Description:
Marketed principally as a digital imaging studio, the HP Pavilion a430n Desktop PC is an impressive yet affordable computing solution that's ready to effectively deal with a wide variety of situations and tasks. Featuring a massive hard drive, impressive connectivity, DVD burning capabilities and solid 3D support, the system is a versatile performer that may be just the ticket for anyone who needs high-end computing but doesn't want to spring for absolute state-of-the-art gear. Driven by AMD's top of the line 32-bit processor, the snappy 2.2 GHz AMD Athlon XP 3200+ CPU (judged in some independent tests to be significantly faster than similarly rated Intel Pentium 4 CPUs) and 512 MB of PC2700 DDR SDRAM memory, the Pavilion a430n sports enough raw muscle for all but the most demanding users. HP has enclosed an nVidia GeForce MX 440 AGP 8X graphics card with 64 MB dedicated (not shared) video memory, thus making the unit a good fit for all but the most demanding 3D games and applications too. The system's 160 GB hard drive is one of the biggest in any PC, and its dual optical drives allow you to archive your files, play and record audio CDs, watch DVD videos, quickly copy the contents from one CD to another, and burn videos to long-lasting DVD discs. Other key amenities include a 7-in-1 digital card reader for accessing memory cards from devices such as PDAs and digital cameras, five high-speed USB 2.0 ports (one of the front) for exchanging information with external devices such as scanners and external drives, two FireWire ports (one on the front) for fast interaction with digital camcorders, microphone and headphone ports, six-speaker surround sound audio support, and a TV-out jack for sending your signal to a television set. The package does not feature a speaker system or a monitor, thus allowing you to choose from the many alternatives currently available. Communication facilities include a 56K modem for low-speed dial-up surfing and a 10/100Base-T Ethernet interface for high-speed e-communications. An HP Internet keyboard with hotkeys and HP optical mouse (no moving parts to get dirty) complete the hardware picture. The Pavilion a430n bundled software package features such essentials as the Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition operating system, Microsoft's Works 7.0 productivity suite, Quicken New User Edition 2004 financial center, and a variety of multimedia and security utilities.
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