HP Pavilion M8400F Desktop PC (AMD Phenom Quad Core 9500 Processor, 3 GB RAM, 720 GB Hard Drive, DVD Drive, Vista Premium) Reviews

• Amazingly Fast, Best price for a Quad-Core.

  
  By A3HNBLO0KIJVTS on 2008-04-28
  The biggest seller of this PC to me was the price of a quad-core and that it is scary quiet. The only noise you will ever hear from this PC is the CD drive and maybe the hard drive if you're in a very very quiet room.
  
  Multitasking is amazing. I've never used a computer as fast as this.
  
  I've had Dell's, Alienware's, and Gateway's. This blows them all away. Dell has great customer service, but HP's CS isn't bad at all. Everyone else is asking so much more and offering less than what HP is offering. Dell was offering a computer simular to this one without a TV Tuner and a smaller hard drive for over $500 dollers more. That's just crazy.
  
  HP honestly is a little more cheap when it comes to parts than Dell. But if you take good care of your PC you shouldn't have any problems. I had to return the first one of these computers I bought due to a broken front power button. Besides that, I haven't had any trouble at all.
  
  I'm a huge multitasker. I have had 7 Mp3's downloading, Playing Crysis and Listening to music (WMP) and this computer didn't even think about slowing down at all. Also all of the office 2007 (not included) programs run amazingly quick and very very smoothly.
  
  Vista is awesome. I've had Vista on three computers so far, and Vista on this computer runs the best. I have had a few little problems with the 64-Bit OS. Over-all it works great, but there are a few seperate folders for 32-bit programs and 64-bit programs. There are two Internet Explorers (32-bit and 64-bit). Not all web pages work in 64-bit. But all in all, what works in 64-bit runs much smoother and a bit quicker. None of the little tiny problems I've had with the 64-bit OS are worth talking about and would never stop me from buying this PC again.
  
  There are way more than enough ports for me. Lots of USB and the media card reader in the front is great. An optical audio port would have been really nice, but I picked up a cheap external optical sound card and it works great. The HDMI output is a nice touch, but I found the DVI to VGA adaptor to hook it up to my 52'' LCD worked much better.
  
  All in all, this is a perfect machine. Fast and super super quiet. A must buy if you are looking for the perfect media machine.
  
  

• Great computer!!!

  
  By A2WBPDKPRUKLEI on 2008-05-17
  So, I buy a new desktop every five years or so, and my old XP with 1G was running pretty slow, so I figured time to switch machines. I looked around at the 'build your own' part of the HP and Dell sites, and they were a little expensive for what I wanted (quad processor, 4G RAM), and was prepared to plunk down $1300+ for the HP m9160f. Then I noticed this machine at Best Buy for $400 less, went on-line, checked out the reviews and made my purchase on Amazon (which was about $100 less than Best Buy).
  
  This is a fantastic computer, fast and quiet. I'm not a gamer, but do like to download/play music and videos I find online while listening to radio, surf around, use business applications, etc. I've had this for three weeks, and it's done it all without breaking a sweat. Vista takes a little getting used to, but the transition wasn't as painful as I feared. Nor was transferring my files over, I just put them on my external hard drive and copied them back onto this machine. All XP hardware for the old computer (wireless keyboard and mouse, old Canon MP390 printer) hooked up fine, I just plugged the stuff in, along with my broadband cable, and it was ready to go. I also picked up a new HP w2207 monitor with the deal for $250.
  
  This is simply an incredible upgrade for an incredible price, I'd recommend anyone looking for a state-of-the-art machine pick this up.
  
  
  

• Best choice for a Media Desktop

  
  By A1HNA3KVTCV1U7 on 2008-05-12
  I am an IT professional, so I usually tend to prefer building my own machines. Nothing I could build could come close to touching this box. It is silent, fast, feature-rich, and very affordable considering the specs. Most importantly, everything works the way it should.
  
  The one negative is the inevitable crap-ware they load up on it. It's going to take you some time to remove all the garbage (Wild Tangent games, etc...). Uggh. But this is easy to do even for a non-technical person, and every manufacturer loads this garbage up on their machines.
  
  Specific features that shine:
  -Digital TV Tuner works great... I didn't think I would use it but I am.
  -750 GB Removable HD option is fantastic (go ahead and spring for it, worth every penny)
  -Case is a little cheesy-looking but is DEAD SILENT
  -Remote actually useful in living room situation
  -Wireless configured in seconds
  -Vista is ACTUALLY WORKING WELL AND IS EASY TO USE
  
  I highly recommend this system for anyone but the most demanding user, and you really can't beat the price for what you're getting.
  
  Enjoy!
  
  

• Disaster (m8430f)

  
  By A19M2SVQIH060K on 2008-04-21
  I cannot review the performance of the PC because I was never able to turn it on. It came with defective video card. HP sent me a replacement part (shipping from Ohio to NY was quick) but instructions provided offered explanation on how to replace other parts, not the video card. Called tech support and was on hold for annoying amount of time. Moreover, when I did speak to someone, I could not understand what the guy was saying because his Indian accent was very thick. I did manage to understand that for replacing a video card HP does not provide written instruction, instead a technician has to walk me through it because it's not easy to replace this part. I concluded that it is much easier to return the pc than go through all this trouble.
  
  

• Fast and plays well with others

  
  By A36RBZRG1UH6E4 on 2008-04-29
  Needed a replacement for my Acer laptop that has had media buffering problems since the day I bought it.
  Was going for a Quad Core with 3GB I saw at Costco, but after a couple of days of research it was gone. Found this at Best Buy just in to replace the previous model I was eyeballing.
  I knew that in the windows world 4GB = 64bit OS that gave me a little bit of pause but I always want leading edge in my computers so they last a couple of years.
  
  The only real headache so far has been that Zone Alarm is not ready for a 64bit world, so I went with Trend Micro. Took a lot of tweaking to get the machine not to respond to pings (if Zone Alarm can make it so easy why cant everyone else). Once Security was up it was all good.
  
  My default browser is Firefox and so far it's doing fine, on this box.
  I have widgets setup to watch CPU, Ram, and network traffic and I have yet to really see this machine stress.
  
  Multiple downloads from different sites, running Call of Duty 4 with a bunch of other stuff going on all no problem.
  
  You want some power that will not be outdated tomorrow? Here it is.
  
  
• Pretty decent for off the shelf
  By A1NGI5E6RCJKRV on 2008-05-31
  This wouldn't have been my first choice frankly, but it fit my budget. As it turns out, it's not a bad machine. It has handled most of what I've thrown at it, and in particular, it burns DVDs extremely quickly. It's much quieter than my old machine, which was very noisy. At times I've turned it off, thinking that I was turning it on. My biggest complaint is about Vista. I don't know how a brand new machine, with almost no software installed, can get the blue screen of death. But that's on MS, not HP.
  
  There is the standard amount of software and come-ons, but that can be gutted. All in all, it's a nice buy particularly for the price.
  
  
• Fantastic Computer for Price
  By AJAG2J6G119C6 on 2008-04-20
  I purchased this computer to replace a Gateway laptop whose internal HD failed after less than 2 years. The HP is GREAT. MUCH faster than the laptop (a Duo Core, 2GB Ram). I really like the Personal Media Drive option, although I was not sure I would like it when I purchased the HP. Very convienent to just slide in a big HD, useful both for backing up and archiving important data. I did not have much problem with installing my existing software on the new 64 bit version of Windows Vista Home Premimum although I did need to get a few new drivers for external devices (ie a Sypder Pro 2 monitor calibration device). Only one program did not either run on the 64 Bit Vista or did not have a 64 bit version that I could download (that program was DxO Optics Pro Version 5. A good program, but if it won't load, it's not much use...).
  
  
• A Real Beast
  By A3OPFOSJC2NQPZ on 2008-05-15
  This PC can do it all. I am a big gamer and that is the reason i purchased this PC. Just to test it out I had a game running, music playing, downloading off the internet AND ran a PC scan and the game NEVER slowed down. Amazing. If you don't like the Norton's it comes with, just uninstall and get a free anti-virus program off the internet and your all set. It comes with so many PC diagnostics and auto updates you barely have to do anything to keep it up to date on drivers and BIOS. Many people say they don't like Vista and their is some validity to this. However, you can go into control panel and select "classic xp" under themes and it will look and act just like XP, set your PC up and when you are ready, switch to Vista theme. For the price you cannot beat this machine. get it now before energy prices make everything more expensive. Very satisfied.
  
  
• Great Computer With A Great Price
  By A25EJMR89Q8J2T on 2008-04-19
  This Computer replaced my P4 w/ hyper threading. Let me just say, I love Vista and the quad core really get the job done! Vista is finally shaping up and the computer multitasks extremly well :)
  
  
• Like the computer - don't like the operating system.
  By A35Y5B8TBTFV13 on 2008-06-20
  The HP Pavilion M8430F Desktop PC I purchased from amazon.com arrived within 2 days of the order. Perfect timing. Initial setup was easy and the documentation, though minimal, was adequate. After several days of working with the unit the DVD recorder/player stopped working. I immediately called HP's toll free customer support and after turning the unit over to their control on-line, the technician edited the registry and solved the problem. I was impressed to say the least. The unit is fast at rendering video clips, which is the main reason I chose this computer in the first place. However, that said, not all of my video/audio editing software has installed successfully. The software in question was updated to work with Vista but apparently only works with Vista's 32 bit version. From what I can glean from user forums the software really doesn't like any version of Vista. So, now I am at a crossroad. I'd like to go back to Windows XP Pro in order to get ALL of my software to work, but in so doing I will apparently lose the use of that 4th gig of ram and possibly all of the Windows Media Center capability that the unit has to offer. Decisions, decisions. I like the computer - but I don't like the operating system.
  
  
• Best thing to happen to computing
  By A1PZWYRCNY1LEB on 2008-05-25
  This Pavilion and Windows Vista have been an awesome upgrade. It's amazingly quiet (dare I say "silent"?) when I am playing World of Warcraft, burning a DVD or using a high-memory program like Photoshop. In fact, I can do all three at once and this beast doesn't break a sweat. A great price for a quad-core with plenty of RAM and a good graphics card. I'll plan to add more RAM eventually, but so far the included 3 GB has been great.
  
  
• Great computer for the price
  By A161JP7HSNLGR2 on 2008-04-21
  I've been very pleased with the application speed and ability to run multiple programs including games without problems. The wireless keyboard and mouse are great, definitely a good computer that is fast and very quiet.
  
  
• So Fast...
  By A3538LBIIV9TJQ on 2008-05-12
  This computer is absolutely the best computer on the market taking price and preformance into consideration. I have never had any problems with HP, they have always been extremely reliable for me. This computer is just mind-blowing how fast it is, no matter how many applications I have open, I have never experienced any lag, or any signs of it slowing down. It is just overall amazing.
  
  
• Bad documentation, no connector
  By AU9Z7ZQK7JU92 on 2008-09-20
  It is one of the things that drive consumers crazy. M8400f with the Nvidia 8500 GT card does not have a VGA connector. You need a DVI cable or VGA-DVI adapter. Not a big deal but no warning until you come home and try to assemble. Horrible first impression. I hope to come back and update to a better review.
  
  UPDATE: Bought the cable and so far very happy with the computer. It is as advertised in terms of performance.
  
  I do not seem to be able to change the star rating but I'll give it 4 stars. Can't imagine being able to beat what I got for the price (found a clearance below anything I had seen)
  
  
• AV input
  By A2JS5TGIBVU2WN on 2008-06-24
  This is a nice computer but one of the main reasons that I bought it was because it had the audio/video input card in the front of the tower in the fourth picture. I was wrongly mislead when I just got it in the mail there was no such interface, but other than that I don't really have a problem with it. This makes me mad because I bought a new monitor separately in faith that I would be able to use it to hook my 360 to my computer and play on my monitor (I have to still see if that is possible).
  
  

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