Impressive Magazine

HP Pavilion p7-1120

Desktops are perfect in offices and homes where mobility is not necessary. The HP Pavilion p7-1120 priced at $620 is one of the best desktops available. It has tons of features and above average performance that will blow away other desktops.

 

The HP Pavilion p7-1120 has a black aluminum chassis which is similar to that of other Pavilion towers. The front panel boasts a sliding door that hides some of the audio jacks and USB ports. A DVD multi-reader can also be found in the front panel as well as numerous media card slots.

 

The back panel has even more USB ports and audio jacks. It is complete with most peripherals and even has a DVI output alongside the VGA. The down side is that it has no HDMI port. Regardless, DVI can always be converted to HDMI with the proper cables. The best feature of this desktop is that it has built-in WiFi. Ethernet is also present if the consumer has no WiFi router or access point.

 

The motherboard inside is easily accessible. A Philips screwdrive can be used to slide open any of the side panels. Inside, you will notice that there are two RAM slots and both are occupied. Admirably, it already has 8GB RAM. Coupled with an Intel Core i3 processor, performance won’t be a problem for any user. The hard drive is commendable as well. The capacity is 1.5TB but the speed is surprisingly 5400 RPM only. Nevertheless, having 1.5TB is already a big leap. Too bad that there are some bloatware installed in that drive. Most of these are eReaders and web shortcuts.

 

The video card could use an upgrade though. The consumer needs to be careful when picking as the power supply only offers 300W. Additionally, there are two bays free for 2 hard drives or maybe 1 hard drive and 1 optical drive. The only time you would want another optical drive though is when a Blu Ray player is warranted.

 

Without the video card, you would need to rely on Intel’s integrated graphics. This is fine as it can run light games like WoW and Limbo. When playing medium to heavy games, the frame rate dropped drastically.

 

For $620, the HP Pavilion p7-1120 seems alright. The eye-catchers are definitely the 1.5TB hard drive storage, Intel Core i3 processor and 8GB RAM. Those alone are very costly if you choose to buy a low-end desktop and upgrade it. If you spend some more on a graphics card, you wouldn’t want anything else.