Home > Consumer Reviews > HP Pavilion a320n Desktop PC (2.40-GHz Athlon XP 2800+, 512 MB RAM, 120 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Drive)

I just bought the a320n about three days ago and I really like it a lot. It may be because I went from an HP with a Pentium 3 856 with 256MB SD RAM to this computer, however, it came with a lot of the things that I wanted in a computer. I don't use the computer for anything really complicated, I just like to download stuff, write papers, do powerpoint presentation and other meaningless things. But the computer came with a lot of useful stuff like Norton Anti-Virus, Microsoft Money 2003 (Microsoft Works), and it also came with Quicken, which was kind of convienient since I'm about to enter the realm of dealing with bills and getting a constant paycheck and with my growing interest in the stockmarket. Anyway, It came with the necessary stuff, like a good AMD processor, not the fastest one, but it is powerful enough to deal with everyday computations and a little more. What does make a difference is that HP excelled in upgrading stuff that was more important, like 512 MB DDR RAM, 120 gig hardrive, and USB ports all over the place. I thought this was excellent because it kept the price down and I was able to afford the 17 inch flat panel from HP, the F1703. All in all, it's not the fastest computer out there, but it is definately worth it for anyone just using for there home and school. I looked at one from Dell that had what I had, including 17 inch flat panel monitor and the computer itself, and it came out to a little more than 1400 dollars, I bought the HP (with monitor) for 1223.

I bought this computer about a month ago and absolutly love it. The 7 in one media bay on the front is suprisingly handy for digital cameras, and the software seems to be flawless. Everything you could possibly need for your home computer is included. I would also like to add that this computer really includes just about any of the software you will need to use right out of the box. Except for installing a couple drivers, this computer is good to go the moment you plug it in. Everything seems to work extrememly smoothly.

I bought two of these machines, one for me and one for my mother-in-law, because of the great deal. My machine worked great except for a little bit of intermittent "whirring" that I paid no attention to. The other machine had problems even burning a full set of the system recovery disks, however.

It turns out the 2nd machine had a power supply issue which made the CD-RW and hard drive work intermittently; not a good thing. I determined that the noise from the 1st machine was the same problem, though I experienced no performance issues.

Just to be safe, though, I'm returning both and upgrading to the 350. I wanted a DVD burner anyway and I'm eager to see what the "hyper-threading technology" can do for a processor. I'll probably review that one next week (1/04).

So, all-in-all, I didn't have the machine long but really liked it. If there are no problems, it's fast, quiet, runs mid-level games very well (didn't try anything real high-end), has very easy-to-use recording software, has lots of storage device ports and looks great. Perfect for the intermediate user. I guess it's just a matter of getting one with everything working (as I've found several problem-filled reviews on-line).

Note: A previous reviewer said that the PC doesn't come with any disks, which is true. If you've purchased any computers in the past 5 years however, you know that there is a trend towards pre-loaded everything without disks (cab files, etc.), including Windows. That is why you should create a set of system recovery disks when you first get the PC (finding out if the CD-RW works correctly while you're at it), though I'm not sure why they only allow you to do it once. Make copies of those disks, I guess! The rest of the disks you used to get with a PC was just useless software anyway. And there are multiple ways to "restore", including a Windows restore option. Read the manual.

The reviewer also mentioned the fact that there is a lot of "junk" "trial software" and that it wasn't listed in the control panel. Unless you build your own PC, they pretty much all come like this and the software is easily deleted. No, you can't do it from "Add/Remove Programs" but if you know your way around a PC a little bit, it's not a problem. (If not, don't worry; you have a 120GB hard drive after all!) The software companies aren't subsidizing the PC makers just so you can remove all their software as soon as you get the machine! You can argue that you didn't pay all that money to have to take stuff out, but in actuality you probably did, considering the comparatively low price.

Also at issue was the "HP Organizer". This isn't the type of program for me, but I can see it being handy to the novice PC user. There is a link right on the window for options, which allows you to tell it not to run at boot-up. Pretty simple. It only interferes with Windows as long as you keep it open. Just click the, "X". Again, pretty simple.

Whatever you do, however, don't buy a Dell. I'd go into the horror stories about the Dell users I know, but it's the holidays and you don't need that kind of carnage on your mind.

I bought this PC as a replacement for a Compaq Pressario that burned out after a year.
It had the features I wanted for a sane amount of money,
namely CD/RW and DVD player. Also a hard drive big enough
for a small radio station worth of music files (My own,
thank you music industry lawyers!)
I can't see an appreciable difference in performance from
my old pentium 4.
It's quiet, generally smooth, runs my CD software and some
good sized games without difficulty.
All the drawbacks relate to Windows XP. It took a weekend to
locate and properly install drivers for printer and other
common items, and the machine was loaded with ads and spy-ware.
(I believe Microsoft's term for this is "clients".)
Once I got rid of all the Microsoft garbage, "free" (as in enter your credit card number just for fun) offers and put some
brakes on it's internet access (I swear, XP is worse than
having a teenager) everything seems to work well.
The memory card slots, front end audio jacks and 5 USB ports are a nice touch. It also comes with a real instruction manual
with step by step illustrated directions for upgrading the system.
I'd recommend it for the money- it was much cheaper than my Compaq- but I'm curious to see how it holds up.
My only other gripe is a lack of back-up software. It comes
pre-loaded on the hard drive (and can be copied and removed,
but only once). This strikes me as not terribly smart if
you can't get the PC booted right out of the box.

I bought this computer Dec.28th 2003. It has a lot of great features and is fast.
My problems came when my monitor wouldn`t always come up the first try. I then called tech support twice and tried a few things with no help. I then purchased a nice graphics card which solved my problem reminding me that on board graphics aren`t always good.
I removed all the buy this and that stuff and then I have a very nice computer.
I also forgot to mention that Best Buy`s low price guarentee is a lie. I found the computer 100.00 cheaper at circuit city and they would only refund 50.00 even after they verified it.