Desktop PC cannot be a huge setup anymore and it is a fact that has become engraved in the minds of the designers at major PC manufacturers. And the AIO (all-in-one) form factor puts everything a PC needs in the form factor of a flat panel television. HP had launched the extremely expensive Touchsmart PC (expensive mainly because it had touchscreen), but that was just the beginning. Lenovo launched the Ideacenter A600 sometime back and then Dell, MSI and a lot of others followed the trend.
But HP realised that the expensive Touchsmart will not be able to compete with the likes of the Dell Inspiron One 19 and the Lenovo Ideacenter A600, in terms of price, at least. So, here comes the HP Pavilion MS210in AIO PC. How good is it? Lets find out.
Its not the meek one, nor is it the monster. It is, what I would like to call, an unassuming AIO which offers the specs that indicate good performance and possibly a lot of value for money.
The build quality is very good. Standing on a silver base, the 18.5 inch AIO is dressed in glossy black finish. The power button is on the front panel, but the rest of the buttons and input ports are hidden away quite well on either side panel. The left has the USB, memory card reader while the right side has the optical drive.
The AIO comes with a keyboard and mouse, both completely dressed in black. A wireless combo would have been welcome, but this one works. However, if you want to use this to watch movies, you might want to buy a wireless keyboard and mouse combo.
The MS210in is powered by AMD?s Athlon X2 processor 3250e clocking at 1.5 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 250 GB hard drive, a 18.5 inch screen, ATI Radeon 3200 graphics card, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth memory card reader?basically all the stuff you need from a PC.
The MS210in is not a gaming powerhouse, nor will it be a happy bunny if you want to play 3D games on it. However, it will go about the daily routine of office and home work, document editing, Web browsing, music and movie playback as well as opening multiple applications simultaneously very well.
The PC Mark score of 2999 is an indicator of very stable, and nippy performance, both for the Windows 7 as well as for applications. The 3D Mark score of 1178 means that it will play some games at medium settings, but gaming is not its forte.
The 18.5 inch HD ready screen is amazing, though. The display is extremely vivid, with deep blacks and powerful colours. Will be really good for movie viewing.
At a price of Rs 37k, the MS210in offers a certain value for money which makes it a good buy for someone who wants
the following:
* A slim form factor PC which does not take too much space
* Does not have another TV or a monitor to plug the PC in to
* For the office, without the PC taking up too much space on the table
For someone who has a flat panel TV, the Dell Inspiron HD will also be a good option. But the HP Pavilion offers better performance since it is not Intel Atom based and comes with Windows 7.
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