I bought my HP one year ago. I paid $1250 for a Pentium III/ 600 MHz system with 27GB disk, 128MB RAM, CD-Reader (40x), CD-Writer (4x), Networking card, Modem, Soundcard, Logitech web cam. The typical entertainment machine.
Windows 2000
I use this computer primarily for programming purposes. The HP Pavilion came preconfigured with Windows 98, which I consider not a good platform for software development. I purchased Windows 2000 (separate) and installed it.
I had to look around to find Windows 2000 drivers for the soundcard and especially the modem. In fact the modem and the soundcard are on one combo card. HP did not officially support Windows 2000, but in their fine discussion boards, I found help to my questions.
After some time, I was even able to get the web cam to work, and most of the multimedia keyboard functions. I like the volumne knob and the mute button on the keyboard - very handy when I play MP3s and a phone call comes in..
Windows XP (’’Whistler’’)
I had the opportunity to install the beta version of this product on my computer. No problems of any kind. This speaks good about both the HP and Microsoft’s beta quality.
Linux
Eventually, I also installed Linux. I had to modify the partition scheme on my hard disk- I used the excellent Partition Magic for that. My Linux choice was Suse’s version 6. I didn’t bother to get the modem installed under Linux, but the sound card and the networking card do work there. With the networking card I had the problem that because of a slow hub, I have to run it in the 10 mb/s mode. Linux does not have an autoswitching driver as Windows has. I had to make some entries in a text configuration file for the NIC.
Linux is a fine experience on the HP.
Standards
My point about the experiences with the three operating systems is that by owning a Pavilion you have some sort of ’’standard hardware’’ that will be supported by the major operating systems. That is not a given fact.. I won’t go here so far to tell about my Compaq experiences. Let me just state that I returned the Compaq after 8 days.
Solid
Some people say about their computer things like ’’This computer is not very good, it gives me blue screens every week’’ (or day/ hour ;-) )
Mostly that comes from people who run Windows 98 - in this case I would blame it on the operating system software.
With normal operation in Windows 2000, I have not had any blue screens. Normal operating means software development, internet usage, writing documents. I did have a crash once when I forced an invalid driver into the system. The system would not boot then. For such a situation it is always good to have at least two operating systems installed on your computer. I could boot the other one and delete the offending driver.
I can really say that I do trust this machine. I have worked on computers that were more expensive (DELL!) and they did not give me this feeling of safety. I have set up some scheduled jobs such as backups and virus checks and they always get executed, even if I am away for a few days.
I attribute this good experience mainly to Windows 2000, but also to the fact that they put together a good system. A bad system would have a higher CPU speed, but maybe cheap memory chips (yes, there are ’’bad’’ chips!).
Other impression
The Pavillion’s case is small, so one cannot put in lots of cards. But since the modem & soundcard are on a combo already, there may not be too much needed. I like the look of it. It also is worth to mention that this computer is not as loud as some others are. My HP did not come with a monitor, so I cannot speak about that.
Nowadays, there is the HP 9xxx series - similar machines with highspeed Athlon processors. If I had to buy a computer now, I would get one of the HP 9xxx series, with a 1GHz Athlon. I have full confidence in HP that it would be as good as my PIII/600 MHz, even though this is Intel-based and the others are AMD.