HP Pavilion p6110f Budget Desktop PC

Oct 26 2009 - HP's Pavilion p6110f sets itself apart from other desktops priced near $500 by providing a slightly faster processor, more memory and larger hard drive. This gives it an advantage in overall performance compared to other budget desktops. The problem is that the system uses an older Intel graphics platform that really limits how the system can be used for high definition video or possible gaming. If neither of these functions is important, than the Pavilion p6110f is certainly a good choice.

Oct 26 2009 - HP's Pavilion p6110f is quite surprising for a budget desktop system. While many budget systems still ship with three or four gigabytes of memory. HP has included a very surprising 6GB of memory that allows the system to run just about any application without any memory slowdown issues. The Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5300 is also one of the higher grade Intel processors found in the under $500 price range. The system should be able to run just about any tasks save for digital video editing and gaming.

In addition to the large amount of RAM in the Pavilion p6110f, HP has also managed to include a larger than average 640GB hard drive. This provides it with roughly 25% more storage space than the typical 500GB hard drive in budget desktops. The DVD burner also supports burning labels directly to LightScribe compatible CD and DVD media.

The biggest disappointment with the Pavilion p6110f is the graphics. The base integrated graphics uses an older Intel GMA X3100 chip. This does not have the speed to properly handle high definition video streams. It also only features an analog VGA output which prevents it from being used with an HDTV or video that requires HDCP digital monitors. Those hoping to upgrade the graphics for gaming will also be disappointed at the 250W power supply that restricts what video cards can be installed into the system.

While HP provides a fair amount of application software with the Pavilion p6110f, they also include a large amount of trialware programs. These tend to eat up system resources that can impact the overall performance. Buyer's are advised to remove any unwanted applications for improved performance.