Thanks. I have, (un)fortunately, picked up the builder bug. That is, I
am really enjoying my process of planning. Since I am not likely to do
this again for some time I want to get all of my enjoyment. So,
anyway, I have re-examined my needs and have decided on a slightly
bigger system, so I am going to go with a mini-atx. (I would like to
go with a btx system, since I like the design concepts behind it, but
AMD wins out over that.)
I've usually built my computers, but with the recent rapid
breakdown of my last one needed to get a replacement fairly quickly,
so after looking around for several days, chose HP's m7470n.
Tomorrow it'll be 2 weeks old, and it's worked perfectly so far.
I have two big requirement/design questions to decide on before I go
and buy and build. First, I am not sure if I want this to be my video
system (not sure if I even want a TV). Second, I am trying to decide
between having my main storage in the box or in a separate box. Two
smaller boxes are easier to fit in and easier to cool (but that is not
really significant). And it is easier to pick-up the drive box and
move it in an emergency. (That may not mean much to most people, but I
have been evacuated 4 times in my life, it is part of my planning
these days.)
I didn't have much interest in getting a multimedia capable
system, but that's what the m7470n is. I selected it because of its
capable hardware, which is really mandatory for XP MCE, and it seems
that all of the lesser hardware configurations didn't include the
multimedia junk but the more powerful ones did, so I capitulated.
I've been pleasantly surprised at how well it works. DVDs play just
as well (and a bit more conveniently) compared to my TV and external
DVD player, and although I'm only using an old, relatively
inexpensive set of Altec Lansing powered speakers, the audio sound
it good enough, at least for now. Price (from Best Buy) was just
under $1,000, and for a little more than $100 extra, got a very nice
HP LCD monitor and cheap HP all-in-one printer/copier. The CPU
doesn't have the larger L2 cache available in the X2-4400, but that
only benefits some programs, and I doubt that the difference would
be significant. I'd take it if HP offered it, though.
What the m7470n came with is this: AMD X2-4200 @2.2GHz, 2GB of
PC-3200 DDR occupying only 2 of 4 memory slots (expandable to 4GB),
300GB SATA hard drive, embedded ATI Radeon Xpress 200, MSI MS-7184
motherboard, 16X DVD(+/-)R/RW RAM (+/-)R DL LightScribe drive and a
second 16X DVD ROM drive, modem, Hauppage WinTV and FM tuner PCI
card, RealTek AC'97 audio controller (up to 5.1 speaker systems and
digital audio out), 10/100 Base-T controller, card reader for
multiple card types, multiple front ports (1 firewire, 2 USB HS),
multiple rear ports (1 firewire, 4 USB HS), and two free PCI slots
(one normal, the other PCI Express x16), optical mouse and a very
nice infrared remote and IR receiver. Despite Best Buy's own
documentation and specifications to the contrary, it did include a
parallel port.
As for the audio, how good is it? I plan on using this system as my
primary sound system, feeding the sound to simple amp and controlling
everything from the computer. Is the on-board sound ok or very good?
It's ok, but I can't tell if it's very good since I haven't hooked
it up to a decent audio system yet. Everything is easily controlled
from either the computer's keyboard/mouse or from the included
remote. Just yesterday I ripped the wav files from two CDs to the
hard drive (Earl Hines and Schumann Concertos) and am at the moment
listening to the Concerto in D Minor for violin and orchestra. It
just ended, as has this followup.
