If you're looking for a well-built Windows XP Media Center desktop computer for home, consider HP's Pavilion a1500 series. These mid-range PCs offer a strong set of components and start out at under $500. We took our own look at the Pavilion a1520n which ships nicely equipped, albeit without a monitor, at $650.

This home desktop computer will be ready for Microsoft's upcoming Windows Vista operating system with its 64-bit dual-core processor and gigabyte of memory. The AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor 3800+ features two processing cores each running at 2.0GHz on a single chip. That gigabyte isn't the fastest RAM out there, as its 400MHz PC3200 DDR memory, but having a full gig lets you multitask without bottlenecking.

Hard drive space is equally impressive, thanks to the 250GB 7,200rpm hard drive. Having a quarter-terabyte of space means you have plenty of room for application installs and file storage before you ever need to think about adding a second drive.

And if you need to backup any data, the HP Super-Multi DVD writer included on this home desktop computer is more than suited for the task. This DVD writer can burn to CDs, traditional DVDs, and Double Layer DVDs that let you store up to 8.5GB of data on a single disk. It's also LightScribe-capable, so you can imprint silkscreen-quality labels on the surface of special CD and DVD media. The media is a bit more expensive and the labels are only monochromatic, but it's much more impressive than using markers or inkjet-printed labels on your disks.

Our main caveat with this home desktop computer is the integrated graphics, which limits their gaming potential out of the box. It is NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE graphics, so they're better than traditional integrated graphics, but they still share video memory with the main system RAM, which makes 3D gaming a struggle for this system. Luckily, there's a PCI Express x16 slot available, so you can add on a high-end video card of your choosing to boost gaming performance.

There are plenty of connectivity ports on this desktop computer for home users, including a whopping seven USB 2.0 ports (three on front and four on back). There are also two Firewire ports (one front, one back) for hooking up high speed peripherals such as digital camcorders. And the 9-in-1 media card reader lets you pop in flash memory cards from your PDA, MP3 player, or digital camera and transfer files and photos easily.

There's no monitor included with this home desktop computer at the baseline price, but you can add one from HP if you're ordering direct. Flat panel displays start out at $220 for a 17-inch model. And if you're shopping at your local computer store, you might find a monitor already bundled with the system. We found this home desktop computer with that 17-inch flat panel for under HP's suggested retail price after rebates, so be sure and shop around.

Both a modem and an integrated network interface can be found on this system, so you'll be able to connect to the Internet via a dial-up or a broadband Internet service provider as well as hook this home desktop computer up to a home network.

This desktop computer for home users ships with Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition so you can also add a TV tuner card to an open PCI slot and use the PC as a home DVR - digital video recorder. XP Media Center Edition has the capability to record live TV, so you can use your home desktop computer in place of a Tivo in your home theater.

HP also includes an impressive multimedia software bundle with the a1520n system. You get their Photosmart Premier application for editing and organizing your photos as well as applications for letting you create LightScribe labels and edit home videos to burn to DVD. Microsoft Works 8 is included with some basic office applications, and there's Quicken and Microsoft Money financial software as well.

HP includes a one-year limited warranty on hardware and 90 days of toll-free telephone technical support on the software. It's not great coverage, but it seems to have become the standard for warranty periods.

HP's mid-range line of XP Media Center PCs offer excellent multimedia power at an affordable price. The HP Pavilion a1520n shows what this series of desktop computers for home users has to offer.


Pro: Great core power, good components
Con: Integrated graphics, no monitor

Warranty
1 year, limited