Review: HP Pavilion a6112n

Today was a tax-free day on things like school-supplies, clothes and computer systems. As the current family computer was getting on in age and wasn't the greatest in terms of reliability, I managed to talk my mother into getting a new computer. After shopping around, she had her eye set on this beast—the HP Pavilion a6112n (only $649 after rebate!).

After slogging through all of the startup junk and uninstalling all the HP "essentials"—no, I don't want you to scan the internet for deals concerning HP products, thanks—I got it set up with a right proper browser (don't you hate it when people make links to things when you don't care?) and got to the important matter at hand: Installing World of Warcraft.

There is something about Windows Vista that makes me want to use this computer. I don't know if it is the allure of a new machine, or simply the shine of the OS, but I want to get productive with this computer. I want to start coding SomeryC 0.2.5 right now, or at least do some web-design and other things (like write a review of the computer). Unfortunately, all I'm doing right now is reading the last week's worth of feeds and tagging old pictures I didn't know existed.

The system is a pretty decent system for the price, coming in with 2048MB memory, an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor 4000+, a 320GB hard drive, and graphics by nVIDIA (purportedly). It runs at 20-25 FPS and looks great, although many settings are lowered. The mouse had a bit of an acceleration problem, but I checked "Smooth Mouse," and it was all better. A good experience, I must say.

The computer has been doing really well installing and copying and internet-ing, so I think my parents should have a good time reading e-mail (with Windows Mail) and browsing the internet—at the same time.

Upon opening the case (which opens from the right side and seems weird to me), I found there to be two free PCI ports (one inhabited by an unnecessary fax modem), an AGP or PCI-Express port (I can't tell right now), a few free SATA ports, an IDE slot, one empty 5 1/2" bay and space for a few more hard drives. Although not aimed at the upgraders, there are enough free slots to add a wireless card, a dedicated graphics card, a sound card and another DVD drive, which would make this box rock.

Now, it's not all flowers and rainbows with the system. Like I said, it comes with a bunch of WTFware on it, but the biggest slap in the face is the fact that it comes with a ball mouse. It's wonderfully 1995 of them and it probably cost them more for some guy to find an old ball mouse than to just throw an optical mouse in the box—quite a disappointment. It's easy to see I'm reaching for negatives here if a crappy mouse is my biggest qualm.

All-in-all, I feel like this is a solid, mid-range computer with a very pleasing price tag. Not a must-buy by any means, but if you've got $650 and need a new PC, this looks to be a very solid investment. I give it fifty-four stars, one and a half thumbs up, a firm handshake, and two more stars.