HP Pavilion p6720f and the Gateway DX4850-45u Computer Reviews

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In this week's desktop computer review, we will examine the HP Pavilion p6720f and the Gateway DX4850-45u PCs.

The HP Pavilion p6720f is a mainstream desktop created with budget shoppers in mind.  It won't wow you with its feature set, but it does enough performance and functionality to make it a viable choice for those seeking an everyday desktop at an affordable price.  The Pavilion p6720f sells for approximately $600 and comes with a one-year warranty on parts and labor.



The Pavilion p6720f comes with a 2.93GHz AMD Phenom II 840T processor.  This quad-core processor gives the desktop satisfactory computing performance that should be more than enough for casual users.  The multiple cores help with running various applications at the same time.  Your daily tasks can be handled with ease, whether it be surfing the net, viewing videos, listening to music, or perhaps editing photos.  In addition, HP packages the p6720f with 6GB of DDR3 RAM for even more multitasking power.

Moving into the other core features of the Pavilion p6720f, we find a large 1TB hard drive for all of your storage needs.  Graphics are supported by an ATI Radeon HD 4200 card, which should allow you to play some modern games on a casual basis.  For the operating system, you get the standard fare of Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit. 

Additional features of the p6720f begin with its DVD drive that can be used for entertainment when needed.  It's no Blu-ray, but at this price point such a frill cannot be expected.  One nice surprise, especially when considering its price, is that the desktop comes with integrated 802.11n Wi-Fi.  Many desktops require you to add Wi-Fi yourself, which adds an extra cost.  The final feature worth mentioning is the media card reader, which reads up to 15 different formats and allows you to transfer data such as music, photos, etc. from other devices.

If the pre-installed specs of the Pavilion p6720f are not to your liking, HP designed the desktop with a decent amount of room for upgrades.  You have room for an extra hard drive, and the RAM can be upgraded up to 16B.  There are also vacancies in the form of a 16x PCI Express slot and three 1x PCI Express slots in case you want to upgrade the graphics card or add more connectivity.

The design of the HP Pavilion p6720f is nothing out of this world, but that's not to say it's an unattractive tower.  As with most desktops in its class, the p6720f has a black color scheme on the front panel that is highlighted by some chrome accents.  The sides of the tower are metallic in color.  The overall look and size of the p6720f should fit in well with any home or office environment.

The top of the front panel houses the aforementioned media card reader.  The front also houses the optical drive, expansion bay, and a couple of USB ports for easy access.  The back panel features a VGA, port, DVI port, Ethernet port, four more USB ports, and various audio jacks.  The omission of a HDMI port is a letdown, as is the lack of eSATA.  Then again, this is a budget desktop.

When you consider the price of the HP Pavilion p6720f, it's hard to complain about its lack of head-turning features.  For the budget shopper, however, that should not matter.  All that's important is that the p6720f offers good performance and all the necessary core features at a reasonable price.

Next: Gateway DX4850-45u >>
 

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