Well I am not sure if this model is still manufactured by HP , but in case if it is available and you are planning to buy it then let me share some experience. I bought this machine 3 back, and it has not performed up to my satisfaction till date. Inspite of not being a novice, I had trouble configuring this machine.
Just wonder how a learner is going to manage then ! To start with, all drivers were not loaded in this machine. And when I did load all of them (by the HP supplied CD), something or the other kept on failing on my computer. I have seen it all, ethernet card not working, keyboard not working, memory dump, BIOS upgrade and what not. Although the online support of HP is very good but afterall they are also humans, and cant do anything with the design faults.
So as of today I am still using this machine with following limitation. (Not to mention that the OS has already been loaded 2-3 times after complete format of the hard disk.)
(A) Boot failure after every 4-5 successful booting
(B) Copy paste option not working, neither from mouse, nor from short cut keys. (Drag and drop works)
(c) On boot up, the numeric keys dont respond untill and unless I press the shift key. SO YOU SEE, I HAVE NOW LEARNT TO OPERATE THIS MACHINE WITH ITS LIMITATION, BUT WOULD YOU??