If you want to upgrade the system on your own, there's room inside the case to add a second hard drive and a second optical drive, as well as two empty RAM slots.Īs we expected, the Pavilion a1520n gave us virtually identical performance to that of another budget system we looked at recently, the eMachines T6536. Both AMD and Intel versions are available (with the fastest CPU being a Pentium D 805, the only dual-core option), and you can bump the specs to up to 2GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, and an Nvidia GeForce 7300 LE video card. A customizable version is easily built by going to HP's Web site and starting with the parent Pavilion a1500 series. Its specs are more than adequate for the price, however, and include a 200GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM, and integrated Nvidia GeForce 6150 graphics. The Pavilion a1510n is a retail model, meaning you'll find it preconfigured on store shelves instead of as a customizable model online.
It can burn grayscale text and images onto specially coated CD and DVD media, although the discs are generally pricey ($5.99 for a five-pack of DVD+R discs), and the burning process is slow. Despite the visual similarities, the Pavilion a1510n costs half as much as the Pavilion m7360n and leaves out extras such as HP's proprietary Personal Media Drive, a TV tuner card, and a Media Center remote.Įven with a budget price, the Pavilion a1510n keeps HP's signature LightScribe DVD burner, which is a nice touch for such an inexpensive system. The system's DNA is visibly related to HP's more expensive Media Center machines', and the a1510n also features Windows Media Center Edition as its operating system.
If you don't need a brand name on your computer, Cyberpower offers a better deal its Back to School 2006 PC costs the same $599 and gives you better specs, including a dual-core processor and the ability to customize your system prior to purchase. For basic computing, the fixed-configuration Pavilion a1510n occupies an attractive middle ground between the ultrabudget boxes, such as HP's Compaq Presario SR1910NX and the company's more expensive Media Centers, such as the Pavilion m7360n. While the very cheapest Pavilions, the a1400 series, start at a mind-boggling $250 (after rebate), the $599 Pavilion a1510n uses that extra breathing room in the price to add a LightScribe DVD burner and a decent, if not exactly flashy, set of specs. Hewlett-Packard is making a concerted effort to corner the market in low-price PCs-a strategy that analysts say is at the expense of archrival Dell.