HP Pavilion Media Center M8200N Desktop PC (AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor 6000+, 3 GB RAM, 500 GB Hard Drive, Vista Premium)

I bought my first computer from a local PC shop around AMD K-166/200/233 days. Before that I had hand-me-downs. After that (for 10 years) I built my own so I could get the class of component that I wanted. This year I've bought two ready built systems including this one. So far I'm pretty satisfied with the HP but I've not been able to try everything out. I did add a DVI capable video card since it comes only with an onboard VGA.
No goofiness to Vista and I did install SP1 a couple of weeks ago. The TV and DVD capabilities have had no glitches.
A good home PC.

Bought this at an office supply box store in December 07--with the rebates it was a great deal. (Was $400 more if ordered from HP as a custom built.) No problems since then--not even any problems with Vista to my great surprise!

Added an 8500GT video card (connected to a Samsung LCD via DVI) and a 500W power supply (the original power supply is pathetic--I would not add anything the box without a new power supply--it is marginal--typical of most prepackaged computers of any brand.)

Had to call HP customer service once for a problem with one of the preinstalled software packages--service was excellent.

This is my first HP and I would recommend it. (I also own Dell and Lenovo.)

I've just had the worst experience I have ever had with tech support for any company I have ever dealt with. I bought an In-Home service plan, which HP support "couldn't find". So my computer was not working for 2 months when I had paid for a plan that guaranteed service within 3 business days. I've taken this all the way to the CEO...answer: Too bad, we're sorry but we cannot compensate you in any way. DON'T EVER BUY AN HP SERVICE PLAN...BETTER YET DON'T BUY HP PRODUCTS PERIOD!

RAM = not upgradable(hard to upgrade..)
hard disk = hard to upgrade, noisy
anyway cpu is hella fast

I purchased this PC back in Jan 08 with a 20" HP monitor. Windows Vista is
nice but it takes some getting used to. I did'nt care for it at first but like it somewhat better now. I'm surprised that HP installed such a weak video card in a fast PC like this. My MS Flight Simulator X frame rate was only about 7-8 FPS. I have since upgraded the video card to a
Radeon HD3870 Overclocked PCI-E 2.0. I also had to change the stock 300 watt power supply to a 650 watt unit. The video card alone draws 270 watts under a load. I also increased the RAM to 6 gigs. This PC now is a real hotrod and FSX and Realflight G4 Simulators run between 20 & 30 FPS with full scenery. A super improvement over the stock system. The whole upgrade was an additional $370 but well worth it. Since the new video card is wide the stock TV card has to go. Just make sure you plug the monitor into the new card of choice. Vista service pack 1 upgrade also has to be installed if you want the additional ram to take effect.
The whole upgrade took about 1 hour for the new hardware and about another hour for the Vista upgrades. Now I'm very happy with this system.