Who says a family PC should not be fully loaded?<\/p>\n
By Zatni Arbi<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): As our economy continues to slide further into
\nuncertainty, who would be interested in forking out money for a
\nfamily computer when the same sum of money could buy a decent
\nused car?<\/p>\n
Maybe some would. And why not? Those who are paid in foreign
\ncurrency will certainly find the HP Pavilions currently being
\noffered in Indonesia a great bargain. In the U.S., the prices of
\nPavilions start at US$1,499. And these are great machines, too.<\/p>\n
For the majority of us, for whom the idea of acquiring a new
\nPC is at the moment almost as implausible as a picnic in Monas
\nSquare, perhaps a close look at the handsome home PC by Hewlett-
\nPackard may still be worthwhile. At least it gives us some idea
\nof where the industry is heading. It also highlights the fact
\nthat the term \"home PC\" by no means refers to an anemic computer
\nthat cannot perform well enough to run demanding business
\napplications efficiently.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Hewlett-Packard, I was able to play with the top
\nmodel in their Pavilion line of home PCs that they have
\nintroduced to the Indonesian market, the Pavilion 8215. As usual,
\nwe find more things to show us the direction the industry and
\ntechnology are going when we test-drive the high-end model, as it
\nis always the one with the most bells and whistles. Over time,
\nthese bells and whistles trickle down to the mid-range and low-
\nend models.<\/p>\n
Just take the CD-ROM drive as an example. In the beginning
\nonly the most expensive PCs would come with a CD-ROM drive.
\nToday, you have to place a special order if you want a PC without
\na CD-ROM drive, even when you're buying a low-end model. In the
\nsame manner, while today only the top model of Pavilions has a
\nDVD-ROM drive, I bet that in a few years' time almost all PCs
\nwill come with a DVD drive.<\/p>\n
Spacious<\/p>\n
The first thing I noticed about Pavilion was that its CPU
\ncasing was larger than its rival, Compaq Presario. HP told me
\nthat the spacious casing was meant to give the machine better air
\ncirculation and heat dissipation. To me, the biggest advantage is
\ncertainly expandability. With a bigger casing, Pavilions offer
\nmore slots for additional expansion boards, including perhaps a
\nnetwork interface card.<\/p>\n
By the way, if you think the idea of having a network of PCs
\nin your house is too far-fetched, think again. The low-cost
\nnetwork kit provided by HP, Intel and others are very easy to set
\nup, and they may even allow more than one PC to access the
\nInternet using the same modem and phone connection. It will help
\nyou solve a lot of problems if you have several PC-loving members
\nin your family.<\/p>\n
Now back to the 8215. This machine ran on a Pentium II 300
\nMHz. The raw power of the processor was obvious right from the
\nmoment I turned it on. I was able to play Video CDs full screen
\nwithout the help of any hardware decoder. I even ran an older
\nversion of IBM's voice recognition software, VoiceType 3.0, and
\nhad a lot of fun with it. What this software does is turn spoken
\nwords into text, and the process requires a tremendous amount of
\ncomputing power. Thanks to the Pentium II 300 MHz processor, it
\ndidn't take long before the words I spoke into the microphone
\nappeared on the screen. With a less powerful processor, dictating
\na short memo with the help of this software would be as painful
\nas a root canal with inadequate anesthetics.<\/p>\n
This model also came with a spacious 17 inch monitor. The
\nmicrophone was located on the monitor's top bezel, and it was
\nsensitive enough for voice commands. In fact, you could easily
\nadd a video camera on the provided space on top of the monitor
\nand have a video conference. The speakers were made by Polk
\nAudio, one of America's leading speaker makers. HP even put
\nPolk's label on the speakers, which can be attached to both sides
\nof the monitor or placed on their own base anywhere you like. To
\nproduce more realistic sound, this home PC is also equipped with
\na amplifier.<\/p>\n
If you still find the 17 inch monitor not large enough for
\nscreening Godzilla, you can connect the PC to a large-screen TV
\nusing the supplied cable. To produce better sound effects, you
\ncan also add a subwoofer. As for DVD playback, no comment would
\nbe necessary.<\/p>\n
Keyboard<\/p>\n
Another thing that I liked about this family PC was its
\nkeyboard, and I would say that this would represent a trend in
\nthe future. HP started putting nifty extra buttons on their
\nkeyboards when they launched Brio, their business PCs. With the
\nPavilions, the keyboard boasts a round knob that controls the
\nvolume. I like it very much, because it gives me a natural means
\nto control the loudness of the sound that comes out of the
\nspeakers. Turn it right to pump up the volume, or turn it left to
\nsave your children's ears. Because the volume control is
\nsoftware-based, your toddler will never damage the knob even if
\nhe or she keeps turning it to the left after the sound have been
\nmuted altogether.<\/p>\n
There are other small and useful buttons on the keyboard as
\nwell, including buttons for controlling CD playback, launching
\nyour Internet browser, and invoking preset applications.<\/p>\n
My test unit came with a large 6.2 GB hard disk, a 56 Kbps
\nmodem with voice capabilities, and a dual Universal Serial Bus.
\nAnybody could put it together out of the box without any help, as
\nall the connections and cables were color-coded. You wouldn't
\ninsert the plug for the speakers' cable into the jack for the
\nmicrophone, for instance.<\/p>\n
My only complaint about this machine is its bluish gray color.
\nI wish HP had chosen a more lively color that would immediately
\nattract the attention of young children and would fit the colors
\nof a typical living room more nicely.<\/p>\n
Apart from that, it's hard to find fault with Pavilion 8215.
\nIt is a well-built family PC with amenities that will satisfy
\neven a very demanding computer aficionado. The Pentium 300 MHz
\nprovides more than enough power to run most applications,
\nincluding 3-D games and creative imaging. The problem is, even
\nthough its price is a real bargain when converted into U.S.
\ndollars, perhaps only a handful of very lucky Indonesians can
\nafford to buy it these days.<\/p>",
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