HP Pavilion Media Center M8150N Desktop PC (Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600, 3 GB RAM, 640 GB Hard Drive, HD DVD Drive, Vista Ultimate) | List Price: $1,833.00
Discount Price: $1,485.92
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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
- 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 QUAD Q6600 dual-core processor, dual 320 GB hard drives (640 GB total), 3 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), 10/100/1000 Ethernet, Nvidia GeForce 8400 GS video card (with 256 MB of video memory
- Pre-installed with Windows Vista Home Ultimate (with Premium and Business capabilities)
If it weren't for the shipping problems... [Posted on 2007-08-06]
Computer is great now because it works. But before it worked, I had to call HP technical support because the computer did not start up after I hooked everything up. This was a new computer. I found out that it was a video card problem after a couple of hours. What a waste of time. So, what happened? UPS and Amazon mishandled the shipping of my computer. They must of not cared that much because when I received it my 56k modem card was pushed in and not in its slot and the video card had to be adjusted also (found out after speaking with HP support and going through all their list of how to fix the problem). Also, no screw for the modem card found anywhere. I definitely will never order anything this expensive from Amazon again because if I have to return the product, I will have to wait another couple of weeks for an exchange. I just feel as if I got a refurbished computer and not a new one because problems came with it. This is the reason for the 2 stars. Obviously, Amazon will probably just point fingers at somebody else and say it was not there fault.
Lots of bang for the buck [Posted on 2007-08-11]
I have the (now defunct) HP Pavilion Desktop Model m8040n bought from Amazon.com with $150 rebate. It turns out to be about the same price as this new(er) model with virtually the same H/W specs, except this model has the new "quad" Q6600 processor and 8400 nVIDIA graphics cards. My older model came with Intel's "6420" Duo (dual) processor core and nVidia 7600GT graphics card, but otherwise the same.
The only problem I've had is with the HD DVD drive. It had a loose power harness connection inside the case, and does not work when playing any HD DVDs with my so-called Vista "certified" and 100% HDCP compliant digital display. However, it works properly after I reconfigured the graphics card to output in analog mode through a VGA interface cable.
Fortunately, my 24" Samsung LCD monitor (also purchased from Amazon.com at a good price) supports both display modes, and both in 1920 x 1200 high resolution. I found out quite by accident (Thanks HP) that my HD DVD drive - actually made by Toshiba - lacked the latest firmware update. I downloaded this from the Cyberlink website and purchase their Ultra PowerDVD ($100). Unfortunately, neither fixed my digital display problem with HD DVDs.
The TV (dsual) tuner card has one rather irritating deficency which this 8150 model may have also. There is no adaptor provided, nor a way internally to interconnect both the analog and digital inputs together from one F-connector coax TV antenna cable. I live in area with good, multiple channel, "OTA" digita TV reception, so I just decided not to use the system's built-in analog TV tuner.
Something important to any decision to purchase a new "Vista" PC is something called the Performance Experience Index. This is a new rating system exclusive to Microsoft Vista operating systems. Since this PC comes with Vista "Ultimate" and has a high performace 2.4GHZ quad processor and newest generation graphics card, even the average person would probably like to know what rating they are getting in a new PC.
The PEI is based on a rating scale of 1.0 to 5.9, from worst to best possible performance. The overall rating is derived from five sub categories, where the lowest individual score determines the overall rating.
To find out this machine's PEI rating, go in to the Control will be pleasantly surprised that this model PC scores near the highest possible score, meaning the "guts" of this machine are all excellent for high performance PC applications. This will make you glad you bought a desktop instead of a megabuck laptop with similar bells and whistles but nearly as good overall performance.
When I reformatted my dual 320GB HDDs to be in the RAID 0 configuration, my PEI (for the individual performance rating dedicated to HDDs) went up
to the highest rating (5.9). I also replaced my graphics card with a slightly faster adapter and got another slight boost in performance for gaming applications (increased from 5.4 to 5.5). Desktop graphics performance for Vista 3D Aero was already at the highest PEI (5.9).
This model has an nVIDIA 8400, although a newer generation chipset, I suspect the graphics performance has been slightly compromised in favor of support for Vista's DirectX 10.0; but YMMV.
Overall, this is a solid machine with a rich feature set and a wide range of multimedia capabilities, that should more than satisfy all but the most enthusiastic power PC users.
I have the need for speed!!! [Posted on 2007-09-09]
The speed and memory of this system is incredible. It is the fastest system I have ever used, let alone owned, to date. I can run multiple "memory hungry" graphic and video software programs (Adobe CS3 Master "Master" Collection) at the same time with no slow down or hesitation. I also like all of the programs that come with the system that allow me to schedule and record a TV show, edit out the commercials and burn it to a DVD. I can also plug in virtually any analog or digital still, or video, camera and save it to CD or DVD.
Good but not great [Posted on 2007-09-12]
The hardware part of this package is great. There are too many extraneous and confusing "garbage" apps preinstalled. I'm still cleaning them out. Vista still has a few glitches, as in the power management options, but I expected that. Still an awful lot of computer for the price.
Satisfied [Posted on 2008-06-25]
Works pretty good. Mostly use it hooked up to my TV for HDDVD play. It worked fine. I did finally buy a BluRay HDDVD player so don't use it for that much any more. Still use it for media applications and hard drive storage.Overall satisfied.
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