Starting at under $400, HP's Pavilion a810e series of home desktops is directed right at the price-conscious user. That doesn't mean that you'll have to skimp on performance--the line features an AGP 8X graphics slot and a solid selection of internal components.

Those components include the Sempron 3000+ processor, AMD's budget CPU operating at 2.0GHz. You can speed it up to a 2.167GHz Sempron for only $20 or step it up to the 2.2GHz Sempron 3200+, with a faster front-side bus, for $90. Memory starts at 256MB--enough for the basic user, but you may want to bump it up to 512MB for $50 and give your system more room to multitask and play games. If you need more than half a gig, you can take your a810e up to a full gig for $220 over baseline, giving you more than enough RAM for any applications, including typical video editing software.

The default hard drive is a 40GB 5400rpm drive, offering a decent amount of storage space for multimedia files and game installs. For more room and faster access, you can upgrade to the 80GB 7200rpm drive for $40. Users that transfer lots of data between work and home may want to add HP's external Personal Media Drive. It's $200, but it gives you 160GB worth of storage room for archiving data or transporting it easily.

The default optical drive is a 48x CD-ROM, though HP offers either a 16X DVD-ROM drive for $20 or a 48X CD-RW drive for $40, if you can choose between burning your own data and audio CDs or watching DVD movies on your system.

As a $100 upgrade option, HP will let you change the optical drive to their LightScribe Double-Layer DVD+/-RW drive. Not only will this drive burn to both DVD+R and DVD-R media at 16X, it also burns to Double-Layer media, which has a capacity of 8.5GB for those extra-large files. And, once you're done with a burn to special LightScribe media, you can flip the disk over and the LightScribe drive can imprint a silkscreen-quality label directly onto the disk. (One caveat: the media is quite expensive. It costs about $3 per disk for blank LightScribe CD-Rs.)

There's no floppy drive in the system, so if you still rely on floppy disks as a removable media, you can add one to your system for $20.

Even though there's an AGP 8X slot on the motherboard, the a810e relies on integrated graphics that share video memory with the main system RAM by default. These will handle light tasks such as office applications and Web browsing with no problem, but if you do want to game on your Pavilion, another upgrade might be in order. NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5100 with 64MB of dedicated video memory is $50 over base, while the 128MB FX 5200XT is $80.

The a810e uses the gray and black Pavilion tower with a sliding door at the base of the front bezel. The door hides two USB 2.0 ports and a Firewire port that allow you to connect your high-speed peripherals such as digital cameras and camcorders without reaching around back. For a $10 upgrade, you can add another USB 2.0 port and a 9-in-1 media card reader for transferring files from your MP3 player, PDA, or other device. The media card reader supports everything from CompactFlash I and II, Memory Stick, and IBM's MicroDrive to MMC, SD, and SmartMedia cards.

HP's current monitor rebate provides a 17-inch Pavilion v72c with the system for $50. It's a small, but adequate display that renders sharp images and bright colors. If you'd rather have a flat-panel monitor with your system, HP offers LCDs in either 15-inch or 17-inch sizes that will run you $200 or $300, respectively.

Audio is integrated, and there aren't any speakers included with the a810e line. You can add a basic two-speaker set from Harman Kardon for $20 or make it the 2.1 set for $40, including subwoofer. Or you can opt for the surround sound 5.1-speaker Altec Lansing VS3151 set for $100.

The ball mouse included with the system is nothing fancy (optical is a $10-upgrade), although the HP Internet Keyboard offers additional features such as shortcut keys for Internet sites and applications. If you'd rather cut the cords on your input devices, the HP Wireless Internet Keyboard and Wireless Optical Mouse is available for $50.

Even at this extreme budget price, HP offers an office software suite with the a810e. Admittedly, it is only Microsoft Works 7.0, although you can upgrade to the Works Suite 2005 that includes Microsoft Word for only $20. If you need a more robust set of applications, you can get the Basic Edition of Microsoft Office 2003 for $150 including Word, Excel, and Outlook.

There's only a one-year warranty on the a810e, with an extension to two years available for $100 or three years for $150.

Remarkably complete for under $400, even after a few key upgrades you can still keep the price on your HP Pavilion a810e system around $500 and have a respectable system for gaming and home office work.

Pros: Great starting price, monitor included
Cons: Integrated audio and video

Warranty
1-year limited