HP Compaq Business Desktop Dx2400, 10 month review (HP Compaq Business Desktop Dx2400)

Member Name: philb2076

Product:	HP Compaq Business Desktop Dx2400
Date:	09/06/09 (50 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Compact with good performance, and expandable.

Disadvantages: Some doubts on reliability..

I purchased the HP Compaq Business Desktop Dx2400 approximately 10 months ago, as my old computer was slowly grinding to a halt. My needs were such; as a business user I needed network connectivity, decent performance, expandability, and durability, all at a reasonable price.

The HP fell beautifully into that specification, coming in at around £375 it offered everything I needed, neatly fitted into a small (and very quiet) package.

On the front there are three USB connections, microphone and headphones jacks, and a variety of card readers that should cover all the main types (16-1). The optical drive is CD/DVD-RW compatible, and there is an extra slot for any expansion.

To the rear hides another 4 x USB, audio in/out and microphone, and all the other usual connections apart from old style printer port. Here there is also multiple slots for expansion, I've counted 6.

Inside the RAM of 1GB only occupies 1 slot of an available 4, so with 8GB potential there is room for upgrading. Also there is an extra SATA hard drive slot should you wish to expand your internal storage (I have 2 x 250GB now installed).

Thanks to the Intel Duel Core Processor, performance is very good. I regularly have 5 or 6 programs (outlook, excel, internet explorer, management system, CAD software) running at once without any problem. I am running XP professional but I'm sure it could handle Vista should you wish.

Other than basic 2D-CAD I have not really tested the graphics to their full potential, therefore I can only say that they are more than adequate for my needs.

Problems...

After around 8 months of use I noticed a fault in my network connectivity, this was eventually diagnosed to be the network car itself. Unfortunately the network card is integrated into the main board itself meaning the whole mother board had to be replaced (thankfully under warrantee). This did solve the problem, but was a large amount of hassle and downtime.

The inbuilt speaker has been steadily going from bad to worse. I do not expect it to be fantastic but anything over a small volume causes massive reverberation, meaning I now just have it set to mute. I would recommend external speakers as a must.

Summary: A good all round business desktop at a more than decent price

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