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HP Pavilion A250n Desktop (HP (Hewlett-Packard)-DF253A)
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More…| Overall rating | 80 |
| PC WorldBench 4: Performance word scores reflect comparisons of PCs in the same category (power or value) running the same operating system. See Your Guide to the Top 100 for more details. | Good: 116 (Windows XP Home) |
| Base configuration | Very good |
| CPU | 2.6-GHz Pentium 4 |
| System memory | 512MB of DDR333 SDRAM |
| Hard drive (GB): Total capacity. May represent multiple hard drives. | 120GB |
| Monitor size and model | 15-inch HP Pavilion f1503 LCD |
| Graphics: Most integrated graphics systems use the PC's main RAM. | 64MB NVidia GeForce4 MX 440 |
| Case type: Vertical cases are towers (over 20 inches), midsize towers (15.5 to 20 inches), or minitowers (under 15.5 inches). Horizontal cases are desktops (5 inches or taller) or compacts (under 5 inches). | Minitower |
| Open internal, externally accessible bays, slots | 1 internal, 0 externally accessible bays, 2 slots |
| Extra features | Outstanding |
| Removable-media drives | DVD+R/RW, 24X-48X CD-ROM drives, flash media reader (SD/MMC, CFI/II, MS, SM) |
| Sound card | Integrated |
| Speakers | Harman Kardon 2-piece speakers |
| Communications | V.92 modem, network adapter, 6 USB 2.0 ports, 2 FireWire ports |
| Software | WordPerfect Productivity Pack 2002 |
| Other | None |
| Graphics quality: Based on testing begun in the November 2002 issue. Insufficient data for systems tested in previous months. | Good |
| Setup and ease of use | Good |
| Vendor's reliability/service: A vendor's score is based on surveys of PC World readers. Vendors receiving insufficient data scores did not generate enough responses to our most recent survey for us to make a determination. | Fair/Fair |
| Support Policy | One-year parts and labor warranty; lifetime 24-hour daily toll-free support |
Bottom Line
The HP Pavilion A250n is a perfect fit for home users who need plenty of handholding. But for an improved multimedia experience, we'd opt for a system with better speakers and a beefier graphics card, both of which would make this system more attractive--but also more expensive.
HP Pavilion A250n
Pavilion A250n Desktop (HP (Hewlett-Packard)-DF253A) Review, by Mick Lockey October 6, 2003
WHAT'S HOT: [Editor's note: Since our initial review, HP has changed the name of this model to the A350n.]
Designed to be an inexpensive rig for home video editing, the A250n ships with a 4X DVD+R/RW drive and a 120GB hard drive. It also comes with a six-in-one memory card reader that can accept CompactFlash I or II, Memory Stick, MultiMediaCard, Secure Digital, and SmartMedia memory cards.
To help home users, the A250n comes stocked with several well-planned touches. There are clear labels (both icons and words) for the two front USB 2.0 ports, the one FireWire port, and the card reader slots. The rewritable-DVD and 48X CD-ROM drives are also clearly labeled, and each drive features a conspicuous side button to help operate the trays.
You won't need tools to get into the A250n's compact case. Press three tabs on its side, and the front panel snaps off, after which you'll have unobstructed access to drive bay cages. Tabs fastened to the bay cages lift out with a slight tug, and optical and hard drives easily slip out from the front. HP adds an instruction card on the bottom of the case to help guide you with the operation. The tool-less entry will also come in handy if you need to install an additional hard drive in the open internal drive bay--it's tucked behind a bay that holds the 120GB Serial ATA hard drive.
The A250n does not include a monitor, but HP sent along an HP F1503, a 15-inch flat panel that rests on a 6-inch-deep base and whose price we added to our calculations. Though this monitor is HP's entry-level LCD, its text displays looked crisp and legible, and it performed superlatively when the screen showed pale gray text against a black background--one of our toughest tests of text quality and legibility. Games and a DVD movie both displayed vivid colors, and a photo of children sported realistic skin tones and sharp detail.
WHAT'S NOT: As with many compact cases, the A250n's chassis leaves room for only the most modest upgrades. There's one available 3.5-inch internal drive bay (and no externally accessible bay), two open PCI slots, and two open memory slots. Though the drive bay cages were easy to get at, haphazard cabling limited our access to the two free memory slots; you'll have to push the cables out of the way when adding more memory.
WHAT ELSE: The A250n comes equipped with Intel's 2.6-GHz Pentium 4 processor, notable for its hyperthreading technology and 800-MHz frontside bus, previously available only on Intel's 3.0-GHz Pentium 4 and higher CPUs. Paired with 512MB of dual-channel DDR333 SDRAM, our review model earned a score of 116 on PC WorldBench 4 tests--good but not exceptional. Other value systems on the chart handily beat that score, by at least 6 points.
The A250n we received was equipped with an NVidia GeForce4 MX 440 AGP graphics board with 64MB of DDR graphics memory--not state of the art for gaming, but more than adequate for viewing Web graphics or working with digital still photography.
The Realtek AC'97 integrated audio can support up to six channels of sound. Our test system also had two Harman Kardon satellites, a 2.1-channel set that is typically bundled with the HP F1503 LCD. In vocal music and a DVD movie, however, the bundled speakers delivered bass notes that were hard to hear and trebles that sounded thin at mid- to low volume settings. Cranking up the volume to full blast produced sound that occasionally crackled.
HP's quiet, responsive keyboard has nine programmable hot-keys. Each can launch Internet applications and e-mail programs. But it does not have volume-control buttons.
The bundled software includes Corel's WordPerfect Productivity Pack 2002 office suite (Quattro 10, WordPerfect 10, and a basic database program) and home-oriented digital video and photography titles like Arcsoft's Funhouse, PhotoImpression, and ShowBiz.
UPSHOT: The HP Pavilion A250n is a perfect fit for home users who need plenty of handholding. But for an improved multimedia experience, we'd opt for a system with better speakers and a beefier graphics card, both of which would make this system more attractive--but also more expensive.
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Review Now! Already own it? Tell us What You Think
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Reviewed by: Skytrooper
Strengths: Decent combination of hardware for the price
Weaknesses: Incredibly poor technical support
Overall: I've owned two HP Pavilion a350n PCs over the past month. The first one lasted 9 days before advice from HP's tech center in India trashed it so bad I returned it for a refund. The replacement worked fine for one whole day before continually crashing, losing Internet connections, generating a stream of serious error messages, losing settings, etc. HP's technical support, both online from its Help center in India and by telephone, has been atrocious. Their instructions are contradictory, inaccurate, nonsensical and even bizarre. If you get an a350n that works, great. But if you ever need competent technical support, forget HP.
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Reviewed by: diamondgirl5
Strengths: Large hard drive, great options & programs, speedy processor, ease of use.
Weaknesses: Comes with some software alsready installed that can be described as spyware/adware.
Overall: This is a computer with a large hard drive, speedy processor, plenty of options/programs. The 6 in 1 Media Card reader is nice if you have a digital camera or PDA that has removable storage. If you have other HP peripherals this computer comes with the drivers installed. If you like Corel products they're already installed. It also comes with a trial of Spam Subtract for e-mail that is worth keeping. The only downside is that it comes with some software that is known to have Spyware/Adware, such as Weatherbug, Wild Tangent Game Channel, & an update program called "Updates from HP" that uses Backweb Lite. It's not a big deal to remove the programs either manually or by using a Spywear removal Program. All in all, it's a great Home computer that can make DVDs & CDs, easily work with pictures or videos, do Word Processing, email & surf the net with ease & has plenty of storage on the 120GB hard drive. Oh, yes, it still has a floppy drive!
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Reviewed by: skipfeese
Strengths: Outstanding PC for the money.
Weaknesses: No second hard drive mounting brackets. Does not work with the ATI AIW 9700 Pro video card.
Overall: I purchased this PC to convert my VHS tapes to DVD. This PCs' processing power will easily handle the task. To capture the VHS tapes I installed an ATI AIW 9700 Pro video card. The PC would never boot with this card. I hand to install an ATI AIW 7500 card. HPs support had no clue when I asked why the mother board would not accept the 9700 Pro card. The software (Archsoft Showbix DVD) that came with the PC to process DVDs is outstanding.
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Reviewed by: a1johnl
Strengths: Can add to a total of 1.24 GB of DDR SDRAM memory.
Weaknesses: Tech support.
Overall: I GAVE THIS THREE STARS AND THE REVIEW SHOWS FOUR STARS--------------------------------------------I am not an ace on computers but I have had one for four years. I have called the tech support number about 6 times and the fastest they have picked up the phone is 35 minutes. One tech guy told me I am lucky because the usual wait is 2 to 3 hours. I think they don't care if you have to wait that long. And they do have people there that are dummies. One tech told me that I don't have a dvd or dvd writer.
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Reviewed by: volvoroja
Strengths: I like everything about it, I just had another computer that was pieced together from PC Club and it had problems with everything, including the Sims game that I play. This doesn't have those problems
Weaknesses: I haven't found much I don't like about this.
Overall: I would recomend that you purchase firewall protecting software... I don't know if this was the cause but I had all my passwords stolen right after I got this computer so therefore I had to change everything. IT is just a good idea to protect yourself, even if your computer has a good built in protection.
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