( 27 reviews )
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Posted: 02-25-2009
I've had this model for quite some time and have upgraded it with ease. Over the last year, I upgraded the RAM to 4GB, Put in a Blu-ray ROM DVD, added a HP personal media drive, a 650 Watt BFG PS and a Nvidia 9800GTX+. This machine has performed flawlessly and is my pride and joy. I also configured the HDs to RAID 0 and this machine can handle anything I throw at it. I originally bought it for $550 at Office Depot and got a $50 rebate. Best money that I have ever spent on a system of this caliber. The additions are what make it a killer machine. I love this computer. It still gives me a 5.5 score for the RAM as my lowest score and all others are 5.9, but I'm running the 32 bit version of Vista and it won't recognize more than that. 64 bit is nice but some programs still don't run on 64 bit Vista. I'm happy with this as my main computer.
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Posted: 02-11-2009
I've owned my HP Pavilion Media Center M8100N Desktop PC for about a year. I was fortunate enough to purchase a refurbished unit on Amazon for MUCH less than the $1000 bucks they sell for now. I installed (with great dificulty because of the small case) a super fast Nvidia Graphics Card in the computer's 1 available PCI x16 Express slot, (as well as upgrading the tiny 300 watt power supply to 550 watts) and now I can play any game with ultra smooth graphics. My one gripe about the M8100N PC is that it's really hard to upgrade because they really crammed everything in there with very little room to spare. I was going to upgrade the internal hard drive to 1TB, but I'd have to take half of the computer apart just to get to the old drive. I opted for a Seagate FreeAgent 1TP external drive instead, and it's great. If you're seriously thinking about buying this model now, (in 2009) take a really good look at the other HP Pavilion Media Center Desktop PC's Amazon has to offer. This one was pretty nice about 14 months ago, especially for the greatly reduced price, but now it's outdated. A good proof of that is the phrase "The incredibly huge 500 GB Serial ATA (SATA) hard drive" and also the "top-of-class 667 MHz speed (memory)" that you can read in the computer's description. Also, the huge (and still empty) "Personal Media Drive" bay takes up valuable space when you're trying to upgrade anything inside the computer, and it's completely worthless as far as I'm concerned. The HP Personal Media Drives are very expensive compared to a larger internal SATA drive. I wish they had left it out, and just given us another internal SATA drive bay instead. Also, the computer comes with 3GB of ram, and in the description it says "that's a good start, but you'll want to add more RAM to handle today's demanding multimedia and gaming software" However, the computer is preloaded with 32 bit Windows Vista Home Premium, which can only handle a max of 3.5GB, so don't waste your money on a ram upgrade to enjoy the "enormous 8 GB maximum RAM capacity" anytime soon. All-in-all, and any more gripes aside, this rig has given me countless hours of enjoyment and I'm still glad I bought it. It was the right computer at the right time for the right price. Another 6 months or so, I'll be looking for a newer and faster gaming PC.
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Posted: 11-01-2008
I have had this m8100n for over 1 year now and have loved every minute of it. I have just recently replaced the video card with and ATI upgrade for its 1080p upscale with HDMI connection and WOW. Using my LCD big screen as a secondary monitor it as added a whole new level to my media collection. I have yet to upgrade my RAM from 3gb to 6gb or even 8gb but so far the speed has remained awesome with the assistance of Norton 360 to help with the tuning and protection of my PC - a MUST. My next project is to hook up a killer surround sound through my PC to use its abililties to improve my setup even more. I HIGHLY RECOMEND THIS PC!!!
