - does support 64 bit), the maximum addressable memory is limited to 3.25GBs. If not for the small, perhaps negigible, increase to only a 1/4GB more memory space, installing a pair of DDR2 DRAM 512MB memory cards (for a total of 3GBs) might be the more economical way to go.
All in all this is a good destop PC, if used with a hi-res monitor and 5.1 or better sound system (purchased separately). However, HP should have worked out all the bugs in supporting a built-in HD DVD player (or put in a dual purpose, univerisal, HD / BluRay DVD player to avoid obvious customer satisfaction issues with only one possible format at the exclusion of many other assorted BluRay movie titles.
AWESOME! [Posted on 2007-06-27]
I have had this unit for about a month now. I have only had 2 problems. 1st, while Vista Ultimate will be a good program, it is still a little buggy. Once the 1st service pack comes out, I'm sure it will be much improved. 2nd, the TV tuner drivers need to be uninstalled & reinstalled periodically. I don't know why, but that is what I am discovering. Neither of these issues is a big deal, so I whole-heartedly recommend this unit to anyone that wants a system that they can grow into.
Bye Bye Dell [Posted on 2007-06-27]
I had a Dell 8200 for the last 5 years and not only was customer service non-existent, so was the quality of the product. Having been happy with HP printers for 15 years I decided to purchase the Media Center 8040, and have been thoroughly pleased with it since the day I bought it. The quality of the product is surpassed only by the quality of the customer service.
I love this PC - HP over DELL every time! [Posted on 2007-07-19]
Everything about this PC is pleasing; The look, low noise and high performance are excellent. I normally build my own PCs, but I couldn't come close to the value of this system on my own. Plus, I have HP service and support to rely on. I service and support several hundred PCs in my job. They are mostly DELLs except for the last year or so we've been buying HPs. The difference in quality and design, service and support is without comparison. A service call to Dell a couple of days ago took nearly an hour out of my day. That was just to convince them that a flashing LCD on a laptop needed warranty work. -- HP gets two thumbs up...
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