Home > Consumer Reviews > HP Pavilion a430n Desktop PC (Athlon XP 3200+, 512 MB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, DVD+RW/CD-RW Drive)

I rarely give 5 stars, so the 4 isn't because the computer isn't great, but rather, you can always do better.

Take the computer out of the box and plug it in. Takes about 5 to 10 minutes to input a couple of things. Then the computer takes about 15 more to set itself up. That's about it. The computer is ready to run.

The chassis is pretty large. I had a Pavilion prior to this and that chassis was so crowded. Installing memory or a hard drive was very difficult. There was no room. This computer, take the side off and you can slip in memory with virtually no hassle at all. My computer came with a 512 MB chip and has one slot open, so that means you don't need to buy two chips to get to 1 GB, just one 512 MB chip. Also, I installed another hard drive with it. That process takes a few minutes. The directions are very detailed, though, and as long as you pay attention to what you're doing, it should be all set in 5 to 10 minutes. The hard drive, being older, did need to be set in the BIOS as a 32 bit reader.

Performance, it takes a bit to boot up. After that, its quick. Its an AMD processor so its "only" 2.2 GHz, however, it runs up there with the P4's easily. The AMD processor is more efficient which allows itself to have a "slower" speed. Installed Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Plays very smoothly. Graphics are nice. The video card is a lower grade, but certainly capable of running good games. In addition, a RCA yellow output AND an S-Video output are available to hook up to your television. And setting up your computer to view on your TV is a quick couple of steps.

The sound card is good. It can go up to 5.1 or 6.1 channel, however, you need three lines to do it. I suppose speaker sets can be purchased that will do that, but I hook my computer into my Home Theater System with a digital connection. This card doesn't do that.

I've only had the computer for about a week, but I like its performance. Its upgradable to 2 GB RAM and the combined DVD+RW and CD-RW is very nice to have. The computer also does have a CD-ROM as well. Finally, there is a neat blue light on the front, though it flashes in Standby Mode, so unless that can be taken off, it can get a little annoying.

I've had good luck with HP's, so I expect alot out of this computer. So far, it hasn't disappointed.

I bought this computer about a week ago for $850. It came with a $50 rebate, which of course means the final price will be $800. That's a sweet deal considering the guts this rig has. The hard drive is huge, the processor is fast, it has tons of RAM (and room for more), and it has a dvd/cd burner combo drive, as well as a cd-rom drive. Plus the case looks cool, especially with the sliding door that reveals the floppy drive/card reader/front usb and firewire ports.

A friend of mine, who works in the IT industry, was quite impressed when he saw what I had purchased. He especially liked the 7-in-1 memory card reader, which immediately brought up the pics off the memory card out of his digital camera that he has.

This is simply a great product. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars (really would be 4.5 out of 5), if for nothing else than it takes a bit longer than I think it should to boot up, and the mouse that's included with it is kinda cheap (although the keyboard has a great feel to it).

The main thing is that this computer rocks, and really is a good deal for the money. I own other hp products and have never had any problems with them (all-in-one printer; cd-burner in my old computer). I sound like a commercial here but it's true. Hp is good.

I bought this computer as a refurb from CompUSA Auctions on Ebay for $531 with shipping to Alaska, June 2004. After sending 2 of them back that we're DOA out of the box, CompUSA Auctions sent me one that worked flawlessly accept for the DVD burner. The burner failed while writing the 2nd restore disk. It wasn't the DVD burner I wanted anyway. I installed a Plextor PX-712-A which I needed for backing up CD+G karaoke. The installation of the DVD-RW drive was very easy. The front of the computer case comes off and the drive slides out the front. The whole operation can be done without tools. CompUSA Auctions was good about paying for shipping the defective computers back and sending me another without much delay. The computer processes everything asked of it very fast. Working with big scanned or digital images in Photoshop Elements is a speedy operation with this computer. Acrobat Reader Ver.6.0 is full of plug-ins, it takes ages for most computers to open it. This computer opens that program in a second. After the initial rough start, I'm now very happy with this computer. I've had the computer five months now and there has been no other problems.