Why I bought the HP 1170N Media Center

I just bought a HP 1170N Media Center PC at Circuit City. Why not get a Gateway? They didn't offer any 2005 Media Centers on their Web site (only through Best Buy) and the one model was too pricey for my budget. Dell? Too pricey (at the time I bought it). Tiger Direct? No 2005 versions available at the time. I also have quite a few HP products, including an iPaq, printer, digital camera, and a couple of old HP PC's. I've been really happy with all of the products, so I felt comfortable buying from HP.

My budget was about $1,000 and I desperately needed a new computer. We have taken more than 11,500 family photos, filled dozens of video tapes, and I wanted to be able to record and watch TV on my schedule. I was going to get a TiVo and another PC, but the Media Center made more sense. I priced out a HP computer with similar specifications, and it was nearly the same price.

The 1170n wound up costing $1,168.99 (after a $50 rebate). The features are better than I expected from a machine at this price:

Pentium 4 3.0GHz processor with Hyper-Threading
1MB Second Level Cache
512MB DDR SDRAM (can handle up to 4GB)
200GB Serial ATA
Radeon X3100 SE PCI-E graphics with 128MB DDR RAM
Dual-layer DVD +/- RW Drive
6 USB 2.0 and 2 Firewire ports
9-in-1 memory reader

So far I'm very happy and almost impressed with the product.

Comments

[Ryan]

didja see this?

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/software/homeseer-windows-mce-plugin-026256.php

[Boyd]

I've been looking at getting a Media Center computer for the past few weeks, and when the family's computer crapped out tonight, I had to get another computer NOW!

I'd been looking at the 1170n ever since I saw a review (PC Magazine? I forget) and it received top-notch marks. Truthfully, beyond the review the feature that attracted me most was the removable hard drive.

Once I got to Best Buy, I figured I'd better do at least a little due diligence, so I started looking around at some of the other offerings. Coincidentally, the one that caught my eye was the Gateway 820GM. I have an irrational prejudice against Gateway, but as I compared the two computers and evaluated them against my needs, I ended up deciding on the Gateway.

I didn't consider comparing Media Center 2004 vs 2005, other than the point that 2004 is easier to make a member of a Windows Server 2003 domain (a potentially important point to me, I think). Plus the fact that I have access to both versions, in case the one that's on the computer doesn't meet my needs as well as the other one.

I'm kinda taking it on faith that I'll be able to put its capabilities to good use. We'll see.

[Rick Oursler]

I bought the HP 1170n in December and have been pleased except for one thing.The one thing being I cannot play DVD's I have copied on my computer on my home DVD player(a Sony.My previous HP(Pavilion)I had no problems.I use Easy DVD to DVD Copy to make my DVD's.I have used many different brand DVD's including Memorex,Verbatim and TDK,all DVD+R.Whats up,I am stumped plus very disappointed.