Hey was just looking in the lastest catalogues and noticed a Hewlett Packard A6340a for $1299 with monitor etc (full package) was just curious as to whether or not anyone had one or if they know if they are any good

Specs:
Processor: Intel® Core™2 Duo processor E4500
2.20 GHz, 2 MB Advanced Transfer Cache, 800 MHz
Chipset: Intel® G33 Express Chipset
RAM: 2048MB DDR2
Memory Slots: 4 DIMM
Hard Drive: 320GB Serial ATA 7200rpm
Optical Drive:
SuperMulti SATA Drive with Lightscribe Technology, Double Layer (8.5GB) 16xDVD+R, 16xDVD-R, 8xDVD+RW, 6xDVD-RW, 8xDVD+R DL, 4xDVD-R DL, 12xDVD-RAM, 16xDVD-ROM; 40xCDR, 24xCDRW, 40xCDROM
Network Interface/Firewire: Pretty sure its just standard stuff
Video Card: nVidia GeForce 8400GS 3D PCI-Express Graphics card 256MB DDR2 dedicated graphics memory with HDMI, DVI and TV-out capability. Up to 1023MB Total Available Graphics Memory as allocated by Windows Vista®
Audio: Integrated Intel® High Definition Audio - 7.1 Surround Sound Ready
Expansion Slots: 1 PCI Express (x16), 2 PCI Express (x1), 1 PCI

Sorry if this is a bit big, just thought someone might know. Any help would be muchly appreciated.

Cheers guys

gimme 5 minutes...and we'll see

e4500 - $141
chipset...uhh, well a mother board would be a Gigabyte EP35-DS3 - $130
2gig of 800mhz ram - $45
320GB SATAII HDD - $86
Optical (i'll just pick the most expensive DVD-RW) - $37
Videocard (again, the most expensive 8400GS) - $45

for a grand total of....$484

add a 22" monitor - $295 (chimei)
keyboard and mouse - $31 (logitech cordless)

$810

now...depends if it comes with software pre-installed (and is it going to be a wicked HP-entangled version?).......also, will depend on you getting someone to put it together for you (MSY, where all the prices came from....i think i have $60-100 bucks in my mind.....with regards to assembly/testing)

just to throw that out there (also, depends where in QLD ur located i guess)

I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume you are not a computer enthusiast (read nerd!)
I say that because a lot of enthusiasts would buy separate components to build their own PC and would never consider buying a name brand (Dell, IBM/Lenovo, HP etc) because of the fun of buying everything, putting it all together and installing/configuring all the software.

Depending on your requirements generally buying a name brand PC is the most convenient way to go.

If you just need to do the normal types of things like accessing internet, email, Office applications, watching and burning DVD's then a basic PC will be fine.

If on the other hand you will use the PC on a more professional level and need to use industry standard engineering or desktop publishing type software packages or need to be able to run the latest and greatest computer games then specific hardware requirements will differ so a more "up-spec" and more expensive PC will be required.

For a basic PC the configuration you quoted above will be fine.

As always .... shop around .... compare specifications and pricing from different manufacturers and stores to make sure you get the best deal around.
Don't forget to also compare after sales warranty and service .... know what service you will get if your hard drive dies etc as the price and level of service can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

Good luck and enjoy


Oh Enzo .... you forgot to add the price of a case and PSU ...

nah see ive always built my own computers and crap. and i find that they just fall apart after a while. the only REAL reason im looking at IBM's and HP is because of their service warranty, so i can just go ITS BROKEN. FIX IT instead of taking it back and forth to a shop.

and atm with studies and all that, dont really care about gaming and all that, prefer console gaming to PC anyway. although dont get me wrong if i had like 5000 lying around to buy a high performance gaming system i would definately buy it seperately and forget about HP and all that. but yeah basically its for internet, maybe SMALL games that dont really require hardware (so no Doom3) And then im gonna run virtual machine. and have one machine to run basic stuff (msn, internet, all the stuff that may get virus's) then a main machine for normal computer stuff that will be a base copy...so if i get a virus i can just f*** off the VM and hopefully will be sweet lol.

I havent yet decided. but my bro is an IT Consultant so yeah he knows his crap and hes gonna help me out.

Cheers for the help guys. So just as confirmation, for my needs ive listed, and for a non "whitebox" computer do u guys think its worth it?

Thanks

If you are going to use a virtual PC then add a bit more memory

really? more than 2gb? how much do u suggest?

Generic memory is cheap at the moment so you could go up to 4 Gb. (around $100 for 4 Gb)

Allocating around 1 Gb to your virtual PC should leave around 2.5 Gb for your normal PC.

Just bear in mind that windows will not be able to make use of all the 4 Gb of memory unless you are using a 64bit O/S, be it XP or Vista.

I also build my own PC's where possible, but the HP pc's that i've had experience with over the last couple of years have been great.