Big value in a small package.

[Sept '09 Update at bottom of this review]
Hewlett Packard's Pavillion Slimine series is a small-form computer targeting an audience that favors compact, stylish computers that fit in the living room, the kitchen, and yes, even the office. Other examples of this genre include Apple's Mac Mini, Dell Computer's Inspiron Slim Desktop series. The latest model in the HP Pavilion Slimline series is the S3200N, featuring a dual core AMD processor, 320 GB drive, and Microsoft Vista Home Premium. To be sure, the 3200N is a budget computer, but compared to similarly priced $500 computers, HP offers more hardware, style, and design.

Hardware, inside the case:
The case opens fairly easy. Inside the cramped quarters is the AMD Athlon X2 4800, AMD's dual core 64 bit processor. The 4800 represents the high mark of the low end dual core processors, and as such, provides excellent value for the money. Vista's internal benchmark system, the Windows Experience Index rates the processor a respectable 5.0. The integrated graphics chips is nVidia GeForce 6150SE 430. The 6150SE has 128 mb of reserved memory and also shares a percentage of the Slimline's system RAM. The amount of system RAM used by the graphics chip cannot be changed in the bios or through any utility that I could find. This video chip is by far the weakest link in Slimline configuration, rating a 3.2 in Windows Aero Desktop Performance -- good enough to run all of Vista's Aero affects, but don't be thinking this is the processor for playing graphic intensive games.

Also inside the box you'll find 2 512 mb memory chips for a total of 1gb memory. Unfortunately, those chips take up all memory slots on the motherboard. This means that you'll have to replace both ram chips, to upgrade even to a modest 2 gb ram (my experience is that this is typical for budget machines). The good news is that the system supports up to 4 gb.

One pleasant surprise -- there is 1 free pci express slot, which frankly is 1 more than I expected to find for this price range and size. So if that nVidia chip is really holding you back, you can upgrade to a real graphics system.

Hardware, outside the case:
The Slimline 3200N has 5 USB slots (4 in back, 1 in front) which may mean that you'll never need to open the case to expand the system. Audio jacks are rather generous for a budget system: 1 headphone jack in the front, 1 rear line out, 1 rear line in, 1 rear microphone. Nice. Storage options include a DVD RW with light scribe (for burning a label directly onto the DVD), 320gb hard drive, an HP Pocket Media Drive bay (Pocket Media drive not included) and lastly, a multi format card reader. The keyboard has a great feel to it, and comes with the obligatory user assignable keys. An optical mouse with scroll wheel is also included.

One nice touch was the inclusion of a wireless networking adapter supporting 80211.b and 80211.g. This really helps set up the computer in non traditional areas of the house that are far away from Ethernet cables. There is also a 56k modem for those with less fortunate connectivity options. If you don't need it, you can remove it and enjoy 2 free pci express slots. Sweet.

The cool blue power light on this computer is bright. As in night light bright. It turns bright yellow when the computer goes in stand by mode. So if I were to keep this in my bedroom, I'd probably end up putting some tape over that light so I could sleep at night. But damn, that would ruin the stylish lines of the case. Ah, what we put up with for vanity's sake...

Support:
Hewlett Packard runs an updater service on Vista that checks for software and driver updates, or you can go to their very complete support web site. Also included on the web site are PDF versions of the manuals that come with the computer, and some that don't (a handy upgrade manual and a technical configuration manual are the gems of the lot).

Vista Experience:
The excellent balancing job that the engineers at HP did when designing the s3200n is evidenced in the computer's ability to run Windows Premium Vista with all the full Aero experience quite well. Honestly, I was planning to downgrade the computer to Windows XP because I anticipated that Vista would run too slow, but a few days with Vista produced no unpleasant performance problems. I upgraded the memory to 2gb ram, and with that, I am able to do basic audio and video editing for a few online blogs with no problems. One area Vista does better than XP is distributing threads on multi core processors, and as such, the HP's dual core AMD Athlon does not disappoint. I can keep all my applications running while I edit.

The Slimline does not come with much software. At least not much that isn't trial software. Which is fine by me, because it means more of my money is going into the hardware. The audio drivers by Realtek are nice -- detecting when a headphone or microphone is plugged in and offering appropriate audio controls for that device. Why they bother including Microsoft Works and not the more capable (and free to HP) Open Office suite is beyond me -- I suspect Microsoft doesn't make that an option for pc manufacturers.

Overall:
I paid $440 for my HP Slimeline s3200n (open box sale), but even at the regular price of $525, the s3200n has a better CPU, better aesthetics, and more features than similarly priced pcs. Frankly, I was expecting some in-your-face compromises of performance or functionality with a computer at this price range, but the s3200n delivers such value that it's hard to believe that this is a budget computer. It is easy to recommend this computer for student, home, and standard office functionality.

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[Sept '09 update]
The fan that cools the cpu can get very loud on occasion - especially when playing high definition videos.  Vista and Windows 7 allows you to tune the maximum speed the CPU runs at.  This is relevant because faster the cpu runs, the hotter it gets, the faster the fan has to run.  So limit the maximum processor state to 92%.   The reduced speed is has almost no affect on anything you do (I don't notice anything), but the your ears will thank you - the fan never has to run at super high speeds.