| HP Pavillion 2GHz Athlon, DVD+RW, 512MB mem, 80 Gig harddrive, $849
- Click HERE for Original Thread
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| JLee |
there is a recent article in PC World magazine, i'm sure there have been many between Athlon and P4, and my understanding is that until recently Athlons have led the way...
I've personally been an Intel buyer in the past and own a P4 now, but I think with the reviews I've read of AMDs achievements, I would definitely purchase an AMD next since they seem to be a much cheaper alternative for nearly identical performance.
this is all assuming the extent to which your using your computer is like mine, surfin the web and personal finances
sorry i can't offer more technical feedback,
jeff |
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| vip9 |
I have just finished putting together a new p4-based system. Most reviews I've read say that newest P4 are somewhat better than AMD, but latter is not far behind. I am not sure how A2000 compares to a P4 (speed?)
DVD+RW alone is about $400 nowadays. There are 2 competing standards: DVD+RW and DVD-R (or RW), first endorsed by HP, MS and Sony, second by Pioneer and a few other companies. Based on the heavyweight names, I'd predict the +RW will eventually win. However, based on my readings, the second one is compatible with far more current and "old" consumer dvd players. |
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| Warzau |
| Run run run very far away from HP. Can you find a local builder and build it yourself. I built mine and been happy. But if you want a pre-built from all the companies Dell would be the best, mid towers you can upgrade CPUs,so they are best the baby one have limited upgradabilty. |
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| TheWorm |
It's been several years since I've had an HP; so long that I don't even remember the model specs.
I'm w/Warzau on this one, though: get something else.
I do recall that despite matching or exceeding other computers spec-for-spec, the HP grossly underperformed even the prior-gen computer I was replacing. It was an incredible disappointment and quite surprising.
In fact, the performance was soooo slow that I only kept it for a couple of months (gave it to my sister) and got a Dell instead. I've been doing Dell desktops ever since and have been very pleased.
I sorta chalked it up to the HP being "tuned" for a casual home user vs. other brands being "tuned" for more power users. Could be total BS but the lousy performance spoke for itself. |
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| davisdog |
I'm just not an HP Computer Fan...We've got too many at work (since HP is a customer of ours) and their a pain to work on...
My Vote is get something from Dell...Best bang for the buck from a reputable company...
you can sometimes find info on the lastest Dell deals at
www.techbargains.com |
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| Fireblade6 |
Since the HP acquisition of Compaq computers, there will be a new road for the way PC computing will be done today. With the stiff competition of PCs in the market for consumers today, COMPAQ did not survive who is consider a PC giant and now HP/COMPAQ competing with DELL, Gateway and the mommas and poppas PC shop wanting to get a slice of this ever shrinking PC market.
In my opinion, HP acquire COMPAQ with a full knowledge that they are buying them for their customer base and not for their technology. HP has always been lack in PC sales. HOWEVER, that is not to say that HP is a bad PC brand. a PC is a PC, all the components inside are either OEM or integrated with components such as Intel, AMD, IBM. SEAGATE, etc etc etc....
As for the CPUs, in my opinion, AMD is slowly slicing away at the Intel CPU and business. the AThlon in my opinion as far as SPECpF compares to the P4 is faster and mb/sec per dollar is cheaper than Intel. Intel has this "Big Blue IBM" mentality that if we got our name on it...it must be better...I beg the differ.
Advanced Micro Devices as a client of mind make their CPU and make it well. Their business methogologies in how they market their CPUs in the sales channels is a lot better and therefore provide better price points for PC manufacturers and integrators to sell the turn key system to the end users better. Intel on the other hand is still living in the old world mentality. By the time Intel release the P5 as an example AMD already is one revision ahead of them in terms of speed and feature sets that you will see in a PC processors.
Go buy that HP, it's a good deal and you can go wrong with an Athlon for the price you are getting. Besides...I freakin Hate Dell or should I say MICHAEL DELL. His business methodology is the reason why our PC market is going to ****(oops sorry for the French)
Laters :2: |
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| Fireblade6 |
Since the HP acquisition of Compaq computers, there will be a new road for the way PC computing will be done today. With the stiff competition of PCs in the market for consumers today, COMPAQ did not survive who is consider a PC giant and now HP/COMPAQ competing with DELL, Gateway and the mommas and poppas PC shop wanting to get a slice of this ever shrinking PC market.
In my opinion, HP acquire COMPAQ with a full knowledge that they are buying them for their customer base and not for their technology. HP has always been lack in PC sales. HOWEVER, that is not to say that HP is a bad PC brand. a PC is a PC, all the components inside are either OEM or integrated with components such as Intel, AMD, IBM. SEAGATE, etc etc etc....
As for the CPUs, in my opinion, AMD is slowly slicing away at the Intel CPU and business. the AThlon in my opinion as far as SPECpF compares to the P4 is faster and mb/sec per dollar is cheaper than Intel. Intel has this "Big Blue IBM" mentality that if we got our name on it...it must be better...I beg the differ.
Advanced Micro Devices as a client of mine make their CPU and make it well. Their business methogologies in how they market their CPUs in the sales channels is a lot better and therefore provide better price points for PC manufacturers and integrators to sell the turn key system to the end users better. Intel on the other hand is still living in the old world mentality. By the time Intel release the P5 as an example AMD already is one revision ahead of them in terms of speed and feature sets that you will see in a PC processors.
Go buy that HP, it's a good deal and you cant go wrong with an Athlon for the price you are getting. Besides...I freakin Hate Dell or should I say MICHAEL DELL. His business methodology is the reason why our PC market is going to sh*t(oops sorry for the French)
Laters :2: |
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| DaleB |
I always felt Intel survived some real stupid moves, including under-estimating the potential of AMD.
I believe they survived by their pure size, big enough to absorb the impact, and not because they had a superior product.
Unless things have changed, as I haven't followed the race that much lately, Intel was racing down a road with their 64 bit processor under the allusion that the PC world out there, and the software companies would simply follow their lead.
Where AMD developed their 'hammer' with the concept from the beginning of making it backward compatible with 32 bit applications, to allow for phase-in.
Financial analysts on the whole have not stopped punishing AMD for their problems over 3 years ago. They keep touting an artificial Intel superiority and most investors follow suit blindly.
Of course when does making money have anything to do with the reality of the situation, or which company actually is going in the better direction for the good of technology. I wish AMD well, they have got where they are today on being smart, not by relying on their name alone which would be suicidal in today's market. |
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| MDXtrous |
Thanks for all the responses. My main reason for buying a new computer is to encode all of my MiniDV tapes onto DVDs. The price with the DVD+RW was certainly very attractive. But so many of you, and my own friends, tell me to stay AWAY from HP. Many nightmare stories like the one TheWorm had.
I wouldn't mind the Athlon actually. It can't be bad, and I've got a PII 266 that I paid $50 for. My monitor cost $420, and I pay $40 a month for my cable modem service (it's more than enough for simple Word and Excel and surfing this site:)), so anything will be better than that.
All in all, I think I'll just wait til there is a common DVD burning standard, and by then prices should be as low as the present CD-RW drives.
But maybe DVD will be obsolete by then. I heard a University in Taiwan has developed a digital disc the size of DVDs/CDs that will hold 100GB each:eek: and should hit the mass market by 2004/2005... |
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| Robyjo |
MDXtrous,
Get the biggest bang for your buck. Brand doesn't matter--honestly, it's a bit silly to say a specific computer is a 'pain to work with', unless you're going to be working with the hardware everyday or you're buying a server with the manufacturer's propietary server config software/firmware.
That said, get the best deal, the AMD chips have gotten great reviews and seems like a great deal to me!
Rob :31: |
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| MDXtrous |
quote:
Originally posted by Robyjo
MDXtrous,
Get the biggest bang for your buck. Brand doesn't matter--honestly, it's a bit silly to say a specific computer is a 'pain to work with', unless you're going to be working with the hardware everyday or you're buying a server with the manufacturer's propietary server config software/firmware.
That said, get the best deal, the AMD chips have gotten great reviews and seems like a great deal to me!
Rob :31:
I'll try, but a good friend said the HP uses a substandard board, and he actually had problems running NT on it.
I actually stopped by a store, and a Sony with the same exact specs, 512MB, 80GB, P4 2GH, DVD-RW for $1450!! Ouch... |
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| Maik |
quote:
Originally posted by MDXtrous
I'll try, but a good friend said the HP uses a substandard board, and he actually had problems running NT on it.
I actually stopped by a store, and a Sony with the same exact specs, 512MB, 80GB, P4 2GH, DVD-RW for $1450!! Ouch...
HP price seems to good to be true!
It has been my experience through the years that when a deal seems to good to be true...it usually is!
We paid substainally more than that for a Gateway 700XL, which we love. |
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| roadrunner |
I make it a point to avoid "Religious" arguments ;-) like microprocessors and operating systems but if you want to get in a forum where they LIVE to discuss 'puter-guts try DSL Reports Hardware Forum . It's a great site that is primarily oriented to broadband users but has great hardware, software and security forums. The tech-guru types that hang out there are so good I almost always go there INSTEAD of tech support and I always get a faster, better answer.
Meep Meep |
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| MDXLuvr |
I'm confused. I thought HP had a good rating on Consumer Reports. Personally, i would go with the AMD for your needs. Most bang for the buck.
btw, check out resellerratings.com to see if your e-tailer is reputable. |
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| Robyjo |
Just looked--HP and Dell are neck and neck for quality ratings...again--whatever. Both have warranties? Same length? Same difference then, my friend.
MDXtrous--do you need to run NT on your machine? You'll have to reinstall the OS, then, whatever machine you get (unless you get it clean), as 99% come with XP home/pro nowadays. If you can help it, stick with XP.
Rob :31: |
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