HP Pavilion p6640f: An Awkwardly Positioned Midsize-Tower Desktop

Being inside the market for a price range desktop forces you to contemplate your entire alternatives chiefly through the point of view of price tag, not capabilities. The HP Pavilion p6640f ($709 as of January 13, 2011) is actually a fine program in its personal proper, supplying a fantastic stability of price tag and performance. Although we want that this device had a lot more attributes, we understand that it can be difficult--if not impossible--to locate a desktop method on the reduce finish from the price range that doesn't come with challenging trade-offs. Even so, competing systems (which includes an additional model from HP) piece jointly a prettier puzzle in the end.

An AMD Phenom II X4 925 processor powers HP's midsize-tower desktop. The inclusion of this capable but growing older processor just isn't astonishing, offered HP's push for functionality at a reduced pricing overhead. What on earth is surprising, however, is HP's determination to things 8GB of DDR3 memory into this system. We are not complaining about this new fad of stretching memory capacities to the brink in budget desktops. We just issue its usefulness: Would a drop to 4GB of memory influence program functionality whatsoever? It positive would influence value.

Those components, coupled having a 1TB hard drive--an outstanding choice--helped the p6640f hit a mighty score of 116 on our WorldBench 6 suite of checks. Even though that won't the top general functionality we have noticed within the spending budget desktop group, the p6640f does supply extremely competitive performance for any cost that's reduced compared to the price of its equally configured friends. Case in stage: The Gateway DX4320-45 desktop Laptop nailed a score of 121 on our benchmarks, nonetheless it expenses almost $200 more than this HP desktop.

As talked about previously, nonetheless, the price range category is stuffed with trade-offs. HP's possess Pavilion Slimline s5660f conquer the p6640f actually so slightly in overall performance; much more essential, the compact s5660f includes a Blu-ray player, in distinction towards the p6640f's straightforward DVD burner. But in comparison using the p6640f, the s5660f falters on networking abilities and upgradability, two areas that might be deal breakers depending on how you intend to use your new desktop.

So, in a very planet of differing configurations, what are some of the saving graces of HP's midsize tower? First off, we continue to understand HP's situation design. The normal HP motif has long been gussied up somewhat about the p6640f: Drives and front-panel connections are nevertheless masked, but HP rejects its normal shiny coat to get a seem that's much more gunmetal compared to the classic black. A small change, but it can make the p6640f appear as fairly as ever for an HP desktop.

The interior in the desktop is actually a little bit clumpy with its wiring. However, the system delivers a pretty decent loadout for anybody intrigued in souping up their desktop with much more accessories. You obtain two from 3 generate bays to perform with within the p6640f, along with one of many two five.25-inch bays, three PCI Express x1 slots, along with a solitary PCI Specific x16 slot. Which is not a considerable volume of upgrading flexibility in comparison with, say, that of the overall performance desktop, but the array remains diverse enough to cover almost all of nearly anything you would consider to slap in there.

The front with the situation sports activities a fairly paltry two USB ports--an uninteresting offering even for a finances desktop. The rear is really a bit more spread out, luckily, using a total of 4 USB ports, one particular VGA port, one DVI port, one coaxial audio output, 1 gigabit ethernet port (Wireless-N connectivity, also), and integrated 7.one encompass audio. That is a superb lineup, but an excellent far better a single would come with a nod to some sort of advanced display connection these kinds of as HDMI or DisplayPort, along with some sort of FireWire or eSATA link. USB three.0 would be a dream--maybe someday, eh?

Involved with HP's p6640f is actually a uninteresting wired mouse plus a uninteresting wired keyboard. Probably inside the potential we'll get some greater motion on the parts of the Pc that someone employs most.

So, should you concentrate on the HP Pavilion p6640f? Really, this really is among the scarce situations exactly where we advocate that you simply conserve your pennies and leap on approximately HP's slimmer desktop, the Pavilion Slimline s5660f--unless, naturally, you haven't any interest in rocking a Blu-ray participant inside your brand-new technique. It will not enable you to update with out a problem, but that restriction is actually a welcome trade-off for stronger features--and a lower price tag.