aznofazns wrote:Seemingly good, but in reality it's bottlenecked by its groovy power supply. I would know, as I have a lesser model that has a 250 effing W psu.

Yes, I have the (now much older) 495m & I "shoe-horned" in a nice 500w Antec to solve the issue & be able to add some power hungry extras. ...but with that said, you have to remember that the box is well spec.-ed for it's intended Media Center Roll & the small quiet efficient PSU works well as configured. Mine is running Folding@Home 24-7 (team 49924 if you're interested in helping out {just broke into the top 1000 teams today WOOT! WOOT!} :o) ...so my CPU is at 100% ALL THE TIME going on 1 full year now & the HP has been bullet proof.

steevieg wrote:thats interesting, i got a dell on black friday weekend, it's got vista home premium, and i've never had any signs of a faulty operating system

maybe you people having problems with Vista just don't know how to maintain a working computer well. the only problem i have with vista was getting files/folders shared, but i figured that out through microsoft website.

remember: everyone hated XP in the beginning, so i guess everyone will hate Vista as well. as for me, i like Vista. it can only get better.

who hated XP? I only heard minor gripes. Vista is a DOG period. I got a new dual core laptop 2 gigs of ram (tx1000) and vista is a Dog on it. My old 700m runs so much faster. I totally regret buying the laptop. Basically the problem i see is that the people that don't upgrade to Linux because of compatibility problems now have the opportunity. Linux has much better driver support than vista and vista has massive compatibility problems with XP applications. I bet the people with vista problems have a lot of customized hardware or setups they need to do. I really really really wanted to like vista. I don't mind MS, I really don't, however when we are forced to buy a crap OS and we are told it's great, I can't stand it. Using my vista machine is a task, the OS doesn't know how to get out of it's own way

If you're looking to do gaming on this you'll probably want to do the following steps:

1. Upgrade the graphics card Imediately - 225$

2. Get a sound card - 75$

3. Overclock it

4. More then likely it comes with a stock CPU heatsink so if you're gonna overclock it ... get a better heatsink - 40$

5. Make sure all your new parts fit ... the motherboard is microATX ... in other words not the same as normal computer most lkely (internally)

So after spending 340 more dollars (lowballing it) and time and effort on a refurbed machine, you'll have a gaming rig that will run games on medium - high settings ... assuming an HP can even overclock well which I don't think they can.

Or just buy the parts to make a computer for a cheaper price, the parts will be new, you'll know what's going into it, and it'll look like you want it to. Plus you'll be able to run everything on high - ultra settings.

Tough desicions ::rolls eyes::

Plus you don't have all of the HP crap pre loaded onto the computer

mattmartell wrote: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 bought a machine similar to this and a guy told be about a free program called Decrapifyer to get rid of the garbage loaded on new systems. It worked and got rid of almost all the trash in one easy pass.

http://the-pc-decrapifier.en.softonic.com/

Frayle wrote:Computers are not supposed to be cute, or quiet. i don't know why manufacturers keep churning out this crap. We want 4 foot tall machines with 20 fans that sound like a jet engine, and they give us this worthless crap.

Just duct tape a gas powered leave blower to your computer and crank her up. Has the same affect.

If you want it even louder, remove the muffler first.

Why anybody would buy a slightly used second hand PC when they can buy a Clearance Mac from the Apple Store for about the same price, run both Windows and Mac OS, do all the multimedia things that Mac does without buying extra boards, be free of viral crap, etc amazes me. But, as Seinfeld says, I could be wrong!

This is a good deal monetarily speaking for those who want something that is neither bare bones nor high end.

However, after previous experience with HP's proprietary rip-off parts (e.g.-power supplies), I'll never buy one for myself.

Still, a nice deal from the Woot masters

Since when did admitting that you bought your computer at Best Buy, Circuit City or (especially) Fry's lend credibility to anything you have to say? You got screwed before you walked in the door!

Fred

All I can say is, RUN AWAY. I bought one of these last year and there were MAJOR hardware and software issues. After 17 calls to HP's tech support (yep, I kept track) I actually got a tech support rep who recommended that I go to my nearest Best Buy store. I said, "So I can get the Geek Squad to fix this?" And he said, "No, to buy a new computer." This thing NEVER worked, right out of the box. HP even tried to say that I bought it in January and the 90 day warranty was up - but I didn't buy it until May, and it was June when they claimed the 90 days had elapsed already. Even after I faxed them the printouts from Woot showing the purchase date, they stuck to their "bought in January" story.
After much struggle, Woot finally agreed to take it back, but it was a real pain. My advice is to steer clear of HP refurbs.

theres nothing wrong with vista most of the bugs have been worked out hp computers are some of the better premade ones and dell sucks

darthbane55 wrote:theres nothing wrong with vista most of the bugs have been worked out hp computers are some of the better premade ones and dell sucks

also only buy new computers off of woot refubished ones suck

murderousFiligree wrote:Neat-o! Video card has HDMI built in!

That's not HDMI, it's DVI. Pretty standard on video cards for the last year or so.

If you get a machine preloaded with Vista, you should consider upgrading to XP.

Excellent Reviews -
http://dotnet.org.za/codingsanity/archive/2007/12/14/review-windows-xp.aspx

Its funny because me and some friends left work yesterday to go over to Sam's club to look at a computer that is almost exactly like this. They have the 6600+ processer, same ram and video card, the drive was only 500 meg at the store but for the price tag of 1050$ They throw in a 22" widescreen HP monitor that matches the system, and remote control to watch tv on this machine. Oh and the computer is new vs. a referb.

I'm pretty sure HP is trying to close this model out because of the winpy graphics card they assembled them with.

darthbane55 wrote:theres nothing wrong with vista most of the bugs have been worked out hp computers are some of the better premade ones and dell sucks

I totally agree with you dude, I have had nothing but problems with Dell

If I just didnt buy a 17" laptop "big lap" I would be on this in a heart beat.

My PC is just dog slow and my new laptop just runs circles around it, well it is a mid spec 2001 build.

I know that i am not comparing apples to apples but here is the pc i bought from woot last month and it is very close to today's woot but was 250.00 less.............................HP Pavilion Athlon Dual Core 5000+ Desktop Computer
You ordered 1 HP Pavilion a6130n Athlon 2.6GHz Dual Core 5000+ Desktop Computer.
which each cost $439.99
for a subtotal of $439.99
plus shipping + $5.00
for a total of $444.99

Dibbler wrote:That's not HDMI, it's DVI. Pretty standard on video cards for the last year or so.

No, it's HDMI *AND* DVI. Any media-centirc video card is going to have HDMI now-a-days. And you can look at the picture to verify.

HP sucks. They load their computers with so much crap it really slows you down and a lot of it can't be uninstalled from the control panel. They removed the option for it.


For $699 you can get a brand new Gateway with AMD Phenom 9500+ Quad-Core processor, 3GB memory, and a 1 terabyte hard drive from Office Depot. For $679 you can get the same thing with 500GB hard drive from Circuit City.

Newegg has this for over $1000


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883107498

It lists VGA too, but I would assume that would come from some sort of integrated graphics chipset and not the PCI-Express card that is installed.

I tried a refurb (rox0rz!) Gateway very close to this and had to send it back because it had the wrong processor in it. (If you buy one, I would definitely verify the CPU that Windows reports being installed.) I paid $50 more for the gateway and this one has a little more RAM and Hard Drive, so this isn't a bad deal. That processor alone is about $250. It would make a pretty darn good HTPC (even with a slower processor). The remote looks kinda nifty as well. Check out the amazon link for a pic of it. I think the woot pic is missing a couple expansion cards (TV Tuner and WiFi). The Cnet review has a smaller but more accurate pic of the back.

How many PCI card slots does this model have?

I'd buy one if it didn't have the nVidia video card. nVidia's 64-bit drivers are the worst!!!! yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck!

Plus, HP computers aren't much better, if at all, to "white box" computers. I'd rather have a Dell that is engineered and properly built.

rockum wrote:How many PCI card slots does this model have?

For expansion slots, it has one PCI (occupied), two PCI Express x1 (one available), one PCI x16 Express slot (occupied).

Taken from Amazon...

EDIT: The other vendors seem to have different number for the expansion slots. I'm partial to the idea that there are Two PCI (taken), one (maybe 2) PCI-Express x1 (Open) and one PCI-Express x 16 (Taken).

Hmmm, not exactly a great deal. Office Depot had this last week, new, for $649 after rebate.

yuppicide wrote:HP sucks. They load their computers with so much crap it really slows you down and a lot of it can't be uninstalled from the control panel. They removed the option for it.


For $699 you can get a brand new Gateway with AMD Phenom 9500+ Quad-Core processor, 3GB memory, and a 1 terabyte hard drive from Office Depot. For $679 you can get the same thing with 500GB hard drive from Circuit City.

only problem with that is: 1) not in stock. 2) 849.00 minus rebate

gigglecow1 wrote:Things I don;t want refurbished:

I don;t want a Jabra BT135 Bluetooth Headset refurbished. Nope - I dont want some other guys earwax in my ear, no matter how well you say you cleaned it!

I don;t want a Maximo iM-490S iMetal Stereo Earphones refurbished. Nope - same reasons as above.

I don;t want a Dyson DC14 Full Kit Upright Vacuum refurbished. Nope - I have no idea how much catfur someone else tried to vacuum up to see when the system would get clogged. I have enough catfur in my house as it is thank you very much.

I don;t want a Logitech Quickcam Chat Webcam refurbished. Lord knows who was naked in front of it doing whatever!

Idon;t want a Razer Pro|Type Multimedia Keyboard with iPod Doc refurbished. I get enough crumbs in my own keyboard to know I don;t want anyone elses.

and I don;t want a HP Pavilion Elite m9040n Desktop Computer refurbished. I don;t want to find out what kind of p o r n someone else is interesred in and loaded onto their computer that I now own.

Anything you all wouldn;t want refurbished on this site?

I have bought a number of refurbs on Woot including a Dyson and have been happy with all of them EXCEPT for an HP printer that gave me nothing but headaches and caused me to have to listen to my husband say "I told you so".
Just because something is q refurb (rox0rz!), doesn't make it bad. It depends on the company that did the refurb (rox0rz!). If they're a reputable company, you should have no problems.

p.S. I vote for cray-z for the crayfish's name.

Common woot! - ITs the same price over on eCost for a referbished one - granted they only have 9 left right now, but still I expect to see no one anywhere near the price

http://www.ecost.com/detail.aspx?EDP=40348052&Source=EWB012408EML

flipndabrd wrote:I'm pretty sure HP is trying to close this model out because of the winpy graphics card they assembled them with.

When the Office Depot deal on this was out ($649 after $110 rebate), they were out of stock. I asked the sales weenie if they would be getting any more in, or if it was a closeout/clearance deal, and he said this is a newer model and expected to get more in. For whatever that is or isn't worth...


edit: Although... If these are showing up as refirbs already, can't be too new, can it?

It was great up until the VISTA crap system. I would'nt even put VISTA on my enemys computer.

strikeratt wrote:If you're looking to do gaming on this you'll probably want to do the following steps:

1. Upgrade the graphics card Imediately - 225$

2. Get a sound card - 75$

3. Overclock it

4. More then likely it comes with a stock CPU heatsink so if you're gonna overclock it ... get a better heatsink - 40$

5. Make sure all your new parts fit ... the motherboard is microATX ... in other words not the same as normal computer most lkely (internally)

So after spending 340 more dollars (lowballing it) and time and effort on a refurbed machine, you'll have a gaming rig that will run games on medium - high settings ... assuming an HP can even overclock well which I don't think they can.

Or just buy the parts to make a computer for a cheaper price, the parts will be new, you'll know what's going into it, and it'll look like you want it to. Plus you'll be able to run everything on high - ultra settings.

Tough desicions ::rolls eyes::

Plus you don't have all of the HP crap pre loaded onto the computer

hate to burst your bubble cant overclock hp's. they lock that part of bios.

Which really sucks because I read you can overclock these babies fairly safely to 3 GHz with good air cooling.

stevei44 wrote:It was great up until the VISTA crap system. I would'nt even put VISTA on my enemys computer.

Why don't you like Vista? I built a new PC a few weeks ago and put Vista 64 bit on it and like it quite a bit.

akielb wrote:Common woot! - ITs the same price over on eCost for a referbished one - granted they only have 9 left right now, but still I expect to see no one anywhere near the price

http://www.ecost.com/detail.aspx?EDP=40348052&Source=EWB012408EML

yeah and Ecost has such great ratings (sarcasm overload)
http://www.resellerratings.com/store/eCost

mortiki wrote:I know that i am not comparing apples to apples but here is the pc i bought from woot last month and it is very close to today's woot but was 250.00 less.............................HP Pavilion Athlon Dual Core 5000+ Desktop Computer
You ordered 1 HP Pavilion a6130n Athlon 2.6GHz Dual Core 5000+ Desktop Computer.
which each cost $439.99
for a subtotal of $439.99
plus shipping + $5.00
for a total of $444.99

the cost is a intel quadcore.

This woot looks great, but I've had such bad luck with the last 10 woots I bought, I really don't think I'll ever buy anything from woot again. The price is always good, but they all lasted about 1/10th the time if I had just bought a higher quality item. That includes computers, coffee makers, vacuum cleaners, monitors, and much more. Not a single one has come without problems.

rschnmn wrote:Had my charge card ready & willing to buy until I saw the kiss of death -- Windows Vista.

Maybe next time.

I'm kinda glad Microsoft made Vista... it's advancing 4GB+ of RAM, dualcore+ processors, and 2GPU+ graphics cards. Now when they come out with Windows7 with MinWin every computer will be SUPERFAST.

For those that are thinking about buying this... I wouldn't! HP support is the worst!

WHEN you need to get something replaced, as it WILL happen, be sure to secure your RMA part with one of your credit cards that is easy to deal with, because you will be reversing a transaction with your CC company. They will charge you for the RMA item even after you send them back the core charge item.

And for those dissing Vista, unless your a avid Gamer, stick with XP, otherwise, I think the advantages for gamers in Vista is well worth it. DX10 (only available to vista users) is far superior to DX9.

Looks like a racehorse dragging a jockey. Something in this computer is going to inhibit its potential.

Great Specs for the price sadly though I know someone that sells these and they told me these get returned with motherboard and memory failures straight out of the box. Their store had 6 returned on black friday afternoon.

I'll Pass.