Joel Strauch

HP Pavilion 950

This month we looked at two HP Pavilion 950s, an Athlon XP 2000+ version and this 2.2-GHz Pentium 4 unit. They look quite similar on the outside, but some differences lie under the hood. The gray and black midsize tower has a total of four front-mounted ports: one IEEE 1394 (two more are on the back), two USB ports, and one serial. That makes it easy to connect everything from the latest digital camcorder to a new digital camera to an older serial handheld. There's also a handy CD spindle atop the tower that lets you keep some oft-used CDs or DVDs within quick reach.Like its Athlon counterpart, the Pentium-based Pavilion 950 we tested shipped with the HP DVD 100i DVD-Writer drive, which handles 4.7GB DVD+RW rewritable discs (the drive doesn't support the most widely compatible format, DVD-R write-once media). Users can import video via the USB or IEEE 1394 ports and then assemble and burn their own DVD+RW video discs, which should play in compatible home DVD players.Our test system also came with a 15-inch flat-panel monitor, the HP 15D, which displayed sharp, legible text in our test document and natural colors and flesh tones in our test photograph. The 15D is less expensive than the HP F50 that we received with the Athlon-based Pavilion, and the difference between the two showed in the 15D's viewing angle: Its images fade to black relatively quickly as you move out from the center.
As with the HP F50 monitor, you won't be able to do high-resolution gaming on the 15D flat panel, as you are limited by the 1024 by 768 maximum (and optimum) resolution. And in our tests, Quake III and Unreal Tournament gaming screens both appeared too dark, so seeing textures was difficult.
Armed with what is currently the Intel CPU with the highest horsepower--a 2.2-GHz Pentium 4--and 512MB of DDR memory, our review Pavilion earned an admirable score of 112 on our PC WorldBench 4 tests. Although 3 points below the average for similarly configured Windows XP Home PCs and 4 points below its Athlon sibling (the Athlon has twice the memory), the P4 Pavilion's performance difference in running most applications is probably too small to notice. While the Polk Audio AMR 50 produced full sound with thumping bass for a 2.1 speaker set, it couldn't match the 5.1 channels of the Athlon Pavilion's Creative Inspire speakers.The multimedia HP keyboard, which matches the color scheme of the rest of the system, includes 20 hot-keys for Internet access and multimedia controls. It also features two low-power USB 1.1 pass-through ports. HP's office bundle contains Corel Word Perfect Office 2002 and Microsoft Money and Works, a combination that will allow the Pavilion 950 to double as a home-office PC. Users looking to add PCI cards or more drives will appreciate the tool-less access to the tower's interior: After you loosen two thumbscrews, the metal side panel pops off with little effort. Once inside, however, you'll find criss-crossing cables impeding access to the two open PCI slots and three open drive bays (just one is for a removable media drive in this configuration). Unscrewing two outside thumbscrews frees a PCI slot cover, though the cover doesn't cinch down tightly enough to hold the cards completely immobile.Documentation consists of a color setup poster (which, in tandem with the well-labeled and color-coded rear ports, simplified assembly), a quick-start guide, and a skimpy system manual with basic upgrading information for this model Pavilion.
Though pricier and less appetizing than the Athlon-based Pavilion 950, this system still makes a powerful option for users loyal to the Intel camp.

Buying Information

HP Pavilion 950 PC WorldBench 4 score of 112, 2.2-GHz Pentium 4 CPU, 512MB of DDR-266 SDRAM, Windows XP Home, 80GB hard drive, DVD-RW drive, 16X DVD-ROM drive, GeForce3 Ti 500 graphics card with 64MB of DDR SDRAM, 15-inch HP 15D LCD flat-panel monitor, Creative SoundBlaster Live 5.1 sound card, Polk Audio AMR 50 speakers, V.90 modem, network adapter, midsize tower case; Microsoft Works, Encarta and Money 2000, Pinnacle Studio 7. Three-year parts and labor warranty, free unlimited 24-hour toll-free support. $ 2963 PC WorldBench 4 score of 112, 2.2-GHz Pentium 4 CPU, 512MB of DDR-266 SDRAM, Windows XP Home, 80GB hard drive, DVD-RW drive, 16X DVD-ROM drive, GeForce3 Ti 500 graphics card with 64MB of DDR SDRAM, 15-inch HP 15D LCD flat-panel monitor, Creative SoundBlaster Live 5.1 sound card, Polk Audio AMR 50 speakers, V.90 modem, network adapter, midsize tower case; Microsoft Works, Encarta and Money 2000, Pinnacle Studio 7. Three-year parts and labor warranty, free unlimited 24-hour toll-free support. http://www.hpshopping.com 800/999-4747