The Bottom Line
- Integrated Hard Drive
- Large Hard Drive
- Pocket Media Bay For Easy Storage Expansion/Portability
- Infrared Receiver Separate USB Unit
- AMD Processor Sluggish Compared To Intel Offerings
Description
- AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ Dual Core Desktop Processor
- 2GB PC2-5300 DDR2 Memory
- 500GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive
- 16x DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Burner With LightScribe
- NVIDIA GeForce 6150 Integrated Graphics and Digital/Analog HDTV with FM Tuner
- Intel HDA Audio
- v.92 56Kbps USB Modem, 10/100 Ethernet, 802.11b/g Wireless
- Six USB 2.0, One FireWire, 15-in-1 Card Reader, HP Pocket Media Drive Bay
- 13.4" x 10.9" x 4.2"
- Vista Home Premium, MS Works, Photosmart Essentials, Cyberlink DVD Suite, Norton Internet Security
Guide Review - HP Pavilion Slimline s3320f Small Form Factor Desktop
3/25/08 – Most of the small form factor systems on the market are based around Intel processors, particularly the mobile CPUs. HP has elected to use the AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ dual core desktop processor for the Pavilion Slimline s3320f system. While this is sufficient for most general purpose usages, the system does lag significantly behind the more recent offerings from Intel. HP does include 2GB of PC2-5300 DDR2 memory with the system to let it function smoothly with the Vista operating system.
One of the big highlights for the Pavilion s3320f is the storage. It includes a very spacious 500GB hard drive that allows it to store a large amount of media. This is important as well since the system comes with an included digital/analog HDTV tuner making it a strong candidate for a media center system. If the 500GB of storage space isn't enough, HP also has a Pocket Media drive bay that allows for easy expansion and data portability with HP's line of Pocket Media external hard drives.
Graphics wise, the Pavilion s3320f uses an older NVIDIA GeForce 6150 integrated solution. This doesn't provide much in terms of 3D performance or enhancement of encoded video streams. The system does have a PCI-Express x16 graphics card slot inside, but the spacing around it and the power supply limit what cards can be used to upgrade the graphics.
The area that the Pavilion s3320f really excels is being used as a media center computer hooked up to a HDTV with a VGA input. The small size of the case and included HDTV tuner allow it to record and playback TV. It could be even better with an Bluray drive over the DVD burner, but that would add a significant price increase.
