Pavilions as
desktops are not bad for the
average consumer but for anyone who wants to add stuff to their
PC, they are not the greatest.
Support for
add-on video cards is
iffy and the
cases are very cramped and difficult to work with. But the worst part about them is the
underpowered 160
watt power supplies, going with the
lowest common denominator with their power supplies really limits the system. That being said for someone who needs to use the
Internet, write up a
document, and maybe play the odd
game HP Pavilions do the job just fine (as does virtually any
PC out there these days).
Riptide was a bit tricky until proper
drivers were found on their
website.
Pavilion Notebooks, such as my HP Pavilion N5270 are actually pretty decent. About the only problem they have is with weak battery life and very poor speakers (though admittedly most laptops aren't know for THX sound quality). Overall a fairly good unit.