HP Pavilion a6700f Budget Desktop PC

Apr 25 2009 - At first glace, the HP Pavilion a6700f seems like it is going to be a very strong desktop system thanks to its quad core processor. It you take a closer look though, you find that HP chose to have an energy efficient processor that runs at a much lower speed making it much slower than competing quad core budget desktops. At least HP makes up for it somewhat by including Wi-Fi networking for easy integration into a home wireless network.

Apr 25 2009 - Many consumers may think that a quad core processor is going to be more effective than a dual core processor. This is true in some software programs, but in many cases, dual core processors can be more effective. Such is the case of the AMD Phenom X4 9150e quad core processor that comes in the Pavilion a6700f. While it is a very energy efficient processor, it falls behind just about every other quad core processor on the market and some dual core processors as well.

Much of the other features in the Pavilion a6700f are pretty standard for desktop PCs found between $500 and $600 in price. These include a 500GB hard drive, dual layer DVD burner, integrated graphics and 4GB of PC2-6400 DDR2 memory. Many companies have started dropping multi-format card readers from their budget systems to save a bit on costs but HP has elected to keep it.

One very useful feature o the Pavilion a6700f is the inclusion of an 802.11b/g wireless networking adapter. For people who already have a wireless home network setup, this makes installing the system into a home network extremely easy. It would have been nice if they included a newer 802.11n compatible wireless adapter for faster data transfers but since wireless is not common on desktop systems it isn't too much of a problem.

Those looking to potentially upgrade the graphics with a dedicated graphics board may want to be aware that the system has a 300W power supply that will limit the use of many of the newer generations of graphics cards that require a far amount of power. It shouldn't be too much of a problem for the lower end graphics cards for those looking at possibly using it for casual PC gaming.

The big problem is that HP's Pavilion a6700f just isn't really unique enough compared to other quad core budget systems to warrant it as being a better choice.