Chris said:
Hello,
The HP Media Center M7070N was just released about 2 weeks ago. This
model has the Intel Pentium 4 640 chip 3.2 Ghz with 2 MB of L2 Cache.
It also has 1 GB Ram, a 250 GB hard drive, 2 DVD drives, and an ATI
Radeon X300 PCI-E graphics card. It also has a 9 in one media card
reader installed.
Just to pitch my hat into the ring: I have a low-end Dell 2350 which I use
and love. I just built my son a custom machine from parts. I also gutted
an e-Machines computer a year ago and put it in a stronger case. I know two
people with HP computers, one very similar to the one you describe. I'll
try to give you the ups and downs of each.
For a year and a half my Dell was the only computer I knew of in my circle
of friends that had not failed in some way. It just kept on running.
Recently I discovered that the DVD-ROM doesn't read DVDs anymore. It's a
Dell branded Lite-On drive, usually a good brand. Even after this, I'll
recommend the Dell machine anytime. I'm not all that happy about Dell
marketing, on the other hand, and I suggest staying away from their featured
financing. I have never contacted Dell customer support, which probably
indicates a good situation. The Dell is fairly proprietary and will be
difficult to expand; there isn't a bracket in the case for a second hard
drive, for instance. Although the front of the case is plastic, it doesn't
have the cheesy feel of some low-end Compaqs or the eMachines; it seems nice
and solid.
My son's machine was a labor of love. Good thing, too, because building
your own can get expensive in a hurry. I generally used last year's top
parts, accepting a little obsolescence so that I could get the quality stuff
in my budget. The Abit AS7 motherboard is a thing of wonder, with
connectivity you wouldn't believe. The Pentium 4 2.8 seems to run hot, but
the 3.2 version apparently is hotter, and neither generates as much heat as
an Athlon 64, so you have to actively think about cooling, which is solved
for you in a brand-name box. The big shocker is that software isn't
included and it adds up as fast as hardware components. You get to choose
but you have to buy a la carte.
The e-Machines was a tinny little toy, but the actual components, other than
the power supply, were mainline ordinary stuff. I bought this 733 Celeron
model at Goodwill and separately bought a big steel case because the
e-Machines case and power supply just wouldn't hold what I wanted to add.
Now the case is mostly empty but the computer runs great.
Now the HP's -- the Media Center model is simply beautiful, and I'm envious
of what it can do, but I have to say they've had quite a little trouble with
it. Their CDRW didn't work from the very beginning, and the tech suggested
they reinstall Windows from the set of CDs you're supposed to make when the
computer first arrives... "No keyboard detected, press F4 to continue."
HP and Compaq, now combined at the business end, have some odd ways of doing
things. While my Dell provided a full set of CDs of all the software on the
computer (most of them still sealed after two years) the HP provided
nothing, not even a Windows installation disk. The computer is loaded with
software, but no backup; you're supposed to make a backup set when you get
it. Right now he's having a problem playing movie DVDs because of a missing
video codec. I have no idea where it might have gotten off to, but there's
no disk to reload it.
My other friend/co-worker who has an HP made such a set and when he needed
it, but both he and the computer couldn't figure out how to use it. I'm
inclined to say (in jest) that HP made two major mistakes on this computer:
they didn't provide the disks, and they sold it to an idiot. I heard him
rant and rave all morning about what a piece of crap it is, but I think I
could have it all smooth and nice in an evening of file-system
housecleaning. I really truly believe this was an excellent computer and he
just screwed it up. Again, though, there's that issue of no installation
disks.
While I've often railed against proprietary machines, the industry has gone
in that direction -- yesterday's proprietary motherboard is today's ATX
standard. A mass-market package machine can simply put more in the box for
the same price. Software is usually incomplete ("Hey, you wanna buy the
full version?") but serviceable. You have to look at it and say "What this
is, it will always be," and on those terms, will you still like it next
year? Some do.
Sorry to run long -- I hope it's helpful.
