Entered CNET Catalog: 10/04/2005
SKU: EG194AA#ABA
Manufacturer: HP
Manufacturer description
If you're in search of quality, performance, and functionality at an affordable price, you've come to the right PC. The Pavilion a1250n features an AMD processor, Windows XP Media Center and lots more.CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 12/19/2005
At $899 (without monitor), the HP Pavilion a1250n is one of the least-expensive dual-core PCs you'll find, and it uses an AMD processor, which Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 operating system, but its low price means you miss out on a couple of important Media Center standards, namely a TV tuner and a remote control. While you won't be integrating the Pavilion a1250n into your home theater without first making a few upgrades, the PC is a proven winner as an all-purpose family system, delivering performance that allows it to compete with more expensive Media Center systems.
The Pavilion a1250n is housed in a silver midtower case with glossy-white, hinged optical-drive covers that, while stylish, are flimsy and prone to snapping off with a misplaced knee or shin under your desk. Hidden behind another white sliding panel are two USB 2.0 ports, audio jacks, and a six-pin FireWire port. Rear-mounted connections include four additional USB 2.0 ports, another FireWire port, an Ethernet connection, and audio jacks for the integrated six-channel audio controller. Overall, the a1250n presents an attractive, clean appearance, but if a true living-room PC is what you're after, the slightly more expensive HP Media Center m7260n Photosmart PC includes a TV tuner, a remote control, and HP's handy Personal Media Drive dock. The HP z555 Digital Entertainment Center ups the ante further in terms of both price and overall design.
A double-layer DVD burner with LightScribe technology is paired with a standard 16X DVD-ROM drive. LightScribe drives can burn grayscale text and images onto specially coated CD and DVD media, although the discs are generally pricey ($5.99 for a five-pack of DVD+R discs), and the burning process is slow. The system also comes with a 9-in-1 media-card reader that accepts nearly every type of flash memory card.
The 250GB Hitachi DeskStar hard drive is more than adequate for storing digital photos and music files but will fill up quickly if you're archiving lots of large video files. Sadly, there's no room for a second hard drive. You also get 1GB of memory running at 400MHz, and you can upgrade aftermarket to 4GB of RAM.
The Pavilion a1250n is powered by AMD's entry-level dual-core CPU, the 2.0GHz Athlon 64 X2 3800+. The system boasts significant muscle for its price range in handling general home and office applications. Its score of 208 on CNET Labs' SysMark 2004 application benchmark bested the results from the pricier Sony VAIO RC11G, which uses a dual-core Pentium D 830 chip. It trailed the much more expensive Dell XPS 400, which features the Intel Pentium D 840 chip, by only 4 percent. In the opposite direction, the eMachines T6524 costs $300 less than the Pavilion a1250n but was 16 percent slower on SysMark.
Gaming enthusiasts will be disappointed with the a1250n's integrated ATI Radeon Xpress 200 graphics solution, although it will suffice for older, less-demanding 3D games, such as Unreal Tournament 2004. The good news is that there is an empty x16 PCI Express slot, if you decide you want to boost 3D performance by adding a high-end graphics card, such as the GeForce 7800GTX.
Unfortunately, HP does not offer a TV tuner card with this system, despite the fact that it ships with XP Media Center Edition. Also missing is an IR remote and a wireless keyboard and mouse. Instead, the a1250n comes with a shiny silver multimedia keyboard and matching scroll mouse, which is of the nearly antique roller-ball variety.
If you're considering adding a TV tuner card to better integrate the a1250n into a home entertainment center, also think about investing in a high-end sound card, as the integrated controller does not provide optical outputs. There's room inside the tool-free chassis to add two PCI cards (three, if you remove the preinstalled modem card). The system does not include a monitor or speakers, which can drive the price up more than $1,000 if you're in need of one or both.
Bundled software is abundant; the Pavilion a1250n comes with HP's Image Zone Plus software, which lets you edit and organize photos, and Sonic's Digital Media Plus with LightScribe for CD and DVD burning and labeling. The system also ships with WinDVD 5 and Microsoft Works 8.
Included in the box are a quick-start guide, a generic user guide, and two manuals to get you acquainted with the Image Zone and Media Center software. A one-year parts-and-labor warranty is included in the price, but you can opt for an extended two-year plan for $99 or bump it up to three years for $150. Each plan offers round-the-clock toll-free telephone support for the life of the plan and use of HP's Total Care service, which includes real-time online-chat tech help sessions and guaranteed one-hour e-mail response to technical questions. You can also visit HP's Web site for general troubleshooting, help with setting up your system, tips on system recovery and backup, and the latest software and driver downloads.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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BAPCo SysMark 2004 rating | |
SysMark 2004 Internet-content-creation rating | |
SysMark 2004 office-productivity rating |
Find out more about how we test desktop systems.
System configurations:
Dell XPS 400
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 SP2; 3.2GHz Intel Pentium D 840; Intel 945GP chipset; 1,024MB DDR2 SDRAM 533MHz; 256MB Nvidia GeForce 6800 (PCIe); two WDC WD160JD-75HBB0 160GB Serial ATA 7,200rpm; integrated Intel 82801GR/GH SATA RAID Controller (RAID 0)
eMachines T6524
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005; 2.2GHz AMD Athlon 64 3500+; ATI Radeon RS482 chipset; 1,024MB DDR SDRAM 400MHz; integrated ATI Radeon Xpress 200 graphics chip using 128MB shared memory; WDC WD2000BB-22GUC0 200GB 7,200rpm EIDE
HP Media Center m7260n Photosmart PC
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005; 3.0GHz Intel Pentium D 830; Intel 945P chipset; 1,024MB DDR2 SDRAM 400MHz; 128MB ATI Radeon X300 (PCIe); Seagate ST3300831AS 300GB 7,200rpm Serial ATA
HP Pavilion a1250n
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 SP2; 2.0GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+; ATI Radeon RS480 chipset; 1,024MB DDR SDRAM 400MHz; integrated ATI Radeon Xpress 200 graphics chip using 256MB shared memory; Hitachi HDT722525DLA380 250GB 7,200rpm SATA
Sony VAIO VGC-RC110G
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005; 3.0GHz Intel Pentium D 830; Intel 945P chipset; 1,024MB DDR2 SDRAM 533MHz; 128MB ATI Radeon X300 (PCIe); WDC WD2500JS-98MHB0 250GB 7,200rpm Serial ATA
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
User Rating: 
4/10
Good starter computer, but not for the extreme computer freak
Pros: good for playing newer games and doing mutliple things at once
Cons: definately not the best processor, within 5 months the hard drive just stopped working. I had the drive replaced, and a month after, the processor went.
User Rating: 
3/10
Sorry I chose the a1250a
Pros: Has all the "extras I had wanted"
Cons: stopped working all together
So now Tech Support agrees so replace the PC with a all new machine. I am not complaining!
But, they do not have any a1250n to replace it with. So they want to send me what they say is a "better" machine a1330n, guess what it isn't a dual processor. I say NO go. So they call back and want to send a a1430n, I check it out and ask about it having a second DVD ROM and they tell Me that the a1250n that I have doesn't have a second DVD ROM, they say that none of the a1250n that they marketed came out of HP with a second DVD ROM. Well at this point I started to get a little freaky, I've sitting there staring at the darn thing with their stickers stuck all over it! They are trying to tell me I can take it out and put it in the new PC when I receive it. Guess what... Not going to happen. The a1250n WAS marketed with a second DVD ROM out of HP. So now I am waiting once again for Tech support to get back to me with yet another PC to substitute.
Moral of the tale is: Unless you want to have an ongoing relationship with HP Tech Support don't buy a HP Pavilion a1250n.
User Rating: 
9/10
Hello HP goodbye Dell.. This system is top notch for the price and features
Pros: AMD 3800+ 64 X2, 1GB RAM, 250GB HD, DVD Lightscribe
Cons: Haven't found a downside yet
I bought my new HP A1250N from circuit city. Price $749 in November 2005. The salesman was very knowledgeable about how the AMD and other components interacted. I went to the store with a list from a friend of recommendations of what I needed in my system and what I needed it to do. Going to a store without this you may be disappointed like others in this review section. Also check out online prices that may vary as they did match a lower price than what was in the store saving me $50
- First was a power issue - the factory power supply was basic. You would think as a manufacturer you would not skimp in this area and provide a power supply able to handle this system fully loaded. I upgraded to a 450 watt supply with extra cooling fan. This will handle my future upgrades to an extra hard drive and video cards.
- Video Yes this system does come with integrated video sharing the 1GB of RAM with the video. Solution - I upgraded to ATI Radeon X700 pro This allows me video editing, digital photos, and game playing seamlessly. The system doesn't even hiccup. A little noisey when the video card, power supply, and system fans all run but it works without crashing.
- Audio - I upgraded to creative's Blaster X-fi SB0460. This was more for games and movie watching for the surround sound feature. I plan on adding a TV tuner later and making this part of the entertainment system for the rec. room.
- Having good success with Norton keeping viruses off my system with broadband I added internet security 2006 and Webroot spy sweeper.
- I did have one problem connecting the new HP1510 all in one printer. The instructions were not clear on what to do. When the printer is first recognized it prints a sheet. You are to take this sheet and place it on the scanner and then scan it in for the scanner to be set up. I went to HP for online help, entered a "chat" with a tech support and reloaded the driver/support program for my printer. It has been working well since. I do keep a lot of archived paperwork which I scan in and make .pdf. I did find a section on the HP support page where you can sign up for driver updates.
My children are able to play Zoo Tycoon, I can interupt them to scan something in quick, check out a web site, email, or rip a disc and then return them to their game without a problem.
I am currently looking for new systems for the rest of my family to replace 2 older ones.. They will most likely be from HP based on the performance I have experienced from this one.
User Rating: 9/10
Great computer, but not without flaws
Pros: Speed, lots of slots
Cons: not attractive, some glitches with periphials
User Rating: 
8/10
Not Good but not terrible
Pros: Dual Core, 1 Gig Ram
Cons: No Media Reader Cover for Dust, No Sound Card
User Rating: 
1/10
HP support suck
Pros: Not much good to say
Cons: Don't try to get any support from HP
I'm not even able to start it. After talking with an HP tech support agent, he concluded that we couldn't troubleshoot the PC over the phone and I had to ship it to be repaired. The ETA was 3 to 5 business days from reception time.
So next day I ship it through UPS and track it until I get the reception receipt from HP the next day (January 25th). On January 30th, I called HP support to have a status (it's been 3 business days). HP support tells me that they still don't have a diagnostic. I then call back on February 1st (5 business days) and behold: HP support tells me they haven't received the PC yet. After 3 calls to HP and 2 calls to UPS, HP admits that they have received the PC but don't know where it is. It wasn't until February 9th that they found the PC (12 business days), after calling them every day (they told me each time that a supervisor would call me back but nobody did). So they tell me that they put a priority on my repair and will start working on it on February 10th.
I call back on February 13th (how long should it take to determine that the piece of crap doesn't work and that they'll have to change the motherboard?). Guess what? Support is still waiting for the PC and work has not been started. They give me an ETA of February 20th. I finally get a call on Friday the 17th at 4pm to tell me that the hard drive needs to be reformatted. I ask if it would be possible to put a new hard drive in and leave this on as a slave. This way I could retrieve my data. Well, it seems that HP support cannot do that. Not that it?s not feasible, just that they won?t do it. The only option I have is they?ll ship back the PC, not working, I would then have a new hard drive installed (I would of course pay for it), and if it?s the only problem, I could then retrieve my data. So if I go with this solution, I will get back my PC in the same state it was 33 days before, without any guarantee that it?ll work, and I?ll have to pay to have it repaired locally. Good deal!
So I have no choice but tell them to reformat the drive, which means I?m loosing around 5 weeks of data (my last backup) and all my e-mails (not backed up). I will finally receive the PC on February 23rd. This means 20 business days. If I include the shipment delays that's 24 business days, or 33 calendar days. At this time I still don't have a guarantee that the PC will be repaired or for how long it will work.
Never did they say they were sorry, or responsible for the delay, or that they will rush thing up, compensate me or anything else.
Honestly it's the first time I bought a brand-name PC (aside from laptops) and I though by doing so I would ensure a higher level of quality, integration and service.
Well it seems I was wrong.
I would have been better off buying my PC from the shop next door, for a couple hundred bucks less, and the service would be better.
My conclusion, don't equal brand names with quality or service.
You pay for the privilege of owning a brand-name and that's all. Don't expect to get good service, you're not worth it.
User Rating: 9/10
very Speedy.
Pros: Dual core, very fast, 64 bit
Cons: Windows xp is 32 bit, the processor is 64 bit
User Rating: 
5/10
Don't be fooled by hype
Pros: Dual Core AMD Processor, 250 GB Hard Drive, Dual DVD
Cons: Cheap components and junkware
Both the HP and the Gateway systems suffer from inadequate power supplies if you are considering upgrading to a dedicated PCI Express graphics card, but if you are willing to open the box and do some upgrading you can get a quality system that won't break the bank.
It would be nice if the large PC manufacturers would stop cutting corners and build quality machines like some of the gamer-oriented companies are doing. I guess they are too busy churning out the usual corporate-branded crap to notice that people might like to purchase a system that really performs and doesn't come loaded with junkware.
User Rating: 9/10
Excellent Pc regardless of others opinions
Pros: Very Fast, Alot of pre-installed programs, many possible upgrades
Cons: Graphics, Audio, some programs won't terminate when requested.
User Rating: 9/10
Amazing computer for multi-tasking
Pros: AMD dual core processor great for games and multi-tasking
Cons: ati radeon xpress 200 old school roller-ball mouse
User Rating: 9/10
HP a1250n + GF 7800 gt graphic card = a good gaming pc
Pros: A good processor, 4 memory slots,pci-e, good bus speed
Cons: Xpress 200 is very low end, No tv tuner on a media center pc?
Warning: I had the saleman at Bestbuy claiming Xpress 200 would run any game but I know he was lying as any onboard graphics isn't good when it come to games. I didn't buy this tower at first until I read where it had a PCI-e slot.
I prefer the athlon processor over Intels when it comes to gaming also. Anything besides gaming Xpress 200 maybe all you need.
There's a strange warning that this tower doesn't support add-in tv tuner cards. This could be because of the limit of Xpress 200 and/or only has a 300 watt power supply. (Like most pc like this they come with a min.) powrer supply. While I've run for two months with this power supply ,the 7800 gt recommends 350-400.Just to be safe, I ordered a 430 power supply.
User Rating: 1/10
Stay away this junk !!
Pros: Nothing
Cons: Suddenly crashes & very slow
User Rating: 8/10
Good for the Price!
Pros: Dual core, 1 gig of ram, 250 gig hard drive, dual dvd drive with dual layer, Extreemly Quiet
Cons: Cheap Mouse, Dial-Up disconnects, no TV tuner, Onboard Video
Enough slamming, this computer when it comes to running multiple things at once will blow every other stock computer away! This thing is very hard to slow down and is basically noiseless I have NEVER had the fans speed up despite runing as many as 12 different programs at once amazing!
CONCLUSION: If you are looking for a New PC that can run multiple things at once without the hourglass this is it especially if you have Broadband!
User Rating: 1/10
they promote dual core, but skim you on the audio/video
Pros: its a dual core, nice
Cons: the word "intergrated" audio and video
User Rating: 9/10
Some misconceptions
Pros: excellent muscle power at an affordable price
Cons: HP mentions a lot of wrong things and does not mention a lot of right things
User Rating: 9/10
Some misconceptions
Pros: excellent muscle power at an affordable price
Cons: HP mentions a lot of wrong things and does not mention a lot of right things
User Rating: 9/10
Great off the shelf machine
Pros: Speed, price, very quiet, many usb's and media ports
Cons: none at this time
User Rating: 8/10
Fits *basic* consumer needs
Pros: Fast and usually sold in a retail bundle with a LCD monitor
Cons: No tv tuner card installed or can be installed*
A couple of pointers:
1.) Don't buy directly from HP, buy from an actual retail store. Such as Best Buy. Best Buy and Geek Squad have an agreement that for free, a Geek Squad employee will turn on the PC (in front of you at their counter) to make sure that it works and starts up.
That was key for me since, the first one off of the shelf didn't start-up correctly. "Yeah, my heart sank alittle bit when that happen..."
The second one they pulled off the shell works great and of course the one I am using.
2.) This PC is for those who want to share/print digital photos or video. A load of great HP digital media software!
3.) The video card is OK, I went ahead and purchased a BFG GeForce 7800 GT OC (256MB) and disabled the onboard ATI graphics card. This speedly little systems plays Half-Life 2 with ease...
4.) Be sure to take the time initially to get all of the AMD and Windows updates, afterwards you should be set. But you knew that...
5.) Don't call HP's customer tech support. If you can, use their tech support chat service only. Their chat service is 100 times better than their call support. PLUS, you are emailed a transcript of what was recommended/said by HP.
*The only Con (and not really a Con for me) is a tv turner card cannot be installed. Fine. <IMO> I really didn't want to sit in front of my PC to watch tv, when there is a big screen and a comfortable couch upstairs to do that.
Overall, this is a *basic* consumer PC and if you take the time/money to add a different graphics card, it's not a bad little casual gamer PC either.
User Rating: 
6/10
Caution - Can NOT add Internal TV Tuner
Pros: fast, nice software (startup at least)
Cons: Can not add internal TV Tuner
User Rating: 9/10
Great performance and features for a great price
Pros: Very Quiet, 1GB Memory, 250 GB HD, LightScribe, Cardreader
Cons: Video chip (ATI x200) too weak for latest games.
User Rating: 6/10
Beware the misleading advertisement
Pros: Fast multitasking and silent brain
Cons: Misleading spec advertisement
This model was advertised at Bestbuy as being good for playing games, but it's not true. I believe the shared memory is less than what's advertised, and this is the culprit for poorer performance on graphics. Total hard drive space is actually around 225 GB instead of 250.
It's a nightmare to surf the web. I keep getting disconnected every 10 minutes...I kid you not. If you don't play games, this baby is excellent. But otherwise, even games like Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 will suffer when you try to ride your creations. So I will exchange this for a more suitable model. Don't believe everything that says in the label.
User Rating: 9/10
HP did a great job on this system
Pros: AMD X2 Dual Core CPU, 1 GB Memory, Very Quiet Fans, LightScribe DL DVD Burner
Cons: AMD X2 4200+ or higher not available at this time, Integrated Video limits high end game play.
The only item that I had to upgrade was the video card, the integrated video is the Radeon Xpress 200 which limits performance on high end video games (HL2). I put in a ATI X700 Pro and all is well.
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