HP Media Center M490N Desktop PC (3.4 GHz Pentium, 512 MB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, DVD+R/RW)

Meet your new digital entertainment center--the HP Pavilion m490n Media Center desktop PC. In addition to offering a central library for your CD library and easy video editing, the m490n can also act as a TV and a personal video recorder (PVR), a la Tivo, as well as an FM tuner. The m490n is powered by the Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 operating system (compatible with cable, digital cable, satellite TV, and antenna). It also features a remote control, fast 8x DVD+RW burner, GeForce FX 5200 video card, a ultra-massive 250 GB hard drive, 512 MB of installed RAM, and multi-format memory card reader.

The Basics

Hard Drive: The huge 250 GB Ultra IDE hard drive (7200 RPM) offers more than enough storage for all your documents, digital photos (approximately 250,000 2-megapixel images) and video (approximately 13.5 hours of .avi video), and MP3 collection (up to 3,000 CDs).
Processor: The top-of-the-line 3.4 GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor with Hyper-Threading technology (which allows a single CPU system to behave in some aspects like a dual-CPU system--see more in Tech Talk section below) is one of the fastest processors currently available on the market. It is well suited for high-performance gaming and professional-quality image, audio, and video editing. It also has a 512 KB L2 cache and 800 MHz front-side buss (FSB).
Memory: The m490n comes with a 512 MB built-in memory (1 x 512 MB PC-3200 DDR SDRAM)--a decent amount for starters, but you'll want to add more to take full advantage of the capabilities of Windows Media Center. The motherboard has two memory sockets for a maximum memory expansion of 2 GB.
CD/DVD Drive: The m490n has two DVD drives: a 16x DVD-ROM for playing music, movies, and games and a DVD+RW burner for writing data and video to disc. For DVDs, it has 8x write, 4x rewrite, 12x read speeds; for CDs, it writes at 24x, rewrites at 10x, and reads at 40x. It's compatible with the DVD+RW format, one of two formats for rewriteable DVDs.
Keyboard & Mouse: It comes with an HP wireless keyboard and wireless optical mouse.

Sound and Graphics
The m490n's video is powered by a 128 MB, 8x AGP GeForce FX 5600 Ultra video/graphics card, which has strong 3-D performance, dual-display capability--supporting one analog (VGA) and one digital (DVI) connection--and TV-out capability (enabling to display the PC on your Television via S-Video).

Sound is delivered via a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 audio card, which delivers high-quality 6.1 channels of digital surround sound (or 5.1 channels of analog-out surround sound). It also supports DVD-Audio, a super-high-fidelity audio format compatible with DVDs. The m490n comes with a three-piece set of Altec Lansing 221 speakers (1 subwoofer and 2 satellites). Connectivity and Expansion Slots
For expansion, the m490n has two 5.25-inch external bays (both occupied), four 3.5-inch bays (one internal bay available), three PCI slots (two available), and one AGP 8x slot (available). It comes with a built-in floppy drive and the following external connectors:

6 USB 2.0 ports (2 in front, 4 in rear) for connecting a wide range of peripherals--from digital cameras to MP3 players
2 FireWire (also known as IEEE 1394 or i.Link) ports for connecting digital video camcorders and other peripherals (1 in front, 1 in rear)
1 parallel port for connecting older printers and scanners
2 PS/2 ports for connecting keyboards and mice
1 RGB monitor port
1 serial port for older peripherals such as early PDAs
1 microphone and 1 headphone jack in the front
1 Digital Video Interface (DVI) port
1 TV-out (S-Video) port; 1-TV Input S-Video Port; 1-Composite Video/Audio Input Ports;
2 audio line-in ports
1 audio line-out port
Multi-format memory card reader that's compatible with CompactFlash (Type I/II), MicroDrive, Memory Stick and Memory Stick Pro, Smaredia, Secure Digital (SD), and MultiMedia (MMC) memory cards. It also has an integrated 56K modem (V.92) and an RJ-45 LAN network port (for a 10/100 Ethernet connection to networks and DSL/cable modems).

Preloaded System and Software
The pre-installed Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 is essentially Windows XP Professional Edition with a variety of tools to help you to create, organize, and enjoy digital media ranging from music to home movies to photo slide shows. Additionally, it enables you to control your television with the included remote and record and pause programs (much like a PVR such as Tivo or ReplayTV). You can even pause or rewind (up to 7 seconds) FM radio broadcasts.

It also features Microsoft Works (for working with word processing and spreadsheet documents), Microsoft Money 2004, Quicken New User Edition 2004, Norton Antivirus 2003 (with 60 days of complimentary updates), Adobe Acrobat Reader, Encarta Encyclopedia 2004 Standard Edition, Adobe Photoshop album (starter edition), RecordNow 6.5 (for burning CDs), WinDVD SE 4.0 (for DVD playback), ArcSoft ShowBiz (for editing digital video), and MusicMatch Jukebox.

What's in the Box
This package contains the HP Pavilion m490n desktop PC, remote control (with USB infrared receiver), Harman Kardon 2.1 speaker system, power cable, keyboard, and mouse. It is backed by a limited warranty for parts and labor for one year from date of purchase.

Tech Talk
Hyper-Threading: A Hyper-Threading processor helps a PC to run multiple demanding applications at the same time. This technology enables the processor to execute two threads (a part of a program) in parallel, boosting performance during key high-drain procedures. This results in more efficient software performance (such as faster reaction times in gaming applications) and enhanced multitasking.

More About Microsoft Windows XP Media Center

What sets this PC apart is that it is powered by Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004, which offers the features, reliability, and power of Windows XP Professional, plus advanced digital entertainment capabilities. The Media Center interface offers you more types of entertainment to enjoy: TV, Personal Video Recording (PVR), Movies, Music, Photos, Videos, Radio, and DVD. Use the remote control to enjoy from anywhere in your room.

TV & Movies Pause live TV

Watch TV when and how you want, and never miss a moment of your favorite programs. Pause and rewind live TV. Record a TV episode, series, or category. Automatically record a personalized selection of TV programs using Keyword Record. Media Center downloads the latest program listings for you and even wakes up from power-saving standby mode to record programs, so you can watch shows on your schedule.

Share your digital photos on your TV screen Photos & Video
Easily edit your digital pictures and digital videos, and then launch a dynamic slideshow complete with animated transitions and your favorite soundtrack. While viewing a picture, zoom in to see more detail. You can rotate, correct red-eye, and print your pictures using the remote. Play slide-shows straight from digital storage devices.

Music & Radio A centralized place for all of your music

All your music is stored in one digital jukebox and using the remote, shuffle your entire music collection according to artist or genre or listen to your tunes through playlists that learn what you like. Tune in FM stations and pause live radio. Full-screen visualizations pulse to the beat of the music. Cool on-screen effects show music information, such as track title, track time, and artist.

1 Best of best
I am very happy with this HP media Center.What more can I ask? I can watch TV, record TV same time if I wanted to by pushing the record button on my remote control.

2 At your own risk
This whole MediaCenter serie still needs a lot of improvements. The computer is decently priced but the applications are not all integrated with the MS MediaCenter. The MC application is often buggy and often crashes. It also makes use of additional external apps very hard. The motherboard on mine was faulty and made the computer unable to reboot after 2 weeks. Even the front bezel was defective. I noticed that the same problem was noticeable on demos in stores. Also, don't expect external soundcard or video card to be compatible...i learned it the hard way with my creative card.

To top all this, HP Support is mediocre at best. They ask you to ship them your computer and return it back to you a week later with no comments, no names of repair person, and even in my case missing parts that got stolen. You won't know what they tried to repair and just hope they didn't wipe your hard disk for no reason.

TV & Movies
Watch TV when and how you want, and never miss a moment of your favorite programs. Pause and rewind live TV. Record a TV episode, series, or category. Automatically record a personalized selection of TV programs using Keyword Record. Media Center downloads the latest program listings for you and even wakes up from power-saving standby mode to record programs, so you can watch shows on your schedule.

	Photos & Video
	Easily edit your digital pictures and digital videos, and then launch a dynamic slideshow complete with animated transitions and your favorite soundtrack. While viewing a picture, zoom in to see more detail. You can rotate, correct red-eye, and print your pictures using the remote. Play slide-shows straight from digital storage devices.

Music & Radio
All your music is stored in one digital jukebox and using the remote, shuffle your entire music collection according to artist or genre or listen to your tunes through playlists that learn what you like. Tune in FM stations and pause live radio. Full-screen visualizations pulse to the beat of the music. Cool on-screen effects show music information, such as track title, track time, and artist.