Manuals here:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/manualCategory?cc=us&dlc=en&product=3550550&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

Woot always has awesome prices on desktops. This one is no exception. Yeah, it's HP. That's not a brand I like to have around these days, either. It could be worse. After all, it's not a Dell. Vista? Well, they're gonna cram that poison down your throat no matter where you go unless you build one yourself. Looking past those points you have to admit its a great deal at this price point; especially if you are in the market for a bargain.

Why didn't they refurbish it with XP? Vista is such a waste.

s7yl33 wrote:lets go with garry with some silent r's...

Sounds good to me!

man... my little bro is thinking about buying his first computer and I think this one would be perfect. I mean the graphics card and psu combined in my pc i'm putting together costs about as much as this total system... Good starter computer I think.

Today's woot makes me wish I needed a new computer. I'd get this bad boy with only one hesitation - Vista. I have no problems at all with HP. I currently have two HP CPUs and one HP laptop and have had good luck with them. The one time I had to call Tech Support, yes, it was awful, but my experience is that's about how they all are nowadays.

I initially had the same reservations someone else has posted about HP having merged with Compaq, but a friend in the computer industry told me that in the merger, Compaq was doing the large-scale networking side of things and HP would continue to do the private consumer business. That was about 2004 and it does seem to be the case from the perspective of my own little world. Having worked on my share of Compaqs back in the day, I can report that none of the three HPs I have now acts at all like a Compaq, thank goodness.

leukram wrote:Man, I totally agree! I'm glad I'm not the only one that has experienced this. HP customer support blows!

I have never had to call support for my HP...so I wouldn't know. But I have to call Dell support all the time. It's a shame Dell computers aren't have as good as their support (which I will admit is superior).

Good deal on this one.

I built a machine with similar specs for around $800 a few months back. The weak point is obviously the PSU and GFX card if you intend to use this for gaming, although the 8400 isn't to shabby considering this is meant to be a HTPC.

ah, Vista isn't that bad.
And this would be worth it just to scavenge the parts. A Quad Core Intel, 3GB RAM and a massive HD would be a great start to a new build. Find a good Mobo and GPU and probably a better box and you might be able to stay under $1000.

And can I ask how many of you guys that loath Vista have it? I've got it and it hasn't been a problem for me. And I have it on an HP Laptop no less...

I would consider this but it's Vista.

I will not touch Vista. Ever. When the time comes, and I have to do Vista, that will mean buying all my software over again (no, I don't torrent). At that point, I might as well go Mac. And I will. Bill, take this Vista and shove it.

heres the best review of all: I have this computer, not the refurb (rox0rz!) verison though. I got it for 1000 because I knew a guy. This computer rocks!!! nice and fast and I've yet to freeze it after almost a month and a half with it. Great computer and great graphics... love the built in FM radio too. a great system I love it!!

I have basically this same computer but I paid $1100 for it. It kicks ass! The quad core absolutely flies. For $700 you can't beat this. Mine is actually the m8120n which is the same except for a weaker graphics card, the 7300LE instead of the 8400GS in this box, but that is easily replaceable. Damn good buy, even if it is refurbished.

Well, swell. I just paid $1,000 for a new one at Circuit City a month ago (and that was on sale). I'm typing on it as we speak. This is a good deal.

Some gripes:

(1) Vista. It comes preloaded w/ Vista Home Premium Edition, and has all the bugs you'd expect. One problem I encountered right away: It wouldn't read the install CD that came w/ my new HP laser printer (CM1015MFP). I fished around and noticed on an Amazon review that others had this problem. I had to download the install software from HP & install from my harddrive. Ridiculous.

Also, not sure if it's Vista related or not, but this won't boot up if there is any sort of CD in the CD/DVD-ROM. So if you game, you have to take the CD out each time you shut down.

(2) Wireless mouse + keyboard. Theoretically, you're just supposed to plug in the USB antenna & you're ready to go. In practice, it's ridiculously buggy. I have to keep unplugging the antenna, switching off the mouse and reinserting the USB antenna to get it to work. The "connect" buttons on the antenna & mouse don't seem to always do the trick. I plugged the antenna in the front USB port b/c I was unplugging it so much. It stuck out & I bumped it with my foot, broke it & had to buy a new mouse & keyboard.

I saw someone seeking to buy one of these antennas on Craigslist, so apparently I'm not the only one breaking them

(3) Layout. If you want to upgrade your RAM or harddrive, you need to take off the side, take off the front panel and then unscrew & remove the HD cage (the RAM is below it). There is also a tab on the HD cage you are supposed to depress with a screwdriver to pop it out. I couldn't get it to pop out, and didn't want to press any harder than I was for fear of bending the tab, or having the screwdriver slip & spear the motherboard. I was able to install new RAM w/o removing the HD cage (after much effort), but am not sure what I am going to do when I want to add a HD.

(4) This has all the standard HP media drive bays on the front, which some people find annoying.

(5) Not sure if its the video card or a system issue, but I'm in the middle of Bioshock, and it's crashed a couple of times. Not a good sign.

Overall, a good machine, beyond these glitches. 3 or 4 stars out of 5.

ralphk917 wrote:I would consider this but it's Vista.

I will not touch Vista. Ever. When the time comes, and I have to do Vista, that will mean buying all my software over again (no, I don't torrent). At that point, I might as well go Mac. And I will. Bill, take this Vista and shove it.

Everyone hate's on Vista like crazy today. I gotta say, I've tried it some. Its not that bad after you get used to it. Actually, kinda cool. Nice for a change of pace every once in a blue moon. Hehe.

Sadly, this model doesn't have the fabled CableCard BIOS, so unless all of your HD comes in OTA, you're screwed. Unless DirecTV really releases their fabled HDPC-20 for Vista MCE.

I wonder if driver's are available for 2003 Server or XP? HP has made them scarce from what I have seen? Can anyone help in this area?

If it is a girl, my vote is for vanessa.

(12:00 AM) Switz213 is a little too excited over Froogle.

Im just entirely bored hohoho.

I was more excited over the fact that I beat wootalyzer.

Bought one very similar from Frys about a month ago.

This has lmost the same specs except mine has a single 500 GB HD, no TV tuner and without all the wireless stuff and a slightly downgraded video card. But only paid $499.99.

I bought the HP a6123w refurbished so had to get a service warranty with it for an extra $90.

Very happy with it so far. Upgraded the PSU (had only 250w). Happy with Vista too. I was holding off from upgrading for a while.

Good computer. All the extras are probably worth around $200.00. Would worry about the 90 day warranty though.

dalton2112 wrote:I have never had to call support for my HP...so I wouldn't know. But I have to call Dell support all the time. It's a shame Dell computers aren't have as good as their support (which I will admit is superior).

Yeah... I actually do like Dell support alot. Especially when you talk to someone who can speak English at least. My dad bought an HP just before vista was released, and it's a pretty nice pc. I just hate all the garbage that comes with a prebuilt system... all the freaking unnecessary adds and programs that are installed that you have to spend a good extra 30 minutes uninstalling. I don't think I will ever buy a cookie cutter pc again...

Steve-Zodiac wrote:Why didn't they refurbish it with XP? Vista is such a waste.

You got it all wrong the PC is not refurbished it's the Vista that refubished : )

The government will now be giving me a $300 check (AKA tax break). I'd be halfway there if my taxes were done.

Vista haters... people. its not that bad really is it? xp applications you can run in XP mode in vista. Picked one up for a spare.

Too bulky... PC's need to slim down like an iMac...
Impressive stats though...

Pretty good price, if I actually liked HP I would purchase one

so what, the idea is throw this in the living room and run the HD signal through it to your tv? Is this a really expensive DVR?

It appears the GPU does feature OpenGL support according to Adobe:

http://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects/opengl.html

Steve-Zodiac wrote:Why didn't they refurbish it with XP? Vista is such a waste.

Yep, I agree. Put XP pro on that puppy and you've got a winner.

ralphk917 wrote:I would consider this but it's Vista.

I will not touch Vista. Ever. When the time comes, and I have to do Vista, that will mean buying all my software over again (no, I don't torrent). At that point, I might as well go Mac. And I will. Bill, take this Vista and shove it.

Vista is the current operating system.
You should feel comfortable using the os that comes installed on a PC.
I use 2000 Pro/XP Pro/XP Home/Vista Home Premium and all of my rigs are fast and stable. And only the Vista machine is multicore. I have never even had to reboot it due to a hang. My guess is that HP knows how to install an os too. This woot's hardware is pretty high end. hdmi out? dx10?
What is this incompatable software of which you speak?

alright, something else I don't need. Good deal, but not quite good enough for me to justify buying it.

I don't understand all of the whining about Vista either... I run it on a Vaio laptop, a refurb (rox0rz!) Compaq I got from Woot for $395 (both at home) and on my workhorse PC at work.. all with no problems.

refurbished is not my taste at all.

Switz213 wrote:(12:00 AM) Switz213 is a little too excited over Froogle.

Im just entirely bored hohoho.

I was more excited over the fact that I beat wootalyzer.

Hey, that's tough to do. I think I did it the last time I froogled the daily woot.

You should name it Cleatis... I think that is a very fitting name for a crayfish

I got the HP computer offered earlier this month, and there was a rumor then about the powersupply and case form of that machine.

I'm letting it be known that the machine from earlier this month, and this more expensive machine both definately do NOT use a micro ATX power supply for it's case. It is infact likely, but not yet confirmed that a normal ATX power supply is usable in the case.

If you bought the machine from earlier this month, be careful when ordering a replacement power supply. IF you buy this machine, be just as careful. I will post later today and confirm that the power supply is ATX or something strange.

a good PC. very good price for all the components in there - you can't build it yourself for that cheap by far. you'll want to upgrade the video card and maybe power supply, but doing that greatly improves the performance and longevity of the machine. really it's only problem is that it's running Vista and you can't install XP, but i've used Vista a lot and its fine if you use it right. anyway, HPs are probably the best quality pre-built proprietary computers, and this has a lot of bang for your buck.

PhonyGal wrote:I don't understand all of the whining about Vista either... I run it on a Vaio laptop, a refurb (rox0rz!) Compaq I got from Woot for $395 (both at home) and on my workhorse PC at work.. all with no problems.

Well I have vista on my dell, I've owned it for less than a year, and I've had to reinstall my operating system literally 4 times already. That's pretty crappy.

Does the HDMI out also carries audio, i.e. if I install an Blue-ray drive would I be able to connect this to my HDTV just using HDMI or I still need to use the audio output? Thanks.

rawfish wrote:Does the HDMI out also carries audio, i.e. if I install an Blue-ray drive would I be able to connect this to my HDTV just using HDMI or I still need to use the audio output? Thanks.

HDMI does carry audio, so I would imagine it would on this computer... HOWEVER, it's possible it doesn't..

Obvious name for the crayfish would be "Cray." Perhaps "Supercomputerfish" would work, too.